The names of Archie Tsetta and Vawn Ruthven should be seared on the public consciousness. Why? So their deaths are not in vain. For the second time in less than six months a coroner's jury in Yellowknife has recommended the GNWT establish a medical detox facility.

The silence from Health Minister Michael Miltenberger is deafening. In response to a recent report calling again for a new addiction strategy, including medical detox, Miltenberger's response was: "We have to make the fundamental decision about whether we want to put money into bricks and mortar or do we want to put money into programs at the community level."

The answer to the minister's question is 'Yes.' Put the money into bricks and mortars and build a medical detox -- and residential treatment centre -- in Yellowknife -- now.

Vawn Ruthven was a 36-year-old white, middle-class woman addicted to over-the-counter and prescription medications. Archie Tsetta was a 35-year-old aboriginal man, chronically addicted to alcohol.

Now, paths that may not have crossed in life make common purpose in death, calling on us to do better, much better, in the area of detoxification and treatment.

The alcohol that Tsetta consumed is a drug every bit as much as the pills Ruthven swallowed. A drug is a drug is a drug. And addiction is no respecter of race or class.

Addicts, whether addicted to alcohol or other drugs, need a medical facility to safely detoxify their systems. Drunk tanks and going cold turkey are not medically safe alternatives. Withdrawal from alcohol for chronic alcoholics, unless managed medically, can lead to delirium tremens which can kill.

It's time we all got over the stigma of addiction, whether involving alcohol or other drugs, and treated it with the same health-spending priority we would cardiovascular disease or cancer.

And once we detoxify people, we're going to need to treat many of them as 28-day in-patients in a residential treatment centre here. The Nats'ejee Treatment Centre, on the Hay River Reserve, roundly criticized in an outside evaluation last year, is inadequate as both a detox and treatment centre.

It's time we start healing the wounded among us, helping them to return to productive, healthy lives. A detox and treatment centre in Yellowknife is the place to start.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

The government of Nunavut is quickly becoming a ship without a rudder, with no clear direction for developing Nunavut.

In fact, the GN is becoming a reactive government in its worst possible sense.

This change of direction away from long-term educational gain is alarming.

The terms "government reform" and "a unique style of governing for Nunavut" are beginning to translate into lowering standards across the board for now and the foreseeable future.

The implementation of a new Education Act has become a bad joke, blasted by the Inuktitut, English and French population alike.

While the inclusion of Inuktitut as a primary language of instruction is a must, recent talks of lowering academic standards to increase our number of graduates is a giant step backwards.

Pre-trades training in high school, by itself, is not an idea totally without merit.

However, moving it in behind math and science as a major subject towards graduation just doesn't make sense when it's all ready available in various learning institutes across Nunavut.

And, as valuable a vocation (for the truly talented) that wall hanging, carving and sewing are, to make them accredited courses towards earning a high school diploma is just one more step towards lowering the education bar.

Tie this all into the GN's recent decision to revamp (read lower) its standards for about 800 government jobs and it reeks of the quick fix approach to governing.

Minister of Human Resources Peter Kilabuk is bending to the pressure of the Land Claims Agreement by, in a nutshell, lowering the standards of these jobs to make them easier for Inuit to obtain.

This decision, mind you, comes from a government that can't get its financial reporting into the feds on time now, even when more than $30 million coming from federal coffers into Nunavut is just sitting there for the taking.

Lest we forget, Kilabuk is also our Education minister.

Ask any 20 young students in your community what they want to be when they grow up and the majority of the answers are still to drive a hamlet truck or work for the Nunavut Government.

If nothing else, at least Kilabuk is making their goals easier to obtain.

And, he's making sure not to show any favouritism by doing his best to even up the qualifications for both.

Don't be confused here. These are NOT decisions based on distinct cultural differences.

These are decisions being made by a government that no longer believes its people can work towards reaching the bar, so the bar must be lowered.

A move in this direction will do nothing more than inflate numbers and create the illusion of accomplishment.

True accomplishment must be earned, not given away!

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

Dawson City will host the 2005 World Championship Dog Sledding Championships, due in large part to the work of their mayor and their MLA.

