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The SideDoor just doesn't get it.
Executive director Ryan Peters says, "I'd love to see some financial support from the community."
Really? The same community where Elks Lodge 314 provided a $95,000 loan -- $30,000 of it forgivable? Or the $129,440 in federal funding through Yellowknife's homeless coalition? Or perhaps the City of Yellowknife, which has ponied up $40,000 to SideDoor so far this year?
Right now, and to their credit, the only accumulated debt the SideDoor has is $60,000 still owing to private contractors on its new location at the old Mine Rescue Building on 50th Street. The problem is a proposed budget that resides in fantasy land. Just look at projected and actual salaries.
Peters is paid $45,000 this year. Not bad for a guy who also works part-time as a unionized flight attendant for First Air.
The budget proposes a $40,000 salary for a 'homeless' co-ordinator; a 'senior' SideDoor program person is slotted in for a $31,200 salary; a 'junior' SideDoor staffer is to get $14,580 and an 'administrative assistant' $18,100.
But the salary list doesn't end there. An assistant to the $40,000-a-year 'homeless' co-ordinator is slated to earn $30,888; and 'assistants' to the senior and junior SideDoor program staff $15,600 and $5,019.30, respectively.
All told, eight budgeted salaries and related employment expenses total $220,426.03. Peters says about $262,000 is needed this year for all operations.
SideDoor would be $188,000 in the hole if they did all the things they propose in their budget, Peters says. But they're not. The lack of funding means only Peters and Quyhn Chi Le, a part-time administrative assistant, are on salary.
SideDoor, complaining of a rowdy clientele, closed its doors to youth on Friday and Saturday nights in January. Earlier this month it was closed completely due to lack of funds. Now, it operates a senior youth program once a week. A $105,000 Royal Bank of Canada after-school grant provides a five-day-a-week 90-minute reading program.
And that's it.
What's happening at the SideDoor, a registered charity, is a scandalous squandering of money and goodwill; more than $1.081 million in public and private dollars and in-kind donations for the building alone.
Its seven-member board of directors should show real leadership and devise a workable business plan or resign.
Otherwise, SideDoor is doomed.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
You can't blame some folks in Baker Lake for thinking the Department of Health has them placed slightly above scurvy vaccinations on its list of priorities.
Baker residents are still awaiting the results of the so called "investigation" into the state of health care in their community.
In early March, deputy health minister Dr. Keith Best ordered an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a five-month-old infant. The baby died after suffering from flu-like symptoms. Six other people who suffered from the same symptoms were medevaced out. The infant's death came a month after another child had to be rushed south for treatment after initial calls to the nursing station were rebuffed.
Did anyone really expect Dr. Best's crack investigation team (the names of whom were never released) to find any problems or malcontent in Baker?
The healthy well being of people in the community takes a distant back seat to potential lawsuits through any self-admission of weak areas of treatment.
Some are curious as to why Baker's head nurse was sent to Arviat for two-weeks training in that community.
She may have been there to perform brain surgery for all we know, or, should we say, for all Dr. Best has been willing to tell us, despite repeated calls to his office.
Maybe Dr. Best is afraid we're going to ask why a top Kivalliq health official had to be whisked into Baker to quell an uprising when the majority of health centre staff were threatening to quit.
Sounds like our idea of a wonderful place to work.
It would appear Dr. Best has forgotten his bedside manner since moving to the political side of health care.
Apparently, there is no longer much regard for the mental state of those seeking care in Baker, at least when it comes to reassuring them of the quality of care they're receiving.
In fact, the Baker "investigation" is strangely familiar to one Dr. Best conducted into allegations of staff misconduct at a Rankin facility a few years back.
The allegations were brought forward by a former caregiver at the facility.
Dr. Best found no evidence of wrongdoing concerning the case.
However, those named by the caregiver did not remain in the employ of the facility for very long, despite the clean bill of health given by Dr. Best.
Through his silence, Dr. Best is telling worried citizens in Baker Lake to take their concerns elsewhere.
Dr. Best is probably comfortable with the fact he's adopted an age old Northern method of conciliation -- ignore it long enough and it will go away.
