Friday, October 27, 2006
While waiting for their school to be repaired, about 100 St. Joe's students and their teachers brought their classrooms to William McDonald school.
Others went to N.J. McPherson school and will remain there until the end of the school year. Both recipient schools belong to the public school district; Ecole St. Joseph is, a Catholic school.
Earlier in the fall, there were rumblings from public school parents about the potential for hard feelings and disruption among students because of Yellowknife Catholic Schools' (YCS) insistence that their students keep separate schedules for recess and lunch.
The Catholic schools administration defended the policy saying they wanted to ensure the displaced students stuck to their program.
No argument there. This minor controversy was brief and nothing more has been heard on the matter. Meanwhile, YCS remains at close to full capacity while Yk District No.1 has around 900 empty seats.
Despite some rough spots, the forced co-habitation as a result of the fire at Ecole St. Joseph seems a successful albeit unintentional experiment. Given the space crunch at YCS and the territorial government's reasonable reluctance to build new classroom space when substantial classroom space in the public system sits vacant, there is only one conclusion to make.
If it worked this fall, it will continue in the future. It's time the two school districts draw up a permanent relationship on sharing space.
For anyone who questions the logic of spending millions of dollars beefing up the military in Canada's North, note comments made earlier this month by senior U.S. diplomat Thomas Huffaker.
During a stopover in Yellowknife, Huffaker re-asserted America's long standing claim that some parts of the Northwest Passage are international waters.
"This is an issue that Canada and the U.S. disagree on," he said, adding it's an issue his country doesn't intend to "push" with Canada.
Perhaps that's because of Ottawa's plans to defend Canada's claim to the Arctic are being well received in Washington, D.C. Even so, the implications of the American claim are stark. It would mean the pristine waters from Baffin Island to the Beaufort Sea would be a shipping free-for-all, if the Northwest Passage becomes a shipping route.
And when it comes to remote lands like the Arctic, international law usually boils down to "use it, or lose it."
With that in mind, the Conservative government's push to establish a deep water port in the North, build armed icebreakers, and beef up underwater and airborne surveillance is exactly what's needed.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
For those who believe everything comes in cycles, the ugly behaviour that has crept into Rankin Inlet the past few months amounts to nothing more than it simply being this hamlet's turn.
Of course, subscribing to that particular theory provides an easy answer to just about any problem that comes one's way -- ignore it.
The majority of us, however, realize to simply sit back and let nature run its course when trouble comes calling is a fool's philosophy.
The Rankin detachment of the RCMP should be close to attending a council meeting to ask for its support in enforcing the hamlet curfew bylaw.
The reason? The late evening and early morning behaviour of a number of youth in the community is out of control.
Now, we realize eight out of 10 Rankin youth are outstanding young people with no desire to cause damage to people's property, get involved with racist activity or sneak into abandoned buildings to do drugs.
Unfortunately, the two who do give themselves to this type of behaviour do enough damage for all 10.
A number of residents have had their windows smashed with rocks or bombarded with eggs.
While the rocks are more costly to deal with in terms of dollars, if you have ever cleaned egg off a window in -30C temperatures, you know that's no walk in the park either.
But don't take my word for it. Ask my wife. She's become an expert at it during the past year.
And, like other folks in town suffering the same fate, we don't know why these kids want to give us a hard time.
That is, unless we were to start believing what some of them shout at us from the dark after delivering their shell-coated missiles.
If we were to believe that, we would have to accept the fact they hate us for no other reason than the colour of our skin.
As people who have come to think of Rankin as our home during the past eight years, we would support an RCMP initiative to enforce the curfew bylaw.
And, we'd even like the police to give the bylaw more clout.
The parents of these kids are either in the dark about their behaviour or simply don't care.
However, if the RCMP were to keep a tally sheet of a $20 fine for every time a kid was caught out after curfew, caring about their behaviour might become popular quite quickly.
The trick would be to set an amount at which fines owing become collectible.
If the parents refuse to (or cannot) pay, the fines can be erased by community service work.
We're willing to bet folks would take an interest in what their kids are up to after a few guest lodgings or $100 hits to the pocket book.
Hamlet council could help matters by cutting through the red tape to get rid of the remaining abandoned buildings in town that are havens for alcohol and drug abuse.
