Monday, December 6, 2004
Court registries in Hay River and Inuvik are closing. The remand unit at South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River will also be shut down, as will the Dene K'onia youth facility. Some jobs are being cut, some positions moved to Yellowknife. It's all part of a government effort to trim $20 million in spending before the next budget.
Shutting down Dene K'onia in Hay River was easier than downsizing the new multi-million dollar North Slave youth facility in Yellowknife. There, because of past "policy" decisions, the government is committed to substantial staffing, operating and maintenance costs, though only half of the 25 bunks are full. T
he government decided to build the 25-bunk North Slave Youth Offenders Facility in 1998. It's part of the new North Slave Correctional Centre, a prison complex that began with a budget of $35.5 million but cost $49.2 million.
Bureaucratic logic dictates that such a huge investment in a building must be protected, even at the expense of other smaller facilities around the territory.
We see a similar scenario unfolding with talk of building a new, bigger and better courthouse in Yellowknife.
After the court registries close in Inuvik and Hay River, the next cut could lead to the end of trials in those two communities. Any new Yellowknife courthouse will likely cost so much to operate and maintain, it will be seen as more cost effective to hold all trials in the NWT capital.
The argument could go: the jails, lawyers, judges and court registry are all in Yk anyway.
If this trend isn't stopped, pretty soon, Yellowknife will look like Whitehorse, where the Yukon government has chosen to centralize all services.
The NWT started down a different path, but is straying, pushed away from decentralization by bureaucrats who count numbers, not people.
Cabinet members' may owe their allegiance to the bottom line, but regular MLAs are there to do what's best for their constituencies. That means ensuring "policy" decisions and huge investments in new government buildings in Yellowknife don't suck the other NWT communities dry.
Despite promises to do better, it appears little has changed at Qulliq Energy Corp.
Businesses were shocked by new electricity bills charging thousands of dollars after they were underbilled because of administrative errors during the past year and a half. Then word came last week that Qulliq's application to change power rates was flawed. Proposed rates will actually be six per cent higher. Power is too precious and the cost of producing it too high to let the errors continue.
Energy Minister Ed Picco can apologize all he wants but billing and accounting problems were highlighted in a 2003 report from the federal auditor general.
It's time for the government to take full control of Qulliq. This "arm's length" government corporation has proven itself incapable of doing the job on its own.
Sea cucumbers, abundant off the coast of Sanikiluaq, were found dead earlier this year.
Inuit hunters were alarmed because they understand sea cucumbers and knew this mass death was a signal of something horrible.
This is Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) at its best. Sanikiluaq doesn't have a wildlife officer in town to act on these matters, so the hunters took the news to their MLA, Peter Kattuk, who told the legislative assembly about it last week.
According to sea cucumber experts, it was good of the hunters to take a cue from the animals' deaths and act promptly.
Dead sea cucumbers like the ones in Sanikiluaq indicate something is wrong with the environment in ways scientists can look into, measure and make recommendations on.
Sea cucumbers are tough.
They don't just die like that or have a cyclical life pattern where they all die off for a time then naturally come back like gangbusters the next year.
In order for sea cucumbers to all be dead, there has to be some kind of dramatic sudden change that kills them. Hunters knew this. And people listened and took their observations to the next level.
Hopefully, the environment minister will do what he said he was going to do and get to the bottom of the sea cucumber mystery.
If he does, it will prove to many that IQ really is important and being used by the Government of Nunavut for the betterment of the people here.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
In all fairness to Ron Dewar, the executive director of Kivalliq Partners in Development in Rankin Inlet, he only said he'd look into the agency's policy on day care funding -- he never said he'd actually tell anybody what that policy is.
Dewar has not seen fit to return numerous calls to his office from Kivalliq News regarding the policy.
The Kataujaq Society, which runs a day care in Rankin, claims it can't access funding because it has white board members.
It never ceases to amaze me how the blatant disregard for the public's right to know continues to exist in Nunavut without inciting the wrath of everyday citizens.
The Kataujaq Society claims the policy is a form of racism and we tend to agree.
If parents are being denied funding that would make it easier for them to have their children in day care while they work for a living, we want to know why.
We also want to know what gives Kivalliq Partners the authority to place racial stipulations on funding that involves local kids.
Since we're not getting any answers at the local or regional level, the next stop is Ottawa.
The money being funnelled through Kivalliq Partners may have picked up a few fancy names along the way, such as Human Resources Development funding through strategic partnerships and the Labour Market Fund, but it started out as tax dollars paid by millions of Canadians.
Unless something has changed, the feds are still accountable for how our tax dollars are spent.
And if there are areas where the colour of a person's skin is the determining factor on whether an organization can access that money, I want to understand the reasoning behind it.
If there are no answers forthcoming, then let's implement these "policies" right across the board.
Fair is fair
Why should working parents be the only ones discriminated against?
Let's start denying minor hockey associations funding if they have any white coaches.
In fact, all sporting veins should be barred access -- wrestling, badminton, basketball, etc. -- if any of their coaches are white.
