Unfortunately, it's the problems caused by a few that have tarnished the majority.
Concerns about the skateboard park on Williams Avenue by Ecole St. Joseph school have simmered for a couple of years.
It boiled over last week when school principal Flo Campbell and some neighbouring residents came to city council to ask that the park be moved.
There are noise concerns, complaints about illegal drug and alcohol use, and vandalism to the school. Campbell says it cost $25,000 last year to clean up the damage and put in lights to deter the vandals.
The city erected a $30,000 fence around the park, but it accomplished nothing.
The answer, most say, is to move the park away from the school and away from residences.
Put it at McNiven Beach, some say. How about the Gerry Murphy arena site, others ask.
Neither option is the right one. The problem with the existing park is its location. Tucked behind St. Joe's field and away from the watchful eyes of RCMP patrols, skateboard park pranksters can do all the damage they want.
If a new park is the only solution, it must be built in a highly visible, central location. McNiven or Murphy sites offer neither: they are off in out-of-the-way corners and away from the majority of the city's population.
The Range Lake area is best because that's where the kids are.
If the skateboard park is to be moved, perhaps the city and Yellowknife Catholic Schools could swap lots.
Put the skateboard park on the corner of Range Lake Road and Williams Avenue.
That's one of the busiest intersections in town.
If not there, there's land beside the Multiplex and also near the liquor warehouse.
Both are in high-traffic areas where all police need do is drive by to make sure nothing is going on.
Editorial Comment
Lisa Scott
Kivalliq News
Kivalliq residents recently got the chance to join the millions of people carrying the Marathon of Hope started by a 21-year-old man almost 25 years ago.
They were up to the task and then some.
Hundreds of Kivalliq residents should be commended for their efforts in the annual Terry Fox Run, held Sept. 17 in many communities.
Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, Repulse Bay and Chesterfield Inlet held their own versions of the 10km run, raising almost $10,000 for cancer research.
Each hamlet bent the race to best suit its needs -- some turning it into a shorter walk, others opting for a 7km run. Another decided a penny sale after the walk would raise the most money.
Raising money and awareness
The format of the event isn't the measure of the matter. Raising money and awareness about the disease that first took Terry Fox's leg and then his life is what is important.
Students, teachers and community members knocked on doors for pledge money, bought T-shirts and calendars, and logged kilometres to add to Fox's 5,373km effort to run across Canada.
Fox is an important emblem for Kivalliq children to look to -- for his strength in the face of death and for his benevolent actions that have lived on after him.
Though he died in 1981 at the age of 22, Kivalliq residents have embraced his lofty plan with the annual event, adding to the $340 million raised worldwide since his run ended outside Thunder Bay.
Teachers go the distance
With money tight for school operations around the region, teachers and other staff naturally turn to generosity to foster education.
Jennifer Sheldon and Taras Humen, both teachers at Rachel Arngnammaktiq in Baker Lake, made a visit by two Stanford University neuroscientist a reality recently.
Their own air miles, along with their resourcefulness, brought the Brain Day program, which gives students a chance to interact with and learn about neuroscience in a classroom presentation.
The day was a great success. One the students won't soon forget.
Sheldon and Humen are just two of a large group of educators who strive to maximize learning for Kivalliq students.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
As the price of oil surpassed $50 a barrel on the world market, it highlighted the need for us to explore alternative energy sources.
The GNWT announced it was going to pump more money into further studies related to expanding the Taltson Dam in the South Slave and building a comparatively much larger project on the Great Bear River.
Though the jury is still out on how clean hydro energy is, the resulting decrease in diesel generated power, if and when said-projects are realized, tends to trump arguments against expanding hydro potential in the Northwest Territories.
Two guys in a bar are talking about the gas in the ground. The first guy says he sure would enjoy a piece of the windfall a pipeline could provide. The second guy laughs and says keep the gas in the ground and then he leaves to go hunting.
