Wednesday, January 26, 2005
That ban was beefed up last May when the Workers' Compensation Board workplace smoking ban went into effect across the territories.
Many of the pubs and restaurants in Yellowknife suffered as people stopped going out for a beer or meal because they could no longer smoke inside.
During national non-smoking week, Tobacco Action Yellowknife released a report card giving the NWT an "A+" for high tobacco taxes and a "Pass" for the workplace ban. They gave failing marks for allowing smoking in some public places and permitting tobacco advertising displays in stores and cigarettes in full view on store shelves. They want bans on it all.
While efforts to cut smoking in the NWT are important, will these proposed actions work?
The only public places people can smoke might be in community halls where there are no employees.
Pulling cigarettes from shelves and putting them behind counters won't stop those with addictions from buying smokes.
Can't buy a pack at the drug store? Just walk across the street to the grocery store. And how can you ban one kind of store from selling a legal product? Youth are already forbidden from making such purchases.
What's next? A ban on smoking in private homes where 15 per cent of NWT residents are exposed to second-hand smoke?
Sounds like a healthy idea, but will the public support it? We doubt it. It's an invasion of the home.
The real emphasis - and Tobacco Action Yellowknife and the territorial health department agree - must be on youth and helping adult smokers in communities quit.
According to a national study, 31 per cent of NWT teens smoke, 2.5 times the national average. The territorial government's Smoke Alarm report with figures from the late 1990s showed 27 per cent of 10 to 17-year-olds were smokers. The number of young smokers seems to be rising, not dropping.
In 2002, the government set a target for itself in its Action on Tobacco Strategy: Reduce tobacco use among minors by 50 per cent by 2011.
The bans have probably already done as much as can be expected. If the government expects to reach its target and reduce the health costs of smoking, it has to get more serious about public relations, prevention and community action.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The ink was hardly dry on the paper for the announcement made this past week - which will see 160 new social housing units constructed in Nunavut - when cries of "it's not enough" were already being heard across the territory.
Yes, with no less than 54 per cent of Inuit living in overcrowded conditions, the job is far from complete, but let's give the devil his due here.
Or, in this particular case, let's give Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell a tip of the hat for staying the course with this initiative.
While it's true the $40 million cost of this project is being split 50/50 between the feds and the Nunavut government, Lindell has been trumpeting the urgency of social housing to her party behind closed doors for years.
And we hear from reliable sources that it was her dedication to the cause and respected standing in the prime minister's office that saw the deal navigate some rough waters.
Each of Nunavut's 25 communities will receive at least three social housing units through this new agreement and 95 per cent of the new tenants will be Inuit. Elders, families and single people with low incomes are the first in line to receive keys to these dwellings, 53 of which are expected to be completed within the next 10 weeks.
Lindell is fond of using the word partnerships when she speaks publicly about the relationship between Nunavut and the nation's capital.
She has spent enough time around our country's top political heavyweights to know bringing $5 to the table is the most effective way to leave Ottawa with $10 worth of progress.
Partnerships are, in fact, the key to continued progress in Nunavut.
Whether it's seats in medical schools to help boost our number of health-care professionals, in colleges and universities to improve educational programs, or matching dollar for dollar to build infrastructure, effective partnering with our southern neighbours will not only provide short-term gains, it will also help pave the way towards future growth for our territory and its people.
But it won't happen overnight.
Agreements such as the one announced in Iqaluit on Jan. 20 take us one step closer to becoming a stronger, more vibrant and self-sustaining territory.
While there is still a long road ahead, there is nothing wrong with taking a moment to acknowledge the efforts of those who made it happen.
This announcement will eventually see the quality of life improved for 160 households in Nunavut.
And, while that may not be enough, it's definitely a step in the right direction.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Last year I wrote an article about Dan Sydney's remarkable foil ball, constructed over a 30-year span using nothing but cigarette box tinfoil.
Recent events saw the town wavering over whether to include recycling in its landfill contract via the request for proposal for a beverage container depot, which brought to mind Sydney's tinfoil ball exploits, once again.
You see, when Sydney went to work on his ball of foil, oh so many moons ago, he must have been pleased with his progress. Starting with one foil piece and adding a second, Sydney instantly doubled the mass of his ball.
However, with each additional piece he added, our hero was increasing the size of his sphere by a fraction equal to however many pieces preceded the latest.
