Friday, February 11, 2005
Finance Minister Floyd Roland told Yellowknifer the deal fell apart because BHP and Diavik aren't meeting their promises to supply the cutting and polishing industry in Yellowknife with enough rough diamonds. He accused the two mining companies of providing only 25 percent of what they had previously pledged. He also said many diamonds they are supplying are unsuitable.
BHP told Yellowknifer quite the opposite. The commitment to the diamond cutting and polishing industry in Yellowknife is being met, company representatives state emphatically.
The company insists it is offering more diamonds than the cutting houses can handle. Who is the public to believe?
We don't have that answer, but we do know the background. It is a fact the diamond producers have resisted supplying a secondary diamond industry in the NWT from day one. It's a fact New York City, Tel Aviv and Antwerp, all high-priced urban centres, have thriving cutting and polishing industries.
While we respect the desire of the diamond mines to do business as they see fit, we don't accept their way is the only way. BHP, Diavik and De Beers are all high profile community boosters in Yellowknife. Still, we demand they hire Northern people, Northern contractors and use Yellowknife as their main hiring base.
Supplying rough diamonds at market value is simply another requirement that in no way undermines their ability to make hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
Sadly, the territorial government seems at a loss to act. It's not clear if the territorial cabinet believes the secondary diamond industry is even viable.
When the legislative assembly opened Wednesday, Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay announced his intention to get some answers on the secondary diamond industry from the government over the next few weeks.
This is good news. Ramsay was on the original diamond task force in 1997. That means he knows how far we have come in establishing Yellowknife as the Diamond Capital of North America, and have yet to go.
Ramsay must continually remind cabinet of its duty. The global mining executives can be expected to fiercely protect the interests of thousands of their shareholders.
Cabinet must do the same for its 43,000 shareholders living in the NWT.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The fact Team Baffin may not compete for the 2005 junior "C" Challenge Cup in Rankin Inlet next month due to the lack of a coach is almost incomprehensible.
The junior "C" program has enjoyed tremendous success during its first two years of existence.
The players have enjoyed competing for the Cup in Nunavut and travelling east to vie for the Atlantic-Northern junior "C" championship.
Fans in Rankin and Iqaluit have been treated to some extremely entertaining action and players in the lower ranks of minor hockey have been given something to work towards as they grow older.
In fact, with the Kitikmeot announcing it will be challenging for the title this year, this should have been the Challenge Cup's finest hour to date.
This is not even to mention the fact Hockey Nunavut may get the nod to host the 2007 Atlantic-Northern championship, which would be an historic day for Northern hockey.
But, as is often the case with any activity in Nunavut that doesn't pay a stipend, the lack of people willing to give of their time is threatening to undermine the accomplishments of a handful of volunteers during the past few years.
What does it take to get more Nunavummiut interested in helping out with these programs?
This is the territorial capital we're talking about, and not one adult has the wherewithal to step up and help out with a successful hockey program?
Let's fast-forward the clock a bit and assume no coach is found and Team Baffin does not manage to compete.
Could anyone really blame those 21 young men for walking around with a chip on their shoulders when nobody cared enough about them to help with their program?
It is getting increasingly difficult to keep a straight face when government or Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. leaders state publicly that we need more for our youth to do.
The first thing these leaders need to do is find enough people who care that their youth have little or nothing to do.
Of course, every time they offer $100 a day, free meals and an airline ticket to the host community, they get all sorts of people willing to meet and talk about the problems facing our youth.
The trouble is, these same people pull a disappearing act that would make David Copperfield proud when they return to their own communities.
Hockey is but one sport and the dilemma facing Team Baffin is but one example of the dire shortage of volunteers in Nunavut.
However, all Nunavummiut should be embarrassed if the youth on this team are denied the opportunity to compete due to the lack of one single adult willing to volunteer their time and help out.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Does the territorial government need to spend upwards of $20 million on a new elementary school in Inuvik or would a retrofit at a fraction of the cost be sufficient?
One really has to question the logic of a territorial government already strapped for cash even thinking of building a new facility to replace Sir Alexander Mackenzie school (SAMS).
