While city council has been ducking questions as to what happened at the Home Building Centre fire for over a year, charges laid by the WCB will force the answers.

Those answers will now come out in court so nothing has been gained by council's silence.

Those answers will now come out in court so nothing has been gained by council's silence.

The main issue facing council? Does the city plead not guilty or guilty.

We don't doubt that the latter route is what city administration and its lawyers will advise. Governments of any size are loathe to admit mistakes. As it's not their money, no amount is too large even if there is only a remote chance of getting a favourable verdict.

Of course, details of the city's actions or inaction will be fully documented and debated if there's a not guilty plea after the case makes it to court April 11. The people at the top will be shifting blame to the people at the bottom as the cash flows into the pockets of the lawyers. The question is, will we have a better fire department when the smoke clears?

The alternative is a guilty plea. Such an admission would be an acknowledgement that the fire department needs a new style of management with a far greater emphasis on safety.

Specific goals will be set by safety regulators and ongoing monitoring by outside agencies will ensure the goals are met. Instead of money going to lawyers, there will be money to spend on the fire department.

In order to make the important decision on what plea to make, city council must understand the facts behind the charges and assess the city's defence objectively.

A guilty plea doesn't make anyone a criminal. If failure to meet safety regulations were a defined crime, the jails would be full of politicians, bureaucrats and business people. However, safety regulations are created when someone gets hurt to prevent it from happening to others.

Firefighters at the burning shed that day know something went terribly wrong.

They need training to ensure it never happens again. City Hall managers have many competing priorities and now the fire department must move to the top of their list. City council must ask questions and have answers for the people who elected them. If the decision is made to plead not guilty, councillors will be in the spotlight for the length of the trial. All other important city issues will move into the shadows.

How to do deal with the WCB charge will be the most important decision to be made during the life of this council. Make it an informed one that best puts the dead firefighters to rest and restores the fire department to the highest standards of safety.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

An old voice from the past is trying to be heard again.

About a decade ago, lobbying was in full swing across the territory to name the future capital of Nunavut.

The regional centres led the way, but while leaders in Iqaluit worked feverishly to win over the population on the idea, many in Rankin Inlet were turned off by a successful campaign of fear mongering.

The group opposed to Rankin being Nunavut's capital were, for the most part, simply looking out for their own interests in turning the community against the idea.

However, they launched a successful anti-capital campaign by stoking the fires of fear.

Residents were told if their nice little community was made the capital, the doors would be open for the drug pushers and bootleggers.

It wouldn't be long before Rankin would be overrun with despair, with only southerners and criminals cashing in.

The tactic worked, and it wasn't long before the lure of high-paying jobs, economic growth and badly needed infrastructure was overshadowed by the image of a population gone wild on booze, drugs and criminal behaviour.

Let's be honest - as long as there's people willing to buy, booze and drugs will always be a problem.

The dealers and the booze peddlers will find a way to stock their shelves, capital or no capital.

Can those same people honestly say there's no problem with booze or drugs in Rankin today because the community said no to the capital?

Of course not. Rankin has the same problems every community does.

When an RCMP officer tells hamlet council every month that 80 or 90 per cent of their calls were liquor related, that's no different than the majority of police officers in the majority of Canadian towns.

So, fast forward to 2006 and the community meetings held in Rankin, Arviat and Chesterfield Inlet to discuss plans for the road to Manitoba project - and here comes that voice again.

Numerous people raised the issues of booze, drugs and unsavoury type characters using the road to spread their evil into our communities.

And, yes, there will be some who will try if, indeed, the road is ever built.

But they represent a tiny percentage of everyone who will use the road.

For most, the road will mean reduced shipping costs resulting in lower prices at the checkout counter.

Tourism will, in all probability, take a dramatic upswing as southerners take advantage of the road to finally go on the trip high air fares have prevented for so long.

Nothing in life is perfect and there is always risk with change.

But before you get turned off the Manitoba project by horror stories about what might happen, take the time to think about what you know will happen if the day ever comes when the road is open.

If you weigh all the issues evenly, you may soon come to realize the new direction the road will take us in is a positive one - even if there are a few bumps along the way.

Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum

What it takes to get the country to take notice:

It wasn't an increase in the Northern living allowance or a push to get an all-weather road from Wrigley to Tuk, but a private member's bill to change Canada's motto "from sea to sea," to "from sea to sea to sea."

You gotta love our newest Western Arctic Member of Parliament for concocting this gem. What pride will be derived from changing the motto once it is a done deal? We can rest our heads easier at night knowing that when school children are taught that Canada actually has three seas instead of just two, we here in the far North will not be forgotten.

Until I heard about this, I didn't even know that was Canada's motto. But after some crafty internet research (all the rage these days) I discovered that it is indeed the motto. Translated from the Latin "A Mari usque ad Mare," which according to Heritage Canada was derived from the biblical scripture, "He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river until the ends of the earth" (Psalm 72.8), it was first carved into the mace of the legislative assembly of the new Province of Saskatchewan in 1906.

But wait a minute. Wasn't this the kind of thinking that messed things up for the local inhabitants already living here? You know, before a bunch of guys holding Bibles and royal crests showed up and thought they owned the joint. "It says so in here," I can just imagine one of these fresh-off-the-boat explorers insisting, pointing to Psalm 72.8 in his portable scriptures, packed neatly inside his trunk amongst other on-the-land survival gear such as a silver service set and sherry glasses.

But keeping this image in mind, maybe our new MP is trying to cut off any future court wranglings over who exactly has dominion over North of 60.

"Your honour, there's nothing on the books about Canada having dominion up to a third sea in this here motto..."

Pssst! Don't tell Herb Norwegian!

Sure, Canada has three seas (oceans). It's too bad you can't get to the third one without paying $1,200 in airfare or gasoline for three days worth of solid driving from Yellowknife.

I have a suggestion. How about a private member's bill to outlaw useless private member's bills? That's something I can support, especially the next time I'm standing in line at the grocery store waiting to pay $15 for a gallon of milk that was flown in on a jet plane, instead of driven up on what is, with each passing day, becoming the mirage of a future all-weather road through the territory.

But if we have to endure getting a new motto for this country, here is my suggestion: "You can take our gas, but you'll never take our freedom."

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum

Is self-respect something that you can teach?

Last week the Mackenzie Regional Youth Conference was all about self-respect. The opening and closing keynote speakers talked about it and the sessions were meant to tie into the theme.

But perhaps the first question that has to be answered is: What is self-respect?

It seems to be a nebulous concept and putting a finger on a definition is difficult.

Even after four days in a conference about self-respect, the participants struggled with a definition. Many said they learned about self-respect, but when pressed for details, few could elaborate on exactly what that information involved.

Bits of the answer came out from different people.

One teen said that "you have to respect people and listen."

Personal interactions are one area where self-respect reveals itself. You have to respect yourself in order to have respect others.

The conference was filled with chances for the youth to practise socializing.

The organizers were well aware that the chance to meet new people and visit with friends was one of the draws for the event.

On the first day, Barry Church explained to the students that there was a designated message board in the hall, so if they wanted to leave a message for the cute person they saw in a certain session, they would have that chance.

The announcement was met with giggles and nervous laughter, but that was probably to cover the fact that the minds of teens are so often fixed on members of the opposite sex.

If you have self-respect, you are able to see value in others and also see value in yourself, so you can decide if a relationship is healthy or not.

Another part of the self-respect answer came from a girl who explained that she learned "How to play guitar, respect, and not to smoke."

Respect for the body is certainly part of self-respect.

Caring enough about yourself not to do anything that is overtly harmful is a sign of having respect for yourself.

A final part of the self-respect puzzle could be seen in every session.

In rooms scattered in different buildings and in areas outside, teens were trying new things. Youth were singing, playing the guitar, dancing, skiing, painting and doing a variety of other things in front of their peers.

This required the students to feel comfortable enough with themselves to not care if they were the best at something, but to just give it a try.

Whether they realized it or not, participants at the conference spent a great deal of time exercising the elements of self-respect.

Self-respect is something that is best learned from an early age, but its importance should not be forgotten. People are often reminded to do unto others as they would do unto themselves. Maybe we should also be reminded to respect ourselves so that we can respect others and they can return that favour. If we did, the world would run more smoothly.