Wednesday, June 15, 2005
And city administration appears hell-bent on blasting more rock and bulldozing more trees. Many residents are up in arms over the residential growth study and its recommendation to build new homes on dwindling swaths of the city currently zoned nature preserve and parkland.
At a public meeting last Wednesday, most of the 175 people in attendance spoke out against the plan. A Yellowknifer phone poll shows similar opposition (results on page 9).
Given council's development track record, it's doubtful they will heed the message. With blinders fully in place, they want to blast and build as fast as people move into town.
However, rather than destroy the rocks and trees that give Yellowknife character, council should be working with the Yellowknives Dene.
Don't hold your breath on that one. Although council talks about co-operating with the Yellowknives, it refuses to recognize aboriginal title when it comes to Commissioner's land within city limits. Rather than talk government-to-government with the Yellowknives, the city prefers bureaucrat-to-bureaucrat talks with the territorial government to steal a few hectares here and there. Then it wonders why the Yellowknives are upset.
Like it or not, the Dene First Nation will soon be Yellowknife's largest landowner, and that could come when land selection is complete this fall. When the city begins to treat the Yellowknives Dene as ownership partners, there might be some hope for proper planning in the city. Right now, the city is sticking its head in the sand amid a development crisis.
Why not encourage development at the sand pits? Why not pave the streets of Ndilo as an investment in a future partnership? Encourage and provide the resources to the Yellowknives, something the territorial government has failed to do.
Southern development companies want to partner with the Yellowknives Dene. Why not the City of Yellowknife?
Only by working with the Yellowknives will the city open up new land for development, without sacrificing the parks and natural spaces we should all hold dear.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
It appears the top guns in Nunavut's slowly evolving film industry have borrowed a page from Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow's book on how to bring a good thing to a screeching halt.
The good folks at Igloolik Isuma Productions are upset at what they claim to be Nunavut Film's inability to contribute to their filmmaking projects.
Isuma claims to have paid out $350,000 in Nunavut wages this past year, for which it received a labour rebate of a meagre $12,000.
The lack of financial help from the Government of Nunavut (GN) has led to Isuma laying off five employees.
More disturbing is Isuma's claim to have entered the 2005-06 fiscal year with no funding help from the GN, nor from other avenues such as the Community Initiatives program, Brighter Futures, etc.
On the surface, this lack of financial support for one of Nunavut's top players in a growing industry is staggering.
In fact, taken at face value, it's almost as if Isuma is being punished for the outstanding job it's done during the past decade.
Not all that long ago, there was a cry of indignation across Nunavut when it became known how little of the feature film Snow Walker was planned to be shot in the Kivalliq.
Well, don't look now, but when filming starts during the summer of 2006 on Isuma's $3.5-million feature, Before Tomorrow, the cameras may be rolling in Quebec, not Nunavut.
While 2006 sounds far off, Isuma will be locked into the film's location by this September, based primarily on the film's financing breakdown.
Isuma requires a commitment of $350,000, or 10 per cent of the film's budget, over two fiscal years from Nunavut Film.
That $350,000 would allow Isuma to spend 49 per cent of the budget and $700,000 on labour in Nunavut.
Without the commitment, Isuma turns to Quebec tax credits and the Societe de Developpement des Enterprises Culturelles (SODEC) to increase Quebec's commitment to 26 per cent of the total budget from its current 16 per cent.
It goes without saying SODEC will only consider the increase if Isuma agrees to film in Quebec, using mostly Nunavik labour.
Under that scenario, Isuma claims it could only spend 10 per cent of the film's entire budget in Nunavut.
To make matters worse, Isuma has indicated in its correspondence with the GN that Nunavut Film thinks the company is bluffing about filming in northern Quebec.
Whatever red tape is at the core of this latest spat between Isuma and the GN, it's time for the two to get on the same page and come up with a fair, balanced system that works for everyone.
We, also, don't believe Isuma really wants to film almost entirely in Quebec.
But we also believe the company will do just that, if financially forced to do so.
What we can't believe, is how the sight of Igloolik Isuma Productions leaving Nunavut labour behind while it heads for La Belle Province benefits anyone other than Quebec!
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Last week an MLA suggested that consumers from the NWT, and perhaps even those from all three territories, should be exempt from paying the GST.
Which brings to mind the old saying about life's certainties amounting to nothing more than "death and taxes."
