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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The item has been on council's agenda since 2002 but it seems like we're nowhere close to having the system running.
In January 2005, Mayor Gord Van Tighem told Yellowknifer he was resolved to get things done more quickly. In that same interview, he said 911 would be operational by the third quarter of 2006. Early last year, council even set aside $400,000 to pay for startup costs.
So much for resolutions.
Last week, Van Tighem said work on 911 is taking longer than expected and that "there's lots of prep work that needs to be done."
There was a study in 2004 and there appears to have been periodic discussions over the past couple of years. The most recent discussion was how Yellowknife can work with Ndilo and Dettah to set up the service.
Cost to run the system in 2004 was estimated at $420,000 a year, plus 32 cents more a month on telephone bills. It's probably much higher now.
As well, NorthwesTel must make some changes to its system and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has to get involved.
Doesn't sound like anything going to happen any time soon.
The idea came up in 2001 when coroner Percy Kinney recommended 911 be established for Yellowknife in his report on the death of a woman who fell through the ice on Prosperous Lake.
Since then, 911 has been one of council's top goals. Even today, the city website says council wants to "continue to take the lead role in establishing local 911 in Yellowknife...", whatever that means.
Yearly citizen surveys show that crime, vandalism and illegal drugs continue to be top concerns for residents. In the 2006 survey, 40 per cent of people respectively said drugs or crime were the biggest reasons for deteriorating quality of life in Yellowknife.
In the 2002 city survey, 86 per cent of residents supported establishing 911 service in Yellowknife. There's no sign of that question being asked ever since. Privately, people wonder why we don't have the system, but there's been no public outcry.
The mayor says 911 is not be dead, that it's just a complex system.
Maybe we're missing something, but why? Do we need a Cadillac system that shows a caller's address, or is a central dispatch good enough to start? Where else in Canada did it take seven years to get 911 operational?
What's clear is that there is no urgency in getting the job done. If it's a priority, council must get it done. If not, walk away and quit wasting our money.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
The next few months promise to be interesting with Nunavut Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Nancy Karetak-Lindell announcing she will not run in the next federal election.
Lindell has a hunch Canadians will be back in election mode by the spring and we tend to agree with her.
Historically, minority governments have a short lifespan and bringing in a new federal budget is always prime time for them to take a tumble.
What's going to be interesting in Nunavut is finding out who each of the three main parties favour as their candidate.
Although he steadfastly denies having any interest, the Liberals could do a lot worse than looking in former Nunavut MLA Glenn McLean's direction in Baker Lake.
McLean proved himself adept at meeting his riding's needs during his time in Iqaluit, and we see no reason why he wouldn't be just as efficient representing Nunavut.
With every seat up for grabs being especially important in the next election, it will be intriguing to see who the Tories and the NDP want to take their next kick at Nunavut's political can, which has been mainly red in colour for decades.
Will they stay with the same candidates who were so soundly beaten by Lindell the last time out, or will they look in another direction?
That decision may prove especially troubling for the Tories.
They've backed themselves into a corner over raising the same-sex marriage issue again in a country that's mostly tired of hearing about it.
The issue played a large role in the Tories' defeat the last time out in Nunavut, despite the unwavering support of the territory's bible belt.
To go back to that well again will likely produce a similar result.
There are two wild cards in the deck for the next election and neither one of them reside in Iqaluit.
In fact, unless Premier Paul Okalik decides to throw his hat into the arena, we predict the next elected MP from Nunavut will, once again, not call Iqaluit home.
The two wild cards reside in Rankin Inlet.
It would come as no surprise to us if Rankin Mayor Lorne Kusugak didn't run in the last federal election because he believed he couldn't defeat the Liberal's political machine in Nunavut, nor the party's four-time victor here.
But, this time around it may the Liberals who come knocking on the mayor's door.
Finally, anyone who paid attention to the last election had to be impressed with the way our second wild card handled himself - Felix Kappi-Gawor.
The Green Party candidate surprised a number of people with his insights during the campaign and, with a stronger party behind him, would be a solid bet to represent Nunavut after one of the next two elections.
