Monday, February 20, 2006
Let's face it, the Mackenzie Gas Project will change the North forever.
While News/North is not privy to what was offered in the deal, we do know this: rushing to sign a weak agreement now will haunt communities along the pipeline route forever.
Some residents suggest they just didn't know enough about what the agreement offered. Former premier and community advisor Stephen Kakfwi was unequivocal, saying it "was not good enough."
So while the passions cool on both sides of the pipeline debate, Imperial Oil and community leaders must prepare for new talks. They must sit down and figure out what people didn't like and find ways to address those questions.
Talk of expropriation, finger pointing and blame will only drive the sides farther apart.
Nobody likes a troublemaker, but the Town of Inuvik has crossed the line by posting names and other information about youth banned from town facilities.
It may be effective, but it's hardly fair and likely wouldn't stand up to a human rights challenge.
With a brand new family centre and an ongoing problem with vandalism and young rascals, Inuvik's frustration is understandable.
However, banning youth from town facilities and telling everyone in the community about it are two very different things.
Under criminal law, it's illegal to identify youth charged or convicted of crimes.
In criminal cases, the evidence has stood the test of trial and a sentence is handed down.
In Inuvik, the town is using public blame to try to shame youth and their families, without right of a trial. And who's to say that the evidence supports the conviction?
It will only take one angry parent to file a complaint with the NWT Human Rights Commission or a civil lawsuit and council could end up with thousands of dollars in legal bills.
If a simple ban is not effective, try restorative justice or a dispute resolution process, or charge the teen criminally.
It's not a done deal yet, but the idea of a new commercial fishing alliance is welcome news for the East Baffin.
Clyde River, Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq have expressed interest in forming an association to compete for fishing quota off their shores.
The Baffin Fisheries Coalition (BFC) is the front-runner for fishing quotas in the region. However, Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq are running their own companies, and by combining their resources, they could lobby for more quota, quota that fishermen in the respective communities could harvest.
That means jobs, something that's often hard to come by in Nunavut.
Competition is a good thing. Right now, fishing industries in Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq are in early stages of development, but they are learning what it takes to make a successful industry work.
If they can create an alliance that can rival with the BFC, that could mean an increase in quota, and creation of more fishing jobs.
Iqaluit is carving a niche in the airplane testing market thanks to the cold.
Aviation manufacturers are figuring out that the capital is a good place to find out how their planes stand up to the cold weather the machines experience whenever they get up a few thousand metres in the air.
The constant dry, cold weather Iqaluit experiences in January and February make it an ideal destination to find out how the machines start and perform.
The easy access from southern airports, the long runway and the facilities on hand, also make it attractive.
It's not a hot market, but it's an important one, as could be seen last week when Airbus brought the world's largest passenger plane, and 50 people on hand, for five days of testing.
That brings the capital, and the territory in turn, some international exposure, and an economic boost in hotel stays, restaurant orders and likely some arts and crafts sales.
The market may not seem big, but it's a niche that Iqaluit can corner, and take advantage of.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The Kivalliq News has learned the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association (RIMHA) has asked the Western Canada Lottery Corp. to conduct a full audit/investigation into the money it feels is missing from the percentage of sales it received from the lottery booth at the local Northern store.
The RIMHA walked away from its lottery licence on Jan. 31 and the lottery booth has remained closed since then.
Minor hockey president Justin Merritt has stated on the record that he feels the organization is missing at least $10,000 from its percentage of revenues generated by sales of lottery tickets.
Merritt also issued an open public invitation to any organization or government agency to audit the books of the minor hockey association.
Hopefully, when an audit is conducted, any mistake will be found and nobody will be taken to task for the missing money.
However, if the money was misappropriated, the person(s) responsible should be held accountable.
The news the RIMHA is pursuing the matter is good news, indeed.
It's time organizations in our region start standing up and demanding answers when money is found to be missing.
The Kivalliq News has also learned a leading regional organization is investigating the possible misappropriation of money in its chain of operations.
We will continue to monitor the situation and report on it if, and when, charges are laid or any official action is announced.
As we've stated in the past, far too much money is going unaccounted for in our region and it's time for more organizations and individuals to stand up and put a stop to it.
It's in everyone's best interests for this practice to be halted once and for all.
While on the subject of the RIMHA, its board members deserve a thumbs up for the effort they put in during the midget territorial event earlier this month.
All controversy aside, the tournament was one of the most well-run hockey events in Rankin in quite some time.
The arena crew also did its part in cleaning the ice promptly to allow the vast majority of games to start on time, and the players' area was kept free of fan traffic for the entire weekend.
From what we've been told, things went just as smoothly during the territorial volleyball tournament held the same weekend.
