There's been an about face in Ottawa.

The Conservative government, which had previously shown scant concern about global warming, is all of a sudden presenting itself as the champion of environmental causes.

Climate change is an issue that definitely appears to be growing in the minds and consciences of Canadian citizens, according to opinion polls.

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That concern likely deepened in early February when some of the world's most prominent climate scientists released a report indicating that global warming is largely a result of human activity. The consequences of our growing global carbon dioxide emissions will be even higher average temperatures and more extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes, the scientists predict.

In the North, the polar ice cap keeps melting away, posing a threat to species like polar bears and a cultural lifestyle threat to Inuit. Much of the focus of global warming is on the Arctic.

Being politically astute -- and perhaps even genuinely worried about the state of the environment -- the Conservatives have been rolling out climate change funding announcements over the past few weeks.

One of the new pots of money is the ecoENERGY Technology Initiative. It's described as a $1.48 billion investment in clean energy technologies.

This is a glorious opportunity for Nunavut Energy Minister Ed Picco to make noise in Ottawa.

Qulliq Energy Corporation is planning a hydro energy project near Iqaluit that will help offset the use of diesel. It's a prime candidate for share of the money. Picco said he has requested $5 million for a feasibility study.

Why stop there?

Nunavut's capital consumes close to 13 million litres of diesel each year, while territory-wide the number climbs as high as 40 million litres, a staggering amount for such a sparsely populated land.

The territory has close to 90 diesel generators providing electricity and heat for homes in every community.

No matter how much Northern power companies may boast of awards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, diesel is still a dirty fuel.

It can also be costly. While we have been enjoying a period of reasonable prices for crude oil -- in the $55-$60 per barrel range -- it was only last year when prices spiked to more than $72 per barrel.

Being a finite commodity, the cost of fuel is ultimately going to keep creeping higher and higher.

Hydro power and wind power, which Qulliq Energy has had less success experimenting with, will not be cheap to introduce.

However, once in place, those sources of energy should be relatively cost efficient, and, more importantly, will vastly reduce Nunavut's disproportionately large contribution to global warming.

Fort Good Hope had more than its share of sorrow last year. A boating accident last July killed three, and in August, six people died in a plane crash.

So much grief in such a close-knit community has taken its toll.

It cannot be easy to lead a community during such an emotionally difficult time and deal with one's own grief as well.

So it's sad, but not surprising, that Ron Pierrot, former chief of the K'asho Got'ine Community Council, resigned last month to seek treatment for alcohol abuse.

Adults often turn to drugs and alcohol to dull emotional pain and quell anxiety.

But Pierrot should be applauded not just for taking time out from caring for the community to care for himself, but also for speaking publicly about his grief and his attempt to "bury his sorrows" with alcohol.

It takes wisdom to recognize when emotional issues left too long on the back burner have begun to boil over and seep into your daily life. And it takes strength to admit you have a problem and to seek help for it.

Strength and wisdom are the qualities of a leader. We hope Ron Pierrot seeks office again when he has traversed the road to recovery.

It's understandable why parents in Enterprise would want a school in the community; the thought of kindergarten to Grade 3 students travelling an hour on the bus each day, especially during the winter, is a bit disconcerting.

But, the truth of the matter is there are not enough students in the community to justify the expense of a feasibility study on the subject, never mind the facility itself.

With fewer than 10 students between kindergarten and Grade 3 there would be very few benefits to building a school, aside from the saved bus trip.

Access to extra-curricular activities, field trips and peripheral resources such as a library would be limited or impossible.There is also the matter of sharing one class with four different levels of schooling.

It would be a small miracle should the school be built if it were to be allocated more than one teacher. Quality of education could be reduced if students were forced to share classes with such a large range of grades.

As well, some parents may not want their five-year-olds sharing class with eight-year-olds when they could be interacting with their own peer group in Hay River.

If Enterprise is serious about wanting classroom space, perhaps council could consider building a community centre incorporating multi-purpose facilities that could be converted into classroom space, but would have the added benefit of being available to the entire community.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Every so often, we all find ourselves in a situation where we may be too close to a situation to render a truly unbiased opinion.

We may be guilty of looking through rose-coloured glasses, have a personal stake in an outcome, or be wishing so hard for something to be successful that we only see what we want to.

In every case, the seeds of doubt start growing and you find yourself wondering if you're really getting a clear picture.

I found myself struggling with my own perception of the Rankin Inlet Recreational Hockey League earlier this year.

As many of you realize, I am a Level 4 official and spend as much time at arenas between November and April as I possibly can.

However, I am first and foremost a journalist, and one who's been known to express an opinion from time to time that doesn't exactly win me any popularity contests.

Yet, whether people agree with my opinions is not something I spend a great deal of time worrying about.

In fact, the idea behind most of what I write in this space is to get people to think for themselves and form their own opinions.

I have very little use for fence sitters, as I've always found them to be chronic complainers who rarely take a stance on anything.