The championships will bring an estimated $10 million into the town of 2,200 and that's a lot of kibble for a town that needs all it can get right now.

Inuvik and the NWT could do a lot more for the sport of dog sledding than they do.

Outside of bingo, dog mushing is the only professional sport we have in the North and I really think it deserves more play than it gets.

The Delta dog mushing season is just beginning, as winter sets on the west and most mushers would love to come North if they could earn some real money in a world-class race.

Our cold weather could extend the season another month for mushers who otherwise head home after the Percy and with some big prize money waiting at the end of the road, most would be happy to point their rigs North.

The mushers, the town and the territory should get together with some big sponsors and see what they can do to bring some of that mushing money into the Delta.

It's nice to have the oil and gas money coming into town, but as Dawson is now realizing, what happens when the gold rush ends?

Silent smokers

I was quite surprised at the turnout at last Thursday's meeting concerning the smoking bylaw.

Outside of town representatives there were 11 people there and they were all in favour of butting out in public buildings.

I was fully prepared for a vociferous crowd of raspy-throated smokers shouting down the bylaw, but not even a cough came from the smoker's lobby.

As with anything else, people don't seem too motivated to say or do anything until after the fact.

Once the ashtrays are yanked off the tables we'll hear the complaints, I'm sure.

Home-grown heroes

The students at last week's career fair got their eyes and ears full of what can happen with a little luck and a lot of effort.

Cecil Hansen and Sharon Firth are great examples of how great you can be, even though you come from a small town.

It's tough for teenagers to say, "I'm gonna be this or that," but it sure helps having positive role models come home to show the possibilities are there. The possibilities are here and opportunity abounds for any Delta youth willing to apply themselves.

The jobs in this next boom are just the tip of the iceberg for our next generation. There is so much more available with grants and scholarships that any student from here could easily return with a diploma from any school in the world.

But it's as the mayor said, keep those doors open kids, because there is not much call in the real world for Grade 9 graduates.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

If only every resident of Fort Simpson could have been present for last week's council meeting.

It's hard to convey in writing the sense of awkwardness that befell the affair just before it wrapped up.

As a reporter and often the only spectator, I had already put on my coat and moved to the doorway, ready to depart when the vote was held to move in camera. Much to my surprise, enough councillors voted to keep the last item on the agenda open to the public.

Off came the coat and I returned to my seat. Naturally, I was curious as to what this mystery item on the agenda would be.

Now this is where the awkwardness really comes into the picture. Mayor Tom Wilson moved to adjourn the meeting.

Wait a minute!

There was clearly an issue to be discussed but the mayor was ready to wrap things up. Coun. Sean Whelly quickly jumped in and recommended that council proceed to discuss the issue, which was clearly a mystery to most, if not all, of the councillors as well. Anyway, the topic, which related to the privatized garbage contract, was hashed out, sure enough. You can read all about it on page 3.

The point here is that, afterwards, some of the councillors were genuinely perplexed as to why the issue should have been designated for an in camera session.

Judging by the lengthy list of legal problems plaguing the village over the past five years, it would be advisable to handle everything possible in an open forum. Secretive actions result in negative perception, and perception is often reality.

It's quite unsettling to witness youngsters -- kids no more than nine years old -- whipping around on 500 cc snowmobiles without helmets.

Yet it's a fairly common occurrence in Fort Providence.

There were several youth who were operating snowmobiles that were clearly too large and too powerful for them over the weekend. Not only that, some were pulling other youngsters along behind them on plastic sleds. None of those children were wearing helmets either. At one point, one snowmobile almost crashed into a sled being towed by another snowmobile. Unfortunately there are no bonus points for creative spelling in this business.

As many readers noticed, the news briefs in last week's Deh Cho Drum were riddled with misspellings. No, neither a single U.S. military satellite nor an electronic-bomb jammed our spell check program, but it did go haywire. Somehow the page went to press, warts and all.

It wasn't a banner week for the Dew Coo Drum. Uh, make that the Deh Cho Drum.

Sorry, folks.