Good for Dr. Best. Bad for the people of Baker Lake.
Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum
Along with a collection of other gawkers, I watched in amazement as a group of snowmobilers forced their machines across open water down at the public dock last Sunday afternoon.
Then Tuesday afternoon, I'm called away from my looming deadline, to attend the rescue of Mr. Holman who, despite the designation of "Safety Officer" emblazoned across his company jacket's shoulder, tried to negotiate his snow machine across open water.
What is this fascination with cheating death? Are our memories so short?
On May 19 of last year, Roderick Simon died when his snow machine failed to clear some open water just north of town.
The town mourned this senseless loss, but it seems no one has learned.
I've heard reports of people walking across the ice and falling through and I'm bracing for the next ice water drowning story I'm going to have to write.
No easy way out
In this job, I get to see some extreme contrasts in the community and this issue reflects that so well.
Last Friday the community hall was packed to the rafters with pride as friends and families beamed upon the graduation of their loved ones.
The audience for Monday's sitting of the Supreme Court was equally supportive, but not near as proud, while two young men were sent to jail for selling cocaine.
My heart sinks every time I watch someone so young, and with so much promise, go to jail because they were looking for an easy way to make a buck.
These two guys were not hardened drug dealers -- they weren't even selling the stuff -- but in the eyes of the law, procurement is still trafficking.
Now their future is in ruin because they were looking for a few free lines, joints or to simply gain favour in the eyes of a peer.
While those grads will be spending the rest of 2003 earning big salaries, these two guys will be doing time in YCC.
There is no easy way to make a living -- believe me, I've tried. Every person needs to work hard at an education and even harder at their careers.
If the lure of a steady paycheque isn't enough to bend you straight, just think about the profound sorrow in the faces of your mom, dad and grandmother watching you get sentenced to jail.
That's a sentence worse than anything the court can hand down.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Insurance rates, in some cases, are a runaway train. It's true for NWT municipalities and it's true for vehicle owners in many parts of Canada.
Now Steve Malesku is raising a concern that may apply to many homeowners with wood stoves. He can't find an insurance company willing to offer him coverage at a reasonable rate. The one broker that's willing to take him on wants six times what he used to pay.
Why does Malesku insist on having a wood stove?
Well, he's in a predicament shared by many Northerners. He doesn't want to rely on one source of heat in the dead of winter. Other than his wood stove, he gets propane delivered from Fort Nelson, B.C. For his heating system to work, he also needs the Fort Liard power plant to be functioning properly. Without a wood stove, he can't afford for his furnace to break down either.
When it's -35 C, it is reassuring to have a backup source of heat. Not only does it keep one's body warm, it keeps the pipes from freezing.
Of course, it's risky to go without insurance. Without it, a house fire like Malesku had last year is all the more devastating.
So people are caught between a rock and a hard place. Some of them are undoubtedly failing to declare their wood stoves to side-step the insurance hassle. That practice may make life easier in the short term but should the stove cause a fire, those homeowners are going to be up the creek.
Somebody -- and the territorial government is as good a candidate as anybody -- must ascertain how pervasive this problem is across the NWT. If it's a matter of certifying more inspectors and assigning responsibility over who pays those inspectors, so be it.
Something must be done. Homeowners with wood stoves shouldn't be left languishing.
Full tummies
The graduation ceremony for four cooks in Trout Lake was a major event in the community of approximately 65 residents.
Not only did those in attendance get a chance to applaud the commitment of the cooking students (and their instructor, and the sponsoring businesses and government departments), everyone was treated to a first-class meal.
Even though that was filling in itself, the desserts were hard to resist. Of course we all had the option of showing restraint and only sampling morsels of the rich pastries. That proved next to impossible for those in line for the baked Alaska. Phoebe Punch was serving up huge servings of the ice cream cake. One woman's plate, which she was holding by the edge, literally cracked under the weight of the enormous slice.
Our compliments to the chefs.
Bonnie Crowther, the supervisor at the South MacKenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River, was presented with a Corrections Exemplary Service Medal during a ceremony at the legislative assembly on May 7.
She did not receive a Queen's Jubilee Medal as was reported in last week's News/North edition.
We apologize for the error.