The Rankin adult recreational hockey committee also deserves a mention of note for putting a policy in place to reduce the number of liquor-related incidents in the community during the annual Avataq Memorial tournament this coming week.
Visiting teams will be asked to put up a $500 security deposit.
The money will be returned if none of the players run afoul of the law during the weekend, but will remain in the community if a visiting player is housed for an evening by the local detachment of the RCMP.
The team will also be asked not to bring the offending player back to the next Avataq tournament.
It's a smart move (although we'd like to see the deposit a little higher) and one other communities should look at adopting when they host similar adult tournaments.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
As the Joint Review Panel (JRP) element of the Mackenzie Gas Project hearings got off to an interesting start Tuesday, opening remarks from 16 groups provided a window into what lies in store over the next year.
As chair Robert Hornal periodically held up a "Speak more slowly" sign to allow translators time to interpret proponent representatives' statements, it proved to be an unintentional sight gag that is sure to get similar laughter up and down the valley, as it received in Inuvik on day one of the JRP hearings.
But seriously folks, the JRP has been saddled with a monumental task; that is to distill a year's worth of testimony into its final report, the contents of which will be incorporated in the National Energy Board's recommendation on the fate of the pipeline.
So it is reasonable to expect questionable statements to be coming from both sides of the pipeline debate. From the proponent's side Tuesday, you had an Imperial Oil spokesperson declaring the applicant's Environmental Impact Statement as "comprehensive," which is entirely debatable. Especially when in a condensed version it states: "There will be no significant negative effects on land, water, wildlife, fish, marine mammals or birds from the project. We have plans to manage negative effects."
Certainly, both government and non-government environmental groups will be interested to hear about these plans.
And from the socio-economic activist side, expect testimony to be peppered with hyperbole.
Giving the Sierra Club of Canada's opening statement, Stephen Hazell said the pipeline would cause a "tsunami" of development that would devastate the North's environment and people. While businesses with an interest in having the pipeline built might relish this tidal wave metaphor, it also brings to mind bodies littering coastlines in southeast Asia - not a pretty picture, indeed.
And not to be outdone by the Sierra Club, Alternatives North went one step further by drawing a parallel between gas from the pipeline to the atomic bombing of Japan! In an attempt to focus the importance of the fact that some of the Delta's natural gas will end up as fuel for mining Alberta's dreaded tar sands, spokesperson Suzette Montreuil alluded to uranium mined from Port Radium, which was used to construct America's first atomic weapons.
So get ready to strap in for a year's worth of these hearings that will hopefully lean away from more doomsday scenarios and stick to providing information that will be of some real benefit.
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
This week, Fort Simpson and the Deh Cho lost a respected Metis elder.
Albertine Rodh's list of accomplishments is long. She played an influential role in many groups, from the Metis Nation to the Native Women's Association of the Northwest Territories.
By all accounts, her loss as both a leader, a friend and an important part of a family will be greatly mourned.
But with the passing of elders such as Rodh also comes the loss of chapters of history.
It's like a puzzle of a picture that tells a story, but one by one pieces are disappearing so the story becomes disjointed and difficult to understand or comprehend.
With each death, those who remain behind lose that person's life experiences and the narrative of the broader world events they lived through. We also lose their knowledge of family members they knew.
Shortly before Rodh's funeral, MLA Kevin Menicoche mentioned that one of her great skills was her knowledge of family histories. Menicoche said she could tell you who your distant relatives were and how you fit into the broader web of family relations.
With a death, knowledge like this is lost unless someone took the time to listen.
This is why it's encouraging to see events where part of the mandate is bringing youth and elders together. The importance of intergenerational contact cannot be underestimated.
It can be hard to see grandparents or older relatives as more than family members who often make good food or give nice presents. It can be even harder to get young people to spend quality time with grandparents, but it should be encouraged.
There are so many things we take for granted while they are still alive. It's easy to think you will always have the chance to ask them about family stories, to clarify the bits of family trees that you never managed to keep straight, or identify the faces in grainy old black and white photographs.
Older generations can also help us understand how society has reached the place we find ourselves in. What sacrifices, choices or mistakes were made to bring us here.
Our lives today are affected by the actions prior generations took. If we don't know what those actions were, it makes it hard to move forward.
Generations of people are nothing more than humans holding hands during a journey through a dark place. Let's keep the chain intact so we don't become lost.
Last week's editorial (Health care crisis) contained incorrect information. The Health and Social Services Department gave the Baffin Regional Hospital $2.3 million after it failed the Canadian Council on Health Service Accreditation. Also, there are eight students in the first year of the Arctic College nursing program. Nunavut News/North apologizes for the errors.