Editorial page

Monday, November 1, 2004
Go back
  Search

Communities that care about kids

A curfew is only as good as the parents who enforce it.

Town council members in Hay River and Fort Smith understand that fact. Both communities are grasping for answers to what they see as a rising problem of teen vandalism and crime. It's a sure sign they truly care about youth and that they stay out of trouble.

 

Hay River residents met to discuss crime in their community last fall. Council brought forward the idea of an 11 p.m. curfew a couple of weeks back. They decided to tread carefully and study their options.

A September public meeting in Fort Smith resulted in the formation of a committee which will come up with ways to turn the tide. Suggestions include increased activities for youth, raising funds to get more young people involved in sports, and a youth help line.

Youth crime in both communities is not out of control.

According to figures available from the territorial department of statistics, 182 youth faced Criminal Code offences and other charges in 2003 in Hay River, Fort Smith and Inuvik. Community breakdowns of youth crime in the South Slave towns were not available by deadline.

The worst year in the past 18 was 2001, when 245 charges were laid against youths in the three communities. In 2002, the number of charges fell to 196.

There are areas of concern: the number of assaults -- 34 -- was the highest in the past 18 years, theft was up, and the number of break-ins rose in 2003.

A curfew might make a dent in those numbers, but it's not the remedy some may believe. It's not a deterrent for kids who are out to cause trouble and parents who let their children run wild.

And let's be clear: the number of youth who are causing trouble is a tiny minority.

The second problem with a curfew is who's going to enforce it.

Police shouldn't be expected to play babysitter.

Hiring a bylaw officer to enforce it would be a costly option for each community.

The best solution is to do as Fort Smith is attempting.

Make sure there's a diverse number of activities for youth. Raise money to get low income youth involved in minor hockey or other expensive sports. Volunteer at the community youth centre.

Most importantly, parents have to be involved in their children's lives as coaches, instructors, cheerleaders and disciplinarians.

Set limits on what your kids can do and where they can go. Don't let them wander the streets after dark.

The vandals and thieves will be caught and punished in the courts.


Let's read

With the country's youngest population, the number of literate students in Nunavut could help determine the territory's future prospects.

This may seem to be an exaggeration, but literacy skills figure prominently in a knowledge- or service-based economy.

Everything from reading and writing e-mails to compiling reports requires a high level of literacy.

True literacy includes reading, writing, oral language, as well as math.

Inuit culture has always had strong oral traditions; the idea of placing importance on reading and writing is relatively new.

Conservative estimates by the Nunavut Literacy Council say about 50 per cent of the adult population has some trouble reading, writing, and being able to communicate effectively.

According to actual stats from the council, 27.7 per cent of Nunavummiut 15 years of age and older have less than a Grade 9 education. The same numbers say 11.7 per cent of Inuit students and 26.3 per cent for non-Inuit complete high school.

Necessary skills

This is a problem considering a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples says most government jobs will eventually require some form of post-secondary training. Government is the main employer in Nunavut.

Fortunately, there are people in the territory who want to make a difference.

In Clyde River, a public meeting held to discuss how to keep the community's high school students in school attracted more than 50 parents.

Nunavut commissioner Peter Irniq recently secured a donation of at least 15,000 books for the territory's libraries.

More books does not guarantee greater literacy, but a better selection for our libraries makes the option of reading more attractive.

And the community of Sanikiluaq topped the recently-released Read for 15 results; nearly half of the 684 residents took up the challenge and read for 15 minutes.

None of these initiatives are guaranteed to raise the level of education or literacy in Nunavut.

But most of them seem focused on the territory's kids, which is a good place to start.


Second class mail for second class citizens?

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News


There are only two real conclusions you can come to when analyzing the level of service Canada Post provides to the Kivalliq region -- and neither one is pretty.

The first conclusion, easily reached, is that Kivalliq residents are viewed as nothing more than second-class citizens by Canada Post.

A group of people who, by choosing to live in the Arctic, should simply accept whatever mail service comes their way and be happy they even have mail delivery at all.

Except for the people doing their best at our community post offices, the words customer service have absolutely no meaning to Canada Post when it comes to Kivalliq residents.

The second conclusion is that Canada Post gets away with its terrible service to the Kivalliq because of our apathy towards the situation.

The mail delivery has been so bad for so long, residents feel there's no use complaining because nothing's going to change.

In reality, it's a combination of the two.

I, myself, could be found laughing at the Rankin postal outlet earlier this month (Oct. 14, to be exact) when I received a letter from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., postmarked Sept. 21.

Problem close to home

People in the communities are convinced the problem originates with Churchill, Man., and that Canada Post does not spend nearly enough time ensuring the regional carrier awarded the lucrative mail contract adheres to the terms of the agreement.

We tend to agree.

Our winter storm days aside, there is no logical reason for the snail pace at which our mail is delivered other than indifference on the part of Canada Post.

That is especially true when one considers how much faster the mail is leaving the Kivalliq for destinations in the south.

On average, a letter takes less than half the time going north to south than vice versa.

And, that's letters. We won't even get into parcels and the amount of time they take to find their way to Kivalliq destinations.

We do sympathize with those people who take the time and try to contact Canada Post to voice their concerns.

Good luck trying to get a real person to come on the line and provide you with answers.