Add another one to the list: there will always be those who complain about the unfairness of those inevitabilities.
Sure it costs more to live here - as the MLA in question argued - but as every politician, public servant and professional working in the territory should know, the earning potential is also much higher here than anywhere else.
That said, the seven per cent surcharge on goods and services is really a small price to pay, especially if that money (and then some) ultimately comes back to the region.
For the amount of money it costs to run the territories each year, it could be argued that its citizens should be paying more in taxes.
If the annual national budget is roughly $165 billion, divided amongst the country's 30 million people, that works out to $5,500 for every man, woman and child.
Then consider the billion-or-so in federal dollars spent on operating the territory each year and it amounts to nearly five times the money Ottawa spends on everybody else.
So suggesting that exempting the territories' consumers from the GST would help level the playing field is just plain ridiculous.
From a beancounter's perspective, the field is already tilted so heavily in the NWT's favour, it's amazing we don't roll over ourselves trying to get to work in the morning.
The GNWT would be better off focusing its attention on getting an improved revenue sharing deal from Ottawa rather than trying to push this nickel-and-dime stuff through.
In other GNWT news...
After returning from Japan, the boss of the newly-minted Industry, Tourism and Investment ministry thinks it would be a good idea to lease some office space in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.
Why?
To promote the Northern Lights to practitioners of the Shinto faith, who hold the natural phenomenon in high mystical regard.
Basically, Shinto is an ancient animistic religion, born in Japan, that attaches spiritual significance to rocks, trees, shrubbery and the like.
To make a long story short, Japanese people believe that it is good luck to conceive children under the aurora borealis' glow.
After spending time in Tokyo, perhaps a more important point should have dawned on the tourism minister - the remarkably clean and litter-free atmosphere of a city that houses more than 10 million people. No trash blowing around the laneways or greenspaces.
Instead of spending money the government doesn't really have for office space in Tokyo, why not try and do something about the litter problem in our own backyards, for tourism's sake?
Maybe NWT residents have become numb to it, but for visitors to our community, the tin cans and broken port bottles don't really make a good first impression.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
Do you suffer from pipeline fatigue?
This isn't a commercial pitch offering a quick and easy fix to the dizzying volume of concerns based on the proposed Mackenzie Valley mega-project. It's more of a rhetorical question.
Yet another pipeline workshop was held in Fort Simpson last week. This time the focus was on social problems that the project may instigate or inflame.
There is no simple way to deal with the myriad issues. Avoidance is the route some people are taking, but that won't help in the long run.
This industrial behemoth requires an unbelievable amount of planning. In addition to talking about it, we need the government to do something in response. The $40 million in Northern Strategy funding is a drop in the bucket, but a start. As much as $100 million more may be handed over by the federal government to deal with social and economic issues.
One of the over-arching themes to emerge from the Deh Cho social impacts workshop in Fort Simpson was that the GNWT shouldn't impose its strategies, no matter how well intended. Instead, the communities should set their own priorities.
That's fine, so long as residents remember that there's only so much money to go around.
Places where there are 50-200 people, which remarkably have their own schools, aren't likely going to get their own nurse and police presence, too. If they do, then there will be a shortfall elsewhere. The North is a vast place with relatively few people spread out over more than 30 communities. We can't have it all, so we must make sure we get what we need most.
Respecting the culture
It's sometimes terribly difficult for someone of a particular heritage to explain another culture's beliefs, especially when the residential school experience has cut a swath through Dene traditions.
The notion that some people don't want to mix baby's excrement with other waste seems to resonate. I have yet to ascertain the exact reason for that. From talking to elders, it's clear that there are baby-related practices that remain strong, such as the treatment of the umbilical cord and placenta, which are considered sacred.
As for the diapers, it's easy to shake one's head and wonder what could possess others to do something seemingly so thoughtless, something that's definitely not environmentally sound.
But as one scratches the surface, one sometimes finds beliefs, however vague, that are different - not wrong, just different. The practice of tossing diapers into the bush wasn't a problem when cloth and moss were used on a baby's bottom. It's the "disposable" plastic diaper that has changed the equation.
There are ways to work around this dilemma, such as the solution found in Fort Providence where designated bins are erected for diapers. They are then disposed of separately.
It's a lesson learned. But the larger lesson is to keep one's mind open to different cultural perspectives. They are all around us. Sometimes one just fails to see and understand them.