The sun came up as usual Thursday morning. People went to work. Kids went to school.

Canadians did not don black arm bands or go into fits of mourning the day after National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman cancelled the season.

Everyone had already resigned themselves to a year without watching the world's best hockey league so the announcement came as no big shock.

Many people will miss the games. Hockey Night in Canada has become a tradition.

Sharing a cold one while cheering on your team and grumping at the referees or those hated (insert team nickname here) will have to wait a while. Maybe until next September. Maybe longer.

The real tragedy in this sad affair is the realization that the NHL is a business, a very big business at that. We knew that on a basic level, but the mystique surrounding the NHL, the Stanley Cup and the icons of the game made it something more.

But no longer.

Professional hockey, the NHL, is all about money. Team owners want profit. Players want a share of the take.

And when the NHL does resume play, it will seem diminished, less magical. The heroes of Canada's national winter sport will be less heroic, more human.

Greed has killed our innocence.

The hype surrounding Yellowknife's bid for the 2008 Arctic Winter Games is starting to build, but there's going to be a lot more needed if we're going to impress the judges into awarding us the event.

The president of the Games International Committee said the event isn't awarded on facilities alone.

The South Slave bid, while it may be lacking the large facilities the NWT capital boasts, is certainly ahead on enthusiasm.

And for the selection committee, that has as much weight as first-class infrastructure.

It's up to the sports community - athletes, coaches, teams and organizations - to create enthusiasm for this event.

And it's up to the business community to step in and say "we're behind this and we're willing to contribute."

We want to host the 2008 Games, so let's get out and show it!

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

You will have to forgive my rather slanted sense of humour, but tears of laughter were streaming down my face earlier this month as I listened to a bevy of media types trying to get a discernible answer out of the communications folks at Transport Canada concerning the department's suspension of Skyward Aviation Ltd.'s air-operator certificate in Manitoba.

Transport Canada's concerns, apparently, were based on Skyward's ability (read: inability) to exercise operational control.

Now there's a far-reaching spectrum for you.

Operational control can range from the keeping of proper records all the way up to training and, gasp, aircraft maintenance.

Of course, Transport Canada wasn't about to risk legal action from a private company by revealing just what its concerns were at the time.

Excuse them if people who are willing to pay good money to go hurling through the air in a metal cylinder would like to know if their crew is properly trained, or if a mechanic has inspected the plane during the past year.

I've had my suspicions for the past five years that the Nunavut government is actually modelling itself after Transport Canada when it comes to the issuing of information.

The formula is pretty effective if you don't want John Q. Public to know what's going on.

When the questions first start coming, you simply talk for an hour without really saying anything.

You also have a plethora of old standbys to fall back on - can't talk about it while the matter's before the courts, still under investigation, still looking into it, falls under the Privacy Act, a private company is involved, etc., etc.

Then you simply wait until enough time elapses for nobody to remember the questions or care about the answers before you send out a brief fax at 5:05 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.

I will give Transport Canada one slight edge over the Nunavut government.

I have always received official answers to my questions from Transport Canada, albeit a year or two later, while I am still waiting for certain GN ministers and deputy ministers to figure out how that fancy new phone on their desk really works.

Yes, it would all be quite funny - except for the fact nobody's laughing.

Whether it be air-operator certificate suspensions, fuel spills, government issued gag orders, suggestions to stay away from municipal councils, unexplained fatalities, questionable real estate deals or a bad case of gas - there is no humour to be found in this type of silence.

However, if you want a real belly laugh or some top-notch entertainment, sit down with your favourite politician, bureaucrat or "media relations" type and get their take on the public's right to know.

I can feel my cheeks getting wet already!

Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum

When Inuvik residents hear the word youth, several images come to mind, some positive and others negative.

Each week, news about various youth activities appear in the pages of the Drum. Focusing on the positive, there's student of the week and stories from the elementary school's literacy lunches as well as coverage of extracurricular sports, in school and in the community.