Rankin is a great little community and, when ugliness rears its head, it takes a community to deal with it.
No community is perfect and no system is flawless, but, a message must be sent that this type of behaviour is unacceptable.
And, if you're caught, someone will pay the price.
Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
As I drove home from the town meeting about the new school last week, all I could think of was a question asked by a guy at the back of the room.
Yup, the guy at the back of the room who speaks up when the crowd is silent.
You all know him, the person who arrives late to a town meeting and has innovative and sometimes unconventional thoughts to share with the public.
It's not even the same guy all the time. I think this entity changes shape so not to raise suspicion.
He asks questions like he was planted to do so by the presenter.
So this time around, mister X drapes his sport coat over his shoulder and asks the presenters how they will deal with the loss of the baseball diamond and soccer field during the three-year construction period of the new schools.
I stumbled to think of a response in my head, but was stopped by the notion of not having a ball diamond for three years.
Sure, we all know I don't play slo-pitch, but people seem to get a kick of the sport. Plus, there are always great photo opportunities at those games.
I think the town would really suffer from not having a diamond, or soccer field for three seasons.
If we cannot gather and find a solution to making a temporary site for the ball diamond and soccer pitch, we might find ourselves missing out on a great deal of action.
I am, however, in favour of the proposed recreation plaza that could one day include ball diamonds, the soccer field, a new concrete skatepark and the family centre.
It is a dream that is only less than a decade away, with proper planning and a little effort.
The main thing halting this plan is that the Sir Alexander Mackenzie school building needs to be levelled first.
The school can only be torn down once students have a permanent place to learn.
So there is the dilemma of waiting for the construction of the new school building.
I have to say that the recreational services took a back seat in my head once I saw the floor plan of that new, glorious building.
Just looking at the rough draft floor design had my blood pumping with anticipation of one day walking through an education centre that surpasses any other in the territory.
Editorial Comment
Jessica Gray
Deh Cho Drum
When I first said I was visiting the Deh Cho for a month, people around me made sure I knew the sights to see.
"The fall is beautiful in the Deh Cho," and "make sure to take pictures of the Mackenzie River when you get there," or "I hear the drive to Wrigley is amazing."
Admittedly, the scenery is one of a kind here in the Deh Cho, but rivers and trees won't be the thoughts foremost in my mind as I head back to Yellowknife.
Talking to Drum editor Roxanna Thompson after she arrived back this week, she told me she was happy to be home.
She said it was a nice change to walk down the street and have people wave and greet her as she passed.
That is what I will miss.
While I was prepared for the many introductions I would have to make in the communities, I wasn't prepared for the many people who introduced themselves.
I was asked to share in the feast at the Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner celebrated this month, not because I was from the paper and taking photos, but because I was a part of the community.
At the drum dance the next evening, several people whom I had met approached me to say hello, and also many more who I hadn't met yet. I felt as if even I could have danced that night alongside people who had lived in the community for years without feeling out of place (except when my lack of rhythm became apparent).
These are the things missing from big cities. And so, looking back at my time here, I've realized it's not the places you go that stand out, it's the people you live with.
This is something residents in this area need to remember more than ever.
Speaking to leaders of bands in the region, it's clear everyone wants to work together and present a unified front.
But it takes much more than that to find a compromise or an agreement representing the region's needs as a whole.
Saying you think an agreement will be reached is a far cry from taking action to work towards a resolution. It seems as though communities are so worried about their individual needs, that they refuse to see how little they will accomplish on their own. But even so, groups supposed to represent the collective needs of all must understand what is good for one group, isn't necessarily good for others.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those I've met for their kindness during my stay and hope the future is a bright one.
Deh Cho Drum editor Roxanna Thompson has is ready for the next edition to hit the stands.
- Regular Drum editor Roxanna Thompson is on vacation. She returns next week.
An error appeared in the editorial in last Wednesday's Yellowknifer ("Let's help people vote," Oct. 25). The next municipal and school board elections are scheduled for 2009. Also, Vi Beck died Dec. 29, 2002 not Jan., 2003 as reported in Tyler Heal's Street Stories. Additionally, Lisa Ngo was misidentified in a photo ("Building a musician, Oct. 20). Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion caused by the error.