And do we really want our Girl Guides being instructed by white leaders?
Dangerous precedent
What if the federal government decided tomorrow, no more transfer payments to Nunavut until the territorial government meets its self-imposed quota of 85 per cent Inuit employees.
Could you imagine the outcry?
But that's probably an unfair argument, since we're only dealing with a handful of parents here.
If this "policy" truly exists, it is a dangerous one. It's the type of "policy" that fuels ill-will between people.
And, most importantly, it is the type of "policy" the government should move quickly to eradicate.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
The inane CBC contest to determine the "Greatest Canadian" has finally, and thankfully, come to a close. Interesting that while our health care system lies in a precarious state, viewers voted Tommy Douglas -- "father of Medicare" -- to the top of the heap.
Those searching for some kind of redeeming quality for the entire charade -- as noted by Douglas proponent George Stroumboulopoulos of MuchMusic fame -- could point out that before the contest probably not too many people in the country even knew who the guy was.
On the flip side, those searching for an excuse to criticize the exercise don't have to look very far.
No women were included in the top-ten and there was no representation from the Aboriginal community, either. An explanation for the first is perhaps that women are too sensible to take part in such a contest (keep in mind rock'em sock'em Don Cherry did make the top ten).
Reasons for the latter are probably a combination of the fact most Canadians don't know much of the history of our First Nations and the likely possibility that most aboriginal people couldn't give a toss about participating in a somewhat exclusive popularity contest.
Canada has only been in existence since 1867 and arguably the best-known candidate of aboriginal descent - Louis Riel - was executed less than 20 years later by the government, which was led by "Greatest Canadian" number eight, Sir John A. Macdonald. Incidentally, Sir John placed below Don Cherry.
But enough about the Greatest Canadian, or lack thereof. We have bigger things to be concerned about, such as pipeline or no pipeline, President George Bush igniting a new arms race, very nearly right over our heads with his missile defence scheme, and getting our community's homeless people sheltered for the coming winter.
Maybe CBC North should do a series called The Greatest Problem Facing the NWT. Certain to be a hit, we could start the betting now as to where Herb Norwegian and the pipeline woes would fall, compared with a lack of affordable housing, lack of skilled Northerners to take advantage of coming and available jobs, and the lack of money to pay for it all. And we haven't even touched on substance abuse and other social problems.
Pipeline proponents go on about the bounty to be had with the project -- which is becoming more tentative each passing moment with Bush back in the White House and itching to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The politicians tell us we need a better revenue-sharing agreement to really tap into the treasure.
It's strange that supposedly there's all this money out there at the end of some tubular steel rainbow and in the meantime, plenty of bucks to buy fancy swimming pools and build hotels here and there, yet Samuel Hearne secondary school still doesn't have a foyer roof, let alone a functioning library.
Yes, we've got a lot of problems and since so many tuned in to The Greatest Canadian, maybe a boob-tube series highlighting what ails this territory and region might tune some others in -- particularly those with the power to make changes -- to take care of business.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Fort Simpson's mayor is ready to stick it to Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).
If council passes a budget forecasting a three-quarter million dollar shortfall, there's no way the community is going to recover that deficit by the next fiscal year as stipulated in MACA's regulations.
Mayor Raymond Michaud is making a stand. He said he's aware that if the municipality gets mired in deep financial trouble it could eventually mean that he and council will be relieved and MACA will appoint an administrator to take over on an interim basis. It has happened in other NWT communities.
But what else is he to do? The department has been cutting and slashing away at the village's budget over the past few years. How can the village not feel the pinch with the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Several ministers have been told repeatedly that the department's funding formula simply doesn't work for Fort Simpson, a tax-based community of only 1,200 and precious little tax revenue.
The point was lost on some ministers. Others seemed sympathetic, but sympathy doesn't pay the bills. MACA has failed to do anything significant about the overall situation. Sure, the department has periodically come through with extra dollars that weren't initially projected in the budget -- that has helped and it may happen again next year.
However, in the bigger picture, MACA has only committed to a comprehensive study of its entire funding formula, an analysis that's going to take at least another year, if not longer. There's no guarantee that Fort Simpson is going to come out any farther ahead at the end.
It's true that council didn't do itself any favours by accumulating a substantial surplus last year. That restraint has helped keep the ship afloat this year, but it seems inevitable that from this point forward the municipality will take on more water than it can bail.
The mayor is steadfastly refusing to raise taxes or water rates. Such measures would generate more revenue, but Fort Simpson residents already pay an ample amount for those things.
The village must assume guilt for not instituting and enforcing user fees in certain situations -- the community hall rental is often waived for "good causes." But even if council took a hard line on that, to what end would it serve? Non-profit groups would suffer and the profit generated for the municipality would be modest at best. There may be work to do on that front, but it's not the answer to this problem.
Council is looking at returning to hamlet status as refuge from the budget crunch, but even that option isn't a sure thing. A study will spell out the details in a few weeks, but MACA may not permit the unprecedented move of having a community take a step down in status.
The mayor is ready to fight. Are you ready to support him?