And every once in a while, there's a negative story about youth. This week it's vandalism at the bank, perpetrated by a group of wandering teens, out way past their bedtimes. Last year about this time, it was the cab drivers who were fed up with youth pelting their cars with snowballs.

We haven't had any stories of youth stealing snowmobiles this winter, but then, there's a lot of winter left.

Unfortunately, it is these images of the town's youth that tend to overshadow all the positive contributions kids make to the community through their scholastic successes, sports accolades and volunteer work.

After witnessing the results of ongoing vandalism at the bank over the past several weeks, on many occasions I was forced to wipe a smirk from my face. Not because I found the vandalism itself particularly amusing but due mostly to my amazement at its relentless nature.

First there was the graffiti and the paint-job to cover it up. Then the smashed drywall that was barely replaced for a day before it was adorned, once again, in profanities. Imagine if these youth channelled their efforts into something productive.

Then keep imagining a Lennon-esque world where there's no wars and all that other sugarplums in fairyland nonsense. Now back to reality.

To the kids responsible their handi-work must have seemed a big joke, but nobody is going to be laughing 10 years down the line when the same youths, all grown up, are facing a judge for irresponsible adult behaviour.

Try to explain it in these terms to the perpetrators and one is sure to be the subject of ridicule.

Oh, the youthful exuberance...

Right about here should be the perfunctory paragraph about parental responsibility or lack thereof.

But what is the point of making mention of it again? It would be like preaching to the choir.

Speaking about the situation in terms of restitution to the bank, an Inuvik RCMP corporal said the Crown would most likely ask for it but whether or not the court would order such a thing was another matter altogether.

Not to mention the fact that if restitution was ordered, would the guilty actually comply?

Until somebody comes up with a solution to this problem of wayward youth and their wanton destruction of property, we'd all better keep a can of paint and a good supply of drywall handy.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh cho Drum

Without good communication, any relationship will fall apart.

That's not rocket science, but keeping the lines of communication open can be hard work.

The relationship in question today isn't one between two people, it's one between two entities: the Village of Fort Simpson and the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department.

The parties had become estranged, drifting apart over the past few years. They met Monday to keep smouldering embers from sparking into a full-blown inferno.

Fire Chief Pat Rowe warned village council last November that the volunteer brigade's inadequate emergency equipment is at a critical stage. He said it would take a death to get council to act.

In April 2003, the volunteer firefighters showed up en masse at a council meeting to protest village council's idea of privatizing the ambulance service. The department had not been consulted first.

At the Feb. 7 council meeting, there was an agenda item regarding the absence of any billing statements for ambulance calls. Senior administrative officer Bernice Swanson noted that the fire chief had not submitted ambulance service work orders since February 2004. Mayor Raymond Michaud wondered aloud if Rowe was mad at council.

Coun. Norm Prevost said Rowe should be considered village personnel and the issue should therefore be discussed in camera, which it was. Then last Monday's meeting was arranged. It was undoubtedly held behind closed doors - council's decision - because there was potential for fireworks. Fortunately, it seems things went relatively smoothly.

Village council and the fire department both rely on dedicated individuals who, ideally, take on the role because they want to help others.

The fire department comprises men and women who spend countless hours training and responding to fire calls (often false alarms), even at ungodly hours.

Village council consists of elected men and women who earn a modest honorarium. They are bestowed with the trust of bettering the community.

With two groups that mean so well, what could go wrong? Basically they had lost touch. Their few face-to-face meetings were tinged with hostility.

Both sides have taken responsibility for the lengthy lapses in communication. They figuratively took an axe and broke down the door between them on Monday afternoon. Whether the issues they identified will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction remains to be seen - but it was most definitely a necessary meeting.

Mayor Michaud's words a day later inspire hope that things will improve:

"The fire department, we have to realize, are extremely important to the community," he said. "We have to improve the communication gap."

Hear! hear!

This emphasis on communication ought to be adopted by everyone. There are plenty of departments, elected officials, bureaucrats, band members and taxpayers who all fail to talk or sit down and draft a well-thought-out letter.

That would save a everyone involved a lot of grief.