Comparing that to the amount of, let's say, tin cans adding up in the town's landfill for the last 30 years, there is a belief, similar to Sydney's foil ball progress, that one more can isn't really going to make a difference.
Which leaves us with Albert Bernhardt of AB Salvage and his wife Barb Armstrong, tireless champions of recycling in a region that needs one desperately, perhaps more than anywhere else in Canada.
When the GNWT introduced its Waste Reduction and Recovery Act in October of 2003, it solicited expert opinion on the matter from around the territory.
Now the territory is tackling this mandate by putting out requests for proposals (RFPs) for beverage container depots, part of a larger recycling initiative planned for the NWT.
Whatever one's feelings about free enterprise and the privatization of the delivery of services in the territory through RFPs and tenders, with AB Salvage's nearly four years of experience garnered by establishing its own depot for recyclables, why didn't the GNWT get AB Salvage on board straight away?
Instead, it issued an RFP for a beverage depot in Inuvik - submissions to be reviewed by Resources Wildlife and Economic Development (RWED) - and essentially sparked a mountain of what now appears to be a pile of unnecessary work. The RFP set into motion an Armstrong appeal to town council to answer the RFP by way of including the depot with its current landfill contract.
Council then referred her request to its public works committee, which advised council to hire a consultant to explore the options, which it did.
However, when it was all said and done, council back-pedalled, citing its unwillingness to compete with private enterprise as well as the unknown cost factor of building a depot, which is not included in the RFP.
Meanwhile, potential recyclables are piling up in the landfill and those who have fought for recycling in this community with actions, not just words, are seemingly being shut out of the process.
To date, Armstrong has put her own proposal together but if it's accepted then we're back to town council. Why? Because her proposal includes building a depot at the landfill, which is town land.
Will this saga ever end? Who knows. What all of us do know is that the cans, bottles, plastic containers, cardboard and countless other recyclables will continue to pile up at our beautiful landfill.
Fortunately for Inuvik residents, there's somebody already there, sorting out the trash.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh cho Drum
Dim the lights, put on the soft music and let's take a trip down memory lane.
It's 2001, and that's Tom Wilson sitting in the Fort Simpson mayor's chair. He and his council are certain they're getting a raw deal through the Department of Municipal and Community Affair's (MACA) financing formula.
Mayor and council have a MACA senior financial advisor appear before them in council chambers. The bureaucrat explains how reverting to hamlet status would not stop the community's financial woes. The loss in tax revenue will be greater than the gains in formula funding as a hamlet. As well, MACA will assume decision-making power over capital projects priced at $100,000 or more.
The hamlet deal looks great for homeowners and businesses because they'll save a bundle in property taxes. The problem is, there's only about 120 of them in the community of 1,250 people.
Back to the downside, as a hamlet, Fort Simpson will no longer be in position to gain from a future population boom and increasing tax revenues.
But, many residents say, that senior financial advisor works for MACA, so he's biased. He's giving us skewed information.
The allegation lingers.
Raymond Michaud and a new council are elected. They too are feeling the pinch of what they deem to be an unfair formula funding policy.
After meeting the minister of MACA, council convinces the department to pay for an independent village versus hamlet analysis. It's a move that should put a end to persisting doubts.
North of 60's Andrew Gaule, a Fort Simpson resident, drafts an in-depth, 45-page report that reiterates several of the points that MACA's senior financial advisor made three and a half years ago. There are some keen new insights and a major new wrinkle: The GNWT's New Deal for Community Governments.
It could throw a major wrench into things. Gaule suggests waiting for the full picture before making a hasty decision on village versus hamlet status.
In addition, there's uncertainty over whether MACA's existing legislation would even allow the village to slide back to a hamlet. It could take at least a couple of years before such a move is approved, if ever.
Then there's Dehcho First Nations self-government. It's going to have a major impact on municipal governance, too. Unfortunately, nobody knows exactly how all that is going to work yet.
One thing is for sure, it seems, the formula financing deal stinks for Fort Simpson. That's a finding that seems to surface again and again.
Village council has passed a 2005 budget with a $831,954 deficit attached. It's a giant neon sign that exclaims, "We're broke!"
In a few weeks, the mayor and senior administrative officer will sit down with MACA officials and once again bring their attention to the funding formula. If they can prove to MACA that the village isn't throwing money away, then MACA should finally relent and give the village the "new deal" it has been waiting for.