It seems a reasonable compromise: members of Liidlii Kue First Nation voted 64 per cent in favour of lifting the restriction and Fort Simpson village council was in favour, too. The LKFN council opposed lifting the rationing system.
Let's face it: who needs more than a bottle of spirits and a dozen beer a day?
Rationing hits binge drinkers hardest and creates a black market for booze where bootleggers feed on addiction for personal profit.
New Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche welcomed the decision and said a phased approach will give the government time to bolster community addiction programs.
We wish that would be the case, too. To date, however, the territorial government has not shown any commitment for funding addictions treatment to the level necessary.
Let's hope Menicoche is right, that the government will give addictions treatment the boost it needs in the NWT. Without it, our drinking problems will only get worse as access to alcohol is opened up.
A licencing bureaucracy is threatening one of the charming aspects of life in Hay River.
The town's staff went fishing for the idea that Fisherman's Wharf craft vendors might individually have to pay for a business licence. Instead of acceptance, the fishing expedition caught hell from the Wharf vendors who say they are too small and casual an enterprise to be lumped in with full-time businesses.
Beyond a $50 business licence, vendors say an ocean of red tape -- tax forms and record keeping for starters -- will swamp them.
The tiff threatens to kill the Wharf as a gathering spot for crafters and others selling homemade wares.
There is one suggestion we heard about that would resolve the matter: get a Hay River service club to co-ordinate the vendors, perhaps taking out one business licence to represent them all.
While Hay River deputy mayor Vern Tordoff says this may duck the issue, we believe a service club's involvement only increases the participation of the community as a whole and guarantees the outdoor market's success.
Meanwhile in Yellowknife, an outdoor market proposal is dying before it gets started because no one person or organization has stepped up to take it on.
Come on Hay River service clubs: take this worthy project on and show Yellowknife how it can be a success.
What do Inuit elders think of missile defence?
No one knows, because the Inuit of Canada have not been asked what they think about missile defence in their backyard.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Paul Martin met recently in Washington, and one topic that was likely on the agenda was Canada's possible participation in an American-led effort to defend against missile attack. Will it involve building radar sites or other development in the Arctic? We don't know because despite repeated requests from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Canada isn't talking.
Inuit need to be consulted about this project. This project would directly impact Nunavut and Nunavummiut.
Look no further than the DEW Line sites built with no consultation back in the 1950s and 1960s. Nunavut is left with a legacy of pollution that is real and affecting people right now, decades after the old radar sites were closed.
Jobs are always welcome, and such projects promise many. Inuit need jobs. What Nunavut does not need is more pollution, and for the people here to be left out of discussions on projects that will directly affect them 20, 30 years down the road.
Inuit need to know what missile defence means, and they need to know it in their own language. Inuit should be in talks with the federal government about possible environmental impacts, pollution, and who will pay for eventual clean-up now.
Further to that, Canadian Inuit should be consulted on a regular basis by those planning to do anything involving the military in the Arctic in the future.
Inuit, who have lived in harmony with the Arctic for centuries, have insight that is valuable to government leaders. Now is the time to talk, before decisions are made or international agreements signed.
Inuit want to play a role and want to understand what Canada's participation in missile defence would mean. Consulting Inuit after the fact would be an insult.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Only time will tell if switching student bodies at Maani Ulujuk middle school (MUI) and Alaittuq High (AHS) in Rankin Inlet was the right call.
On the surface, the District Education Authority's (DEA) logic seems solid in putting Grades 7 through 12 at MUI next year and Grade 5 and 6 students at AHS, soon to be known as Simon Alaittuq school.
A growing student body with the potential to outgrow a school's capacity is a serious issue.
Likewise, the DEA's claim MUI has more facilities for senior students also sounds good at first listen.
However, the DEA's worry that every student eligible for high school will show up next year is wishful thinking at its best.
And, from what we understand, many of the tools at the vaunted MUI facilities are either outdated or broken altogether.
As one student put it, the last time he was at MUI's shop, the only tool working properly was a hammer.
Hardly a ringing endorsement.
However, there is a much bigger force that could come into play here, and one the DEA ignored in its failure to properly involve students in its decision-making process.
Ask any teacher how their time went at a school with non-existent student spirit and we can tell you what their response will be.
And having a large group of students attend a school they don't want to be at is an instant recipe for behavioral problems.
As adults, we've all found ourselves, at one time or another, at a place where we didn't want to be.
You don't have to overly exert yourself to remember the mood you were usually in while there.
DEA gets lucky
Yes, the 2004/05 school year could be an ugly one and, yes, it's a situation the DEA could have totally avoided with (a) a bit more forethought and (b) a lot less attitude.
But, in this case, the DEA will get lucky.
It will get lucky because of the collective maturity of Rankin Inlet's senior students.
While there will be unpleasant incidents related to the switch, overall, we're confident our students will adapt and display the positive spirit Rankin youth are known for in making the best of a less than ideal situation.
