Monday, June 20, 2005
Across Canada and the United States, the courts have been forced into action whenever the government-approved curriculum clashes with the religious beliefs of parents and public school board members.
The recent Supreme Court case from Surrey, B.C. involving children's books about same-sex parents is just one of many examples.
A petition from parents and Chief Frank Andrew in Tulita calling for religious instruction in school adds another chapter to the debate.
The territorial government allows for religious instruction in school, although it must be separate from the public school system. It must also adhere to the Alberta schools curriculum which our territory uses.
Some people in the community, including their MLA Norman Yakeleya, feel that Chief Albert Wright school should teach religion.
This is fine, but a petition containing only 29 signatures in a community of 500 does not indicate overwhelming support for the idea.
Proponents will either have to start their own school or convince the entire community to opt out of the public school system.
For now, in a territory that boasts a paltry 45.3 per cent graduation rate, we would argue that reading, writing, and arithmetic should take precedence over all else.
Nursing shortages and clinic closures are nothing new around the NWT.
The latest crunch could come in the Sahtu, according to the former manager of health and social services. The first community to be hit is Norman Wells where only one regular nurse will be on duty starting today. Fort Good Hope will experience a similar situation in August if one of the nurses there gets to take vacation.
The government says it will fill positions with nurses hired on temporary contracts.
It's true they have the same training and qualifications, but they don't have the connection to the community. Without that, the nurses are just more southern transplants, in town to make some big bucks. It makes it difficult to develop the trust necessary for the level of communication that has to exist between nurse and patient.
There may be enough bodies to fill the positions, but like Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya says, the government has to do more to get permanent staff in place.
Increased polar bear quotas announced by the Nunavut government in January brought cheers from Inuit hunters and jeers from conservationists.
Now, government biologists are recommending quotas be changed back to 2004 levels for Baffin Bay and Foxe Basin populations and cut by half for western Hudson Bay.
A study of the Hudson Bay bears showed the population has dropped to 1,000 animals from 1,200 over the last decade. Early ice breakup due to global warming is being blamed.
Canadian Wildlife Service biologist Ian Stirling says unregulated hunting from Greenland combined with Canadian harvesting quotas are more than the Baffin Bay population can handle.
As well, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has officially asked for clarification on Nunavut's bear quotas.
This will help the U.S. determine if American hunters can bring polar bear trophies back into the States, as they can now.
Seeing as each bear tag sold to sport hunters, the majority of them American, brings $20,000 to Nunavut communities, and the importance of the bears to Inuit life, there's a lot at stake.
The initial decision to increase bear quotas was based largely on traditional knowledge. There's precious little scientific data available on bear populations to balance what Inuit elders and hunters are seeing on the land.
A three-year study is expected to begin this year on Davis Strait populations. More is needed throughout the territory.
Solid, fact-based population numbers are essential to setting quotas. Biologists need to lead, but they should hire hunters to do much of the work, because they know the land and know where the bears are.
Use of traditional knowledge is one of the cornerstones of the land claim. The agreement also calls for "systems of wildlife management that provide optimum protection to the renewable resource economy."
That has to mean Inuit and biologists working together on the land and in the boardroom to agree on the size and health of polar bear populations, and all wildlife. Tradition and science can work together. In Nunavut, they must.
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
The dissolution of the Inuvik Recycling Society was a sad last chapter in a saga illustrating government mismanagement and what can happen when one wears too many hats.
While Barb Armstrong, the last acting president, wanted to celebrate the society's achievements over its five-and-a-half-year history, her disappointment regarding recent events is evident.
She is wife of Albert Bernhardt - owner of AB Salvage and recycling pioneer in the Northwest Territories. Her dedication to Inuvik Recycling Society is clear, although her involvement with Bernhardt's landfill operations often made it difficult to determine who she represented when appearing in a public forum.
As well, many people in town were under the mistaken belief that Albert and Barb were somehow profiting on the recycling operation run by AB Salvage at the dump. This was further muddied by Armstrong's recent attempt to persuade the town to allow a bottle depot at the landfill, something which could have been misinterpreted as a ploy to profit from recent GNWT legislation.
However, anyone who has done any kind of research on the subject of recycling knows that even in the best of times, such operations barely break even. Combine that with Inuvik's distance from any viable marketplace for such items and you can forget about making any coin on selling aluminum or cardboard.
Governments miss the boat: surprised?
With that in mind, one has to consider why on earth the GNWT would offer a bottle recovery depot contract for proposals when it had a logical operation - already up and running - to engage directly.
So the GNWT dropped the ball and the Town of Inuvik had a chance, but failed to pick it up and make a winning play.
Though the town line is that it supports recycling, when its support really counted the town came up with a lame duck excuse: it did not want to compete with private business.
Translation: a bottle depot on town land did not create a level playing field for other businesses interested in the contract. Only one other business expressed any interest.
Before recycling had such a high-profile in Inuvik, all garbage, including glass, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, tetra packs and cardboard was buried in the landfill.
This is the same landfill operated by whomever held that contract issued by the town.
Now that these items are classed as recyclables, the logic that the town can somehow wash its hands of them doesn't really follow. Called garbage and buried: town's department. Called recyclables and separated: not the town's department. A bit confusing. A little like trying to figure out which hat one is wearing and when, and then if it really matters at all.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
A few weeks ago, director George Lucas rolled out what is thought to be the final instalment in his Star Wars saga. As expected, the film is chock full of sensational special effects.
The Deh Cho answer to that pop culture juggernaut came on June 7, when the Bridge Corporation hit the play button on a computer and launched its DVD. The animated footage illustrating how the bridge will be constructed and the way it will look upon completion was a hit. The Bridge Corporation didn't have Lucas' budget, Darth Vader nor Chewbacca, but then again George Lucas' masterpiece lacked lively fiddle music and Dene drumming.
Of course Lucas' creative genius is based on science fiction. The bridge, on the other hand, is supposed to be grounded in reality. There is genuine excitement in Fort Providence over the project. Yet there also seems to be growing cynicism among some observers that it will ever get off the ground. Looking back over 2003 and 2004, there were several false predictions that construction would begin by spring, then summer, then autumn.
Projects of this magnitude often fall behind schedule. The Bridge Corporation has faced hurdles in nailing down permits a a common stumbling block in the NWT. It has been challenged with finalizing an ownership agreement with the territorial government. It has also, most importantly, been conducting consultations and benefits meetings within the community. Ensuring that residents of Fort Providence come out ahead is critical. All of these things are time consuming.
The Bridge Corporation now has a very impressive DVD in hand that can be widely distributed. But the sequel must be to get this show on the road. When the concrete is finally poured, maybe then the Bridge Corporation will make believers of the disbelievers.
May the force be with them.
It's nighttime, but there's still light pouring through the bedroom window.
No matter, you're tired and you start to drift off to sleep only to be jarred by the high-pitched hum of a mosquito's wings. How did that little bugger get in here? More importantly, where did it go?
If you've spent too much time searching the room for the diminutive blood-thirsty terror, well, you're not alone.
There is concern that mosquitoes may bring West Nile Virus to the NWT. But that seems like a long shot compared to the odds that the pesky insects will deprive you of sleep. That's bad enough.
Be gone!