In walks the deal-maker and he says the time to deal, if you're going to deal, is now.
There isn't a punch line at the end of this. Either way, there will be unhappy people and others pleased as punch.
And the hunter may well be pleased as punch with or without a pipeline. Just as long as he doesn't mind power lines cutting through the countryside -- and a pipeline cutting straight through the valley.
Sitting around in the early hours talking territorial politics, a friend suggested that a pipeline wasn't what the territory needed.
Think about the pristine landscape carved up by high-tension power lines and a gas pipe and you will get the general idea.
Add to this the fact that it is possible to build a pipeline that can operate on its own power, without the help of hydro.
Spend more money
Judging by the territorial government's willingness to spend more money it doesn't have on studies on constructing a massive hydro project to power a tentative pipeline, the leadership obviously feels differently than my friend.
Or the World Wildlife Fund for that matter. It made an appeal to the federal government to protect ecologically and culturally significant regions in the Mackenzie Valley.
The feds promised to split the cost with the WWF, but, according to former Liberal PM John Turner, now a director with the environmental group, it takes money to make money. In other words, it would help him "fundraise" if the feds would cough up their share of the conservation project's $18 million price tag.
Regardless of how one feels about large scale development in the territory, it insults many people's sensibilities when there would appear to be millions laying around for studies on planned projects, potential projects, then review boards, voluminous impact statements for the review of those boards, and so and so forth, yet money remains tight for conservation and education.
To top it all off, some of our beloved members of parliament want a 10 per cent pay raise.
If $50 for a barrel of oil doesn't raise your eyebrows, this pay raise nonsense might just do the trick.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
When Michael Jackson dangled his infant son over a balcony for a crowd of fans and paparazzi to see, the backlash was immediate and overwhelming.
Most observers agreed Jackson was an irresponsible parent for taking such a senseless risk. Some even advocated that social services should take custody of his children.
So what about women who drink while pregnant? What should be done about that woeful situation, which gives rise to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a condition that is completely preventable?
Regardless of what it is that compels a mother-to-be to drink, the "system" is left to deal with the subsequent burden that will last throughout the child's lifetime.
Children with FASD are often born underweight, requiring extra medical attention. They have learning disabilities, requiring teachers and classroom assistants to devote more time to their needs. Sadly, through their frustration or nefarious influences, research has shown those with FASD are more inclined to commit crimes. That puts a greater strain on the justice system and social services as well.
Fortunately, Fort Simpson has an FASD working group that is helping devise strategies. Hopefully all parents are receptive to the approaches and not reactionary. It's human nature for parents, especially of non-FASD children, to question how their offsprings' schooling may be impeded by changes in a classroom environment. If you are concerned, discuss it with a teacher or the principal.
Nobody knows the number of children with FASD at Bompas elementary or any other Deh Cho school. Diagnosis is lacking and extremely difficult. In some cases there are tell-tale signs, such as physical abnormalities like a small head; small eye openings; short, upturned nose; depressed bridge of the nose; missing groove between the nose and the upper lip; poorly formed ears. In other cases, there are no physical indications whatsoever.
Diagnosis or not, something needed to be done. Classroom disruptions caused by some children have been an ongoing source of concern for parents. If these new school strategies can minimize outbursts without "dumbing down" the curriculum in any way, then everybody wins.
In addition, the education campaign for pregnant women has to continue. The message must be driven home that drinking liquor while pregnant is unacceptable.
And although it is not hereditary, parents with FASD may possess fewer parenting skills or impaired judgement due to the disorder.
Therefore, future generations can still be affected.
While awareness seems to have grown over the past several years, there is still a long way to go to stop this terrible cycle of alcoholism and FASD.
Deh Cho Engineering and Environmental is owned by a group of Deh Cho organizations under the name Independent Aboriginal Business Group Inc. and Vancouver-based civil engineering firm Klohn Crippen. As well, Deh Cho Engineering has not received funding from the Business Development Fund.