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Delta asks southern government staff for help

Erin Fletcher
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 26/04) - Seeing is believing for a group of senior government officials who toured Holman, Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik earlier this month.

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Inuit Arctic Tour was designed to give southern government staff a look at the health, infrastructure, social and environmental challenges the Inuvialuit face living in the Western Arctic.

The group got a real flavour for the Arctic when they had to drive through a blizzard on the Tuktoyaktuk ice road.

But they came out all smiles after feasting, dancing, touring and meeting each community, April 3-7.

"You have no sense if you haven't been here and seen the geography and the way people think," said Guy Bujold of Infrastructure Canada.

Nellie Cournoyea, chair and chief executive officer for the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, said having senior officials visit the communities was better than politicians.

"Politicians come and go, but these are the people who do the work," said Cournoyea, who took the tour as far as Tuktoyaktuk.

"It's very difficult to explain the needs of the Arctic. (The senior officials) don't get to travel like the politicians, but they advise the ministers so it's important for them to know about the Arctic."

Tuktoyaktuk deputy mayor Merven Gruben was pleased with the community meeting with the tour members in the hamlet council chambers.

Good connections

"I think we got some good connections. It's always good to get them up here instead of them looking up at us from down south," he said.

An all-weather road, shoreline erosion, a new cemetery, a school extension and a new solid waste site were all concerns brought out during the meeting.

The Holman meeting went better than Mary Kudlak expected.

"They didn't say much, but they wrote down all the things we said," said Kudlak.

The nursing shortage and a shortage of funds for social programs was of greatest concern.

"All the things we used to do with youth and elders aren't on now because of a lack of funds," said Kudlak.

Spring and summer camps for youth and elders were cancelled for the first time this. So were the traditional sewing classes when the Katimavik Centre was closed because there's no funding to fix a sewage problem in the aging building, said Kudlak.

"Crowding affects the transmission of disease, mental health and the ability to get an education," said Kathy Langlois, who works for Health Canada.

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