Hopefully, if one of the big three parties do come calling on Kappi-Gawor, he will get his dad, long time Kivalliq News columnist Bill Gawor, included on his writing team.
At that point, we would guarantee all Nunavummiut one of the more colourful elections in recent history!
Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
You want to know what really grinds my gears? Youth who love to play the blame game. We all know young people who like to get on that soap box and cry about anything to get noticed.
I can't stand hearing about youth and how their cultures were demolished and stolen by industry.
During the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance earlier this week, I heard a girl blame a multi-national corporation and the government for robbing her of her traditions.
Now, while I don't have the details, it sounded like some big company might have developed on her traditional land and maybe her relatives had to move.
But no matter who struck first, no one is to blame for the loss of culture but the family unit.
Learning begins at home, with the parents. I know that the older generation faced some pretty awful things and were stripped of their culture while in residential schools.
But why wouldn't they keep on with their cultural learning once they got out? Why couldn't they just go back to the land that they claim they lost?
I think the taste of apples and meeting southerners was more appealing to some people, which is why there are so many ethnic blends in the modern generation.
Some families did choose to go back to the land and still do. Then on the other side of the coin are the families who adapted to the "southern" life.
To the youth who want to cry and yell about their lost cultures, maybe start by downloading some drum dancing on your iPod.
Better yet, sell the iPod, move into the bush and help an elder cut wood for the winter. That seems like more of a pro-active approach to regaining your lost traditions.
I can't speak for the elders in the region, but I am sure they would appreciate the help, instead of just empty words.
Another youth at the hearing spoke about how the elders wouldn't want this pipeline because all aboriginals were taught to live off the land.
Well, I feel there is nothing wrong with development. I have respect for the elders, but we own this land now and we should do what we think is right.
I want to hear the youth gripe and complain once the Mackenzie Valley Highway is built.
Imagine the possibilities of one day driving straight through to Edmonton with all of your friends! Like, wow. Maybe there is more to this project than a caribou herd that you've never seen.
I'm sure some of you feel that I am being unfair. I acknowledge that there are youth out there doing the right thing.
Keep on keepin' on, young ones. Judging by some of the voices of my generation, we'll need someone to clean up this mess one day.
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
The Northwest Territories is suffering from a multiple personality disorder.
The territory has two distinct interests vying for dominance.
One side is the environment.
With such a vast area of wilderness filled with flora, fauna and fresh water, the territory is looking at its responsibilities seriously. There are a number of environmental boards in place across the territory that are charged with making sure new and continuing developments don't significantly damage the environment.
This is where the disorder comes into play.
On the other side of the coin is natural resource development. Residents of the territory need jobs and, as mentioned above, one thing we do have in abundance is natural resources.
A number of companies would like to develop these resources but they seem to meet resistance on every side. Paramount Resources Ltd. is the latest case in point.
After applying for a land use permit to conduct a small geophysical program in the Cameron Hills area, Paramount has been given an environmental assessment and mitigating measures which they say will make the project nearly unfeasible. They also say they are confused as to just how such decisions were reached.
With all the confusion over a small seismic project, a spokesperson for the company was left asking what would have happened if they'd applied for something more significant, like a new drill site.
Paramount can at least feel some comfort in the fact that its joining a long list of other resource development companies that have become frustrated with the permitting process in the territory.
For an observer looking in from the outside at the track record in the territory, it would appear that for the most part development isn't welcome.
Perhaps this is indeed the case, and if it is, someone should say so publicly so everyone can move on with that information in hand. On the other hand maybe development is welcomed. Either way, a clear message needs to be sent out.
Someone needs to sit down and decide how the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government want to proceed with regards to resource development.
It won't be an easy task and perhaps that is why things are stuck in the muddle we see currently. Two very important issues are being balanced against each other and the scales are barely inclining one way or the other.
Here in the Deh Cho things have an added layer of complexity. With no land claims settlement in place there isn't an agreement on surface and sub-surface rights. If the Deh Cho process is completed and land selection is chosen as a way forward, there will be a whole other set of circumstances to take into consideration with regards to development.
This overall indecision and lack of a clear path forward is apparently what happens in a territory with a personality disorder.