Wednesday, October 26, 2005
That's the message that comes loud and clear for City Hall and the territorial government after a NWT Supreme Court Justice ruled Sherry Boulet should not have been thrown in jail in September.
The judge found that the city has been breaking the Criminal Code for the past nine years by arresting people for unpaid fines.
How the city got away with it for so long remains a mystery, but now the law is clearly defined and it's time for change. First of all, we hope the city instructs its legal counsel to stay on top of changes in the law so it is in compliance. Second, the territorial government has to act to make sure people who do owe fines are made to pay.
Whether it's through forgetfulness or downright defiance, dozens of traffic fines go unpaid each year.
The answer, as we wrote not very long ago is to tie the NWT licensing system into a fine database.
That way, no one will be able to renew their vehicle registration or driver's licence without paying off the fines they owe for breaking the law.
Not every old building is worthy of being preserved. As some Yellowknifers mourn the loss of Slant 6 and the old laundry in Old Town, it's time to come up with a plan for heritage preservation.
Both structures are featured in a heritage walk brochure, but neither was designated a heritage building.
Both were torn down to make way for a new development by owner Les Rocher. He had preliminary discussions about moving both, but the heritage committee was unable to do anything, so down they went.
Before anyone gets out their anti-development rhetoric, consider that we cannot expect private citizens alone to preserve heritage buildings.
Aside from the desire to save these pieces of the past, given the expense of moving and preserving these structures, careful discussion and planning is necessary before spending any money.
With the laundry and Slant 6 now gone, it's up to the city heritage committee and council to begin planning which buildings should be saved and how to pay for the work needed to keep Yellowknife's history alive.
That way, the next time a building is in danger of demolition, there's a way to save structures that should be kept as symbols of the city's past.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The spectre of too many bingos for a community to support without children going hungry or bills not being paid is raising its ugly head once again.
This time around the concerns are coming from Baker Lake.
We all know the paradox bingo has become in the Kivalliq.
On one hand, the vast majority of our hamlet recreational departments depend on bingo revenues to run effective programming.
Left solely to the budgets councils are able to designate to them, our region's recreation co-ordinators and committee members would soon be slashing programs at every turn.
But that's just the tip of the problem.
Numerous charitable and non-profit organizations depend on bingo revenues to keep offering their services.
We have athletic teams in every hamlet that need bingo-and-Nevada revenues if they ever hope to travel to tournaments or attend territorial events.
Even the vast majority of our schools must turn to bingo revenues in order to grow and support their extracurricular activities.
These are all worthwhile causes that need funding, and are deserving of approval when they seek their lottery licence.
However, try explaining that to a child who hasn't eaten in two days, or a person who became the victim of a spouse's rage after losing the entire monthly family income pulling the tabs from Nevada tickets.
The Christian Pastors of Baker Lake have taken their concerns to Community and Government Services (C&GS) Minister Levinia Brown in hopes of gaining her support.
It may be time for Baker's hamlet council to impose a limit on the number of games that can be held in the community each week.
Even knocking it down to two or three would, at least, begin the process of tackling the gambling problem many in the community believe has grown out of control.
We're quite certain C&GS, along with the Consumers Affairs Division, would honour any such written request from hamlet council.
And, as Brown indicated to Mayor David Aksawnee, council should also take the time to put together a thoughtful set of guidelines to help government departments prioritize the lengthy list of lottery applicants.
Such moves are not going to erase the problem of gambling in Baker overnight, but they will show that council cares about the overall health of the community.
Yes, it will be sad to see some worthy organizations shut out of the bingo lottery by a reduction in the number of weekly games allowed.
However, such sacrifice will eventually lead to smiling little faces fuelled by full tummies and happy families.
It will be a slow process, but the damage done by gambling addiction can be halted and, eventually, healed.
For community leaders in Baker Lake, now is a good time to start.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
Easter Island is a small and remote land mass located in the South Pacific.
Without trees and containing massive stone statues, some weighing up to 270 tons, the place was of great interest to anthropologists who wondered how on earth such huge objects, carved out of stone from an extinct volcano, could have been moved into place.
Well, the popular theory today about how and why, with respect to the statues and their creators, revolves around short-sightedness.
Population on the island peaked at around 15,000, so say the experts, and these inhabitants were divided amongst 11 clans. As well, research has shown that when inhabitants first arrived at the island - most likely from Polynesia - the place was covered by a subtropical forest made up of a now-extinct palm tree, the tallest of its kind that survives today in a smaller version known as the Chilean wine palm.
Anyway, intense competition amongst the clans was expressed by seeing which clan could erect the biggest statue to honour their gods. It is said that the tall palm trees were cut down and used as sledges to drag the stones from the volcano to wherever they would be placed. This went on for quite some time and, as clans were constantly trying to outdo each other, eventually all the trees were cut down.
Of course with the trees gone, Pacific winds blew away all the farmable soil, the birds decided to leave and inhabitants began eating all the animals who couldn't flee until they were gone, too.
Since all the wood was used up, the ability to make canoes to aid in catching fish disappeared. What a situation.
So what the heck does this story have to do with this region and goings on here?
Well, if the Environment and Natural Resources caribou numbers are correct, serious considerations must be made with respect to how we are harvesting those animals. If we're not careful, they could disappear, just like the trees on Easter island.
Please keep in mind that I'm in no way trying to compare the building of useless statues to sustenance hunting.
Apples and oranges. If anything, to the people here the caribou are only somewhat similar to what the trees meant to the Easter Islanders. The difference between the two situations, is that we know what the significance of the caribou is in the cultural, spiritual and ecological senses, while those Easter Islanders thought it was all about the statues, never giving a second thought to the trees until it was too late.
So we've got a few advantages over those statue-obsessed Easter Island residents, in particular our knowledge of the caribou's significance and our ability to impact various herds through selective harvesting. Certainly harvesting alone has not caused the population decline (if you believe the data presented by ENR).
Yet, harvesting is the only way hunters can positively impact the herds' numbers.
It would be a shame if one day people were only able to talk about the days of heading out on the land to hunt caribou, rather than taking their kids out to experience for themselves what has been forever a part of this region's culture.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
The Liard River ferry strike/lock-out is creating dreadful friction in Fort Simpson.
Motorists are confronted with the labour dispute every time they board or disembark the ferry. The replacement workers are constantly being reminded by union members - sometimes in very blunt terms - that they are not appreciated.
Here are a few more observations:
There were, nevertheless, at least a few tourists reportedly stranded in Fort Simpson during the two days the ferry was shut down. That's the purpose of strikes: to make people realize that a service is crucial.
Quite contradictory, wouldn't you say?