That being said, the only way mail service is going to improve in the Kivalliq is if enough people start to voice their concerns over the speed of its delivery.

If you can't get satisfaction from Canada Post, write your MLAs and your Nunavut Member of Parliament and encourage them to get answers from the corporation as to why the mail continues to be so undependable in the North.

Getting answers to your concerns is in their job description!

Until enough voices are heard to embarrass Canada Post into addressing the problem, stamps aren't the only things that will continue to take a licking in the Kivalliq.


A bloated bureaucracy goes in circles

Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum


When the Justice of the Peace court judge called the policy of the NWT Legal Services Board "borderline contempt of court" this week, we journalists in the gallery were licking our lips.

Potential funding shortfalls in the legal services department was what the entire kerfuffle appeared to be about -- no more lawyers for clients headed before the justice of the peace in Inuvik.

The injustice of it all.

Then a phone call to Minister of Justice Charles Dent revealed that somebody wasn't following policy.

Dent said lawyers were not supposed to be doing duty in the JP circuit. So what's going on in Inuvik?

With the usual tight lips all around -- many government employees apparently are forbidden to speak to the media -- the media is forwarded to the usual mouthpieces for the territorial government. In this case, it was the policy advisor for the legal services board.

This particular individual was not able to answer my questions or provide the information I sought. He said he'd get back to me but I'm still waiting for that call.

And this type of "communication" from the territorial government, though rare, was not an isolated incident.

On another occasion, I called the health ministry looking for some statistics. The person on the other end of the telephone started to tell me the address of a Web site where I could obtain the information I was looking for.

Wait a minute. If I wanted to sift through a myriad of Web sites searching for information, I wouldn't have called you.

Basically, I'd come straight to the horse's mouth only to be sent off. It's the equivalent of being sent to Telehealth when you're standing right in the bleedin' hospital.

The Government of the Northwest Territories talks about cost cutting and belt tightening. How about losing all of the superfluous staff at the legislature?

The GNWT could just replace everyone whose purposes could be more easily served -- at a fraction the cost -- by a series of informative Web pages.

Will Power Corp. throw in towel on generators?

Power Corporation president Leon Courneya appeared before town council to report on the effectiveness of the microturbine combined heat and power units currently in use at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex.

According to the power company, the experiment was a near failure, due mainly to substandard servicing of the units.

Something doesn't make sense here. Call me crazy, but I interpreted the analysis in this fashion: if there had been prompt and competent servicing of the units, then perhaps they may have performed better.

This apart from the fact that the town saved $40,000 from employing the microturbines in 2002/2003.

Though it should be noted that the Power Corp. flipped the bill for the turbines, the tune it was singing at council Monday sounded as though it is not very enthusiastic about energy alternatives that cut into its bottom line.

Is anybody surprised about that?


Big-game debate: a tale of two cultures

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum


The clash between First Nations and big-game outfitters in the Deh Cho is a philosophical mind-bender.

As Liidlii Kue Chief Keyna Norwegian explains, the concept of sport hunting doesn't complement the traditional Dene lifestyle.

For some people, the mind-set of the hunter is an important factor. If the individual toting a rifle is simply on the prowl for an impressive rack, that's a disrespectful reason to kill an animal.

When a creature is taken for sustenance and most or all of its carcass is eaten or used -- and thanks are given to the land and the Creator -- then that, by some people's beliefs, is spiritually fulfilling.

Big-game hunting operations claim they do try to make use of every bit of meat, so as not to be wasteful. In that effort, donations have been offered to First Nations. Norwegian pointed out that some band members would not accept meat not knowing how it was procured. Again, the spiritual aspect of a hunt is crucial here. Anybody who holds such convictions is to be respected.

Of course, not every Dene person feels so strongly that they would turn down complementary meat given in good will. There are many members of the Dene community who regularly purchase cuts of meat from the grocery store. The animals which provide that meat are usually raised in cramped conditions, overfed and slaughtered mindlessly by industrial machines. The spiritual component of this process, it could be argued, is virtually non-existent.

In making a moral argument, consistency is vital. When Norwegian was asked whether it would be permissible for a band member to start his or her own big-game hunting operation, she said it would still be frowned upon. As a matter of fact, she said a band member did express interest in such a venture earlier this year, but band council encouraged the individual to pursue eco-tourism instead.

So how can First Nations and big-game hunters co-exist? It seems they will have to, at least in the case of the outfitters already licensed.

Having a Dene person employed as part of an outfitter's hunting group to explain First Nations' traditions may be a good start. It's possible such discussions around a campfire would, at the very least, enrich the hunters' perspective.

Could some outdoorsmen from Texas or Alberta seeking a trophy in the NWT's Nahanni Mountains be fundamentally changed by such an encounter?

It's worth a shot.


Corrections

In the Oct. 25 issue of Nunavut News/North, some information provided requires clarification. Cameron MacLeod painted a series of portraits for the Kitikmeot Heritage Society.

Also, Doug Stern is not an elder. He is 42 years old. Nunavut News/North apologizes for the errors.

In the Oct. 25 News/North story "Inuvik heads back to the polls," the story was incorrectly edited to read that Arlene Hansen was elected to her first town council. In fact, this is Hansen's fourth term.