Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 15/05) - NWT communities will get nearly $40 million in federal money to spend how they see fit, but a delivery formula based partly on population is getting mixed reviews.

The money represents the NWT share of Ottawa's $120-million Northern Strategy, which Prime Minister Paul Martin announced last December, saying it would help provide a vision for Canada's Arctic. Of the NWT's $40 million, a plan announced last week would see communities receive $35 million to address priorities at the grassroots level.

Of the remaining $5 million, $4 million will go to housing and $1 million to health and youth programming.

"We're not going to ask too many questions," Premier Joe Handley said on Monday.

The proposed allocation method is based on a combination of a base amount of $606,000 and about $350 per person. This formula would see Yellowknife receive about $7.25 million, while Kakisa, whose 40 residents comprise the NWT's smallest community, would get $620,000.

Community governments that directly retain money from property taxes include Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson.

According to 2004 GNWT population estimates, these communities house 73 per cent of the territories' people. They would get about 41 per cent of the $35 million.

Sachs Harbour's Andy Carpenter Sr. said GNWT bureaucrats had told him the strategy money would be distributed differently.

"I thought that tax-based communities were going to get a bit less than non-tax based communities," the mayor of the 120-person community said. "A lump sum was what we were looking for, not by individual communities."

Fort Providence senior administrative officer Albert Lafferty likes the proposed formula.

"It's much better than what we've seen in the past," he said, adding often none of the money in federal announcements seemed to reach the community level.

He thinks the base funding of $606,000 is "a good start in trying to be fair about it."

Newly-elected Behchoko Chief Leon Lafferty thinks the funds going to smaller communities may not accomplish much.

"The money they're given is really not enough money to deal with anything on their own," he said. "Hay River, they've got everything, just like Yellowknife."

He thinks the money should have been used to improve infrastructure in the most needy communities before being distributed territory-wide.

"I'm not really upset, but I think (the GNWT) should have had a better plan," he said.

If last week's plan is approved in the legislative assembly this October, communities could get the money as soon as Nov. 1. Handley said communities will have the option of taking the money in a lump sum, or over three years.