There are plenty of reasons why this doesn't make sense but one of the most compelling is that it would force the community daycare, currently housed at SAMS, to seek a new home.
Daycare proponents are talking about the need to raise $1 million to build a new facility if SAMS goes the way of the dodo and many are left wondering where this magic money tree is going to come from to make everything OK again.
The scenario does not have to play out like this.
Take the petition for rent control, for example. Though legislation could be months away, if it comes at all, at least the folks in Yellowknife got the message loud and clear.
Maybe a petition to save SAMS school should be circulated, with an added clause that any money saved by going the route of a retrofit be pumped back into the actual task of educating the town's children.
Almost a full year after the high school foyer roof came crashing down under the weight of accumulated snow, the school has yet to be completely repaired. The facility went through some tough times last year, including a gymnasium fire shortly after the roof incident.
Meanwhile, students attending Samuel Hearne secondary school (SHSS) are without a functioning library more than halfway through their 2004/05 school year.
What's wrong with this picture?
Perhaps it's time once again to let the elected officials know that their responsibility is to take care of the people who elected them and that children's education and safety should not be compromised by the bottom line.
The basic argument for replacing the elementary school is that a new building would outlast a retrofitted one; basically a "more bang for the buck" take.
If the government really wants to get more for its money, it should channel funding towards curriculum and teaching materials rather than nailing up another bland corrugated steel building.
SAMS school has stood for more than 40 years and with the right care and attention it would probably outlast us all.
As well, the school could qualify as an historic site. Most would agree that the town just wouldn't be the same without SAMS.
Unfortunately, we live in a disposable society and this attitude has permeated to the point where the new and shiny most often trump the old but reliable.
And at what cost?
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh cho Drum
Sometimes perplexing thoughts go through one's mind, other times they're inane. Here are a few examples of what I've pondered lately:
Canadian sports fans' dreams are about to come true with Bell Globemedia, Roger's Communications and CTV being awarded Olympic broadcast rights in 2010 and 2012.
Among the networks, which include TSN and Sportsnet, there will be blanket coverage. That means Canucks can avoid turning to the U.S. stations for programming. We won't have to listen to as much American bias, but instead the more objective - or "slanted the way we prefer it" - commentary from Canadian sportscasters.
The CBC, which has provided fine Olympics broadcasts over the years, came across a little bitter in some news reports of its failed bid. One reporter's perspective made it sound like the private networks ganged up and unfairly spent more money than the CBC could offer (which would have come out of taxpayers' pockets, of course). Apparently the ones offering the more extensive coverage and better product won. Imagine that!
The "Mother Corp." may have some history and tradition in Olympics coverage, but it certainly didn't have a lock on being the official broadcaster of the Olympics 'til the end of time.
Will the Fort Simpson Tsunami swim team change its name in light of the tragedy in southern Asia? I'm not suggesting it should be switched, but most of the team members are children and they will certainly have a negative association with tsunamis now.
The club's name isn't unique; many swim teams use the same or similar nicknames. The monikers aren't really meant to glorify a force of nature that can cause so much death and destruction.
Athletic teams - other than those with historical monikers (the Philadelphia 76ers and San Francisco 49ers immediately come to mind) - commonly project fierce images by adopting meteorological events or predators for nicknames.
There are many examples: the Sacramento Surge, the Carolina and Miami Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the San Jose Storm and so on.
It's just that every once in a while we're reminded of how awesomely powerful and violent those phenomenon can be.
On the other hand, the benign Fort Simpson Flotsam just wouldn't cut it.
Anyone who accuses anyone else of "not thinking outside the box" is a hypocrite. The phrase has become trite. If you want to be truly innovative or creative, come up with a fresh variation of that cliche. Of course that would also qualify me a hypocrite as there are more than a few cliches found on these pages each week.
How is it that expiry dates, or even "best before dates" have come to be so precise? How can a food company actually predict that my salad dressing won't taste so good as of May 18, 2006? Will they eventually narrow that down to the minute?
The church in Aklavik identified as the "old Anglican Church" in the Jan. 27 issue of the Inuvik Drum is in fact a Catholic Church.
The Drum regrets any confusion this may have caused.