Here's hoping when they do, DEA members will give them the credit they deserve, and won't be found behind closed doors whispering that they knew it all the time.
This switch will become successful on the strength of the students' ability to look at the big picture -- not the DEA's shortsightedness in ignoring its most valuable asset while in the decision-making process.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
By now, everybody should know that this year is the Dempster Highway's 25th anniversary and that several projects and events are in various stages of planning.
The goal of all of this is to promote the event and, more importantly, attract people to visit Inuvik for those oh so juicy tourist dollars.
Moreover, the events are designed to bring out the town's people and, hopefully, strengthen the community's spirit.
However, the problem seems to be that while noble all of this activity may be, perhaps there is too much in the works and efforts could better be combined to bring several of these ideas together.
As my cranky neighbour once said in the summer of 1989, after watching me carry grass clippings the length of my driveway to a trash bucket, "Bring the bucket to you. Work smarter not harder."
The following is a perfect example of working harder and not smarter in regard to the Dempster celebrations.
Thanks to the efforts of two individuals, a compiled book of Dempster Highway tales, poems, anecdotes and songs should be ready in time for the festivities.
And across town at RWED, there appears to be a similar idea in the works regarding a publication of a brief Dempster Highway history to be accompanied with some personal stories about its construction.
Why in the world aren't these two efforts combined to make "Dempster Highway Tales" the best darn book ever published in the territory?
With RWED behind a good idea such as the one already underway, how can it go wrong?
Instead, both will inevitably go it alone and the unfortunate result will likely be a couple of publications that may have improved ten-fold if heads were working together instead of separately.
Need another example?
The End of the Road Music Festival is slated for the end of August (27-29). On Aug. 21, RWED is planning a community feast and "big" musical entertainment flown in from down south.
According to an official from Inuvik's RWED office, the notion to combine the music fest with RWED's plans to fly in a band was suggested to the town.
Unfortunately, the two bodies were unable to come to an agreement about dates (for gosh sakes they are only a week apart!) and so RWED's feast and entertainment will go ahead as planned, as will the music fest. Separately!
Is it just me, or does this sound plain ridiculous?
For a festival that is in desperate need of any kind of support, turning down RWED's offer for the sake of a week's worth of "poor timing" is akin to shooting oneself in the foot.
And as for RWED, a government body that is supposed to help "develop economies" -- both local and regional -- one would think that they could've seen it the same way as the town. After all, a successful music festival is sure to bring in the bucks this year, and in years to come.
If that's not aiding economic development, then I'm a monkey's uncle.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Mayor Dianne Gonet's message about the drug and alcohol problem in Fort Liard will hopefully spur some people to be part of the solution.
Unfortunately, her words will almost certainly raise the hackles of those who automatically get defensive about the issue. Her intention is not to portray Fort Liard as a town full of drunks and drug addicts. Nobody is saying that Fort Liard is unique in its struggle against bootleggers and dope dealers. That is a common problem across the NWT and throughout many communities in Canada.
What Gonet is trying to communicate is that there is an addictions problem and something must be done about it.
It's certainly not the first time that an attempt has been made to put a dent in the alcohol and drug trade. Several public meetings have been held in Fort Liard over the past few years to rally residents. Unfortunately, despite an initial burst of support, few of the previously formed action groups have had any staying power. The Citizens on Patrol initiative started last year quickly fizzled when residents realized that they would have to testify against bootleggers and drug dealers in court.
So what's a leader or concerned citizen to do? Quit trying? No, at some point momentum will build, a catalyst will be found to unite those who want to take back their community.
Maybe the Community Action Committee will be it.
Forms of pollution
Unquestionably the sludge-like oil that coated the ground and vegetation around the ruptured oil tank in Fort Simpson in late April was appalling. However, it should be noted that an Environment Canada official only had praise for the local clean-up effort in the hours following the spill.
The employees and volunteers kept the thick oil in check and mopped up a significant amount of it.
As well, to keep things in perspective but not to downplay the incident, let's say that the spill amounted to 5,000 litres, the high side of the estimate. Seeing as the majority of people in the Deh Cho drive pickup trucks, it's safe to say that a usual fill-up at the gas station is around 50 litres. So it would only take 100 trucks consuming that amount of gas (maybe a week's worth of driving?) to equate to the volume of oil that leaked out of the storage tank, most of which was recovered.
The difference, obviously, is that gasoline is heavily refined and when its byproduct comes out our tailpipes it is absorbed into the atmosphere where we don't see it. Our consciences are only "clean" because after all that driving, there are no plants coated in a tar-like substance that we can see.
The moral of the story isn't that we should all throw away our car keys, but just to keep in mind that we're contributing to pollution in various ways on a daily basis.
The front page photo for the May 3 of edition Nunavut News/North was incorrectly identified. Jacob Peteroosie, 72, was hoisted in the air after completing the Nunavut Quest. We apologize for the error.