You can find the page with the word abstain dog-eared in each and every one of their dictionaries.

As a journalist, I found myself worrying if I may have painted too glowing of a picture in a few of the news stories and editorials on Rankin hockey that bore my name during the past few months.

Hockey is one of the few things with the power to sneak a pair of rose-coloured glasses over my eyes if I'm not careful.

So, a shudder of excitement and apprehension went through me this past week when I saw Andy Nowicki in the crowd for the league's second playoff game.

The former Los Angeles Kings goaltending coach was weathered in Rankin on his way to Baker Lake to deliver a hockey clinic.

I made sure the opportunity presented itself later that evening, and again the next afternoon, to speak with Andy and get his impressions on the game.

As hopeful as I was, he still managed to blow me away when he said the game was comparable to the best adult recreational hockey he sees when travelling across the country each year.

He also spoke at great length about other benefits he saw in the community resulting from its strong sports program.

To say his words put my mind at ease would be the understatement of the year.

When your professional credibility can ride on every sentence you write, you tend to take the words quite seriously.

And, as important as words of encouragement are from those around you, sometimes you need the viewpoint of someone outside the box to validate your own perspective.

In this case it happened to be hockey, but the same rings true for many topics near and dear to your heart.

Personally, I'm just happy to report my rose-coloured glasses are still safely tucked away in my retirement drawer where I left them.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
Friday, February 9, 2007

Traditionally, people were taught new things by older members of their family, or other people close to them.

From what I gather from listening to elders, an older person would take you out in the bush and show you how to live off the land.

I have always believed that learning something first-hand is the best method and gives the best results.

I can only daydream of days past, the time before government settlements and canned food. Before the aid of libraries, Internet and encyclopedias.

The only way to learn new things was to follow your uncle Jimmy out to the lake and watch and try to learn as much as possible.

There are still people among us who wish to teach their young ones and other youth about the ways of the land and how the people of this region used to survive.

Sam Lennie is one of the people of whom I speak. He has spent a long time in this region and knows a lot about how things work.

He has also been at Sir Alexander Mackenzie school recently, teaching students about traditional tools and how they are used.

Last year I watched as he helped a large class assemble and carve their own harpoons. Sure, some of the kids in that room might not use the harpoon, but now they know how to build one.

Who knows, maybe they will spread that information to others in their age group.

Last week Lennie was back in the shop class making ice-fishing hooks for jiggling.

I didn't think so much effort went into shaping and carving the muskox horn to make the hook. A nail is driven into the horn and then it's sharpened and bent.

I wonder how much easier the work has gotten, with the help of power drills and saws. I'm sure it has helped considerably.

It doesn't even take an elder to pass on traditional knowledge. Just find someone who knows about cultural life and ask them questions.

Brighter days mean more time to spend outdoors. That could mean more people going on the land to their cabins or even just on a brief snowmobile ride.

I see the river between the younger and older generations shrinking and a bridge is being constructed. The older people have their half of the bridge planned out and have started to make their way across, with the lessons of life.

Now the challenge lies in the hands of the youth. We have to get off our asses and start building. I don't think we as youth should wait for the older people to come over, we should meet them halfway.

This should be where the younger generation smartens up. So hey junior, put down the brick and pick up your snares.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
Friday, February 9, 2007

When people decide to live in the North they make a decision, conscious or unconscious, to give up a number of things that are more easily accessible in "the south."

This process is likely the same regardless of whether you have lived in the North your whole life or have just arrived.

At the top of the list are consumer goods. Sure, many people who have lived in the North for a while can tell stories about how things are much better than what they once were -- like when fresh vegetables were never their right colour when they arrived, if they arrived at all. But we still aren't on equal footing with large southern cities with their giant grocery stores and malls.

But people learn to adapt to life without some items or develop a variety of means to obtain their favourite novelty foods or products, such as resupply trips to the south, online shopping or obliging relatives.

There are, however, some things that residents of the North shouldn't have to compromise.

Access to public services such as citizenship tests and ceremonies, which are provided by the federal government, are two of the things that should be offered equally across the country.

Having potential citizens wait more than two years with no word about their application and then giving them under a month's notice to travel to a community located on the far side of the territory for the test and ceremony they need to become citizens seems like poor planning on some official's part.

Yet, this is exactly what happened to five residents of Fort Simpson who were asked to travel to Inuvik in August.

Although these five people are eager to become full Canadian citizens after years of living in Canada and the North, spending $2,500 or more for the trip, accommodations and food proved to be just too much for all of them. Each of the five had to decline and are now back in a state of limbo waiting for the next letter.

Something is wrong with this picture.

In a state of frustration, one of the people involved in the situation suggested that the citizenship officers themselves should be asked to take the citizenship test, which has a geography component, to help them understand the distance between communities in the North such as Fort Simpson and Inuvik.

According to a senior official with Citizenship and Immigration the problem is resources. The office only has two citizenship officers for the NWT, northern Alberta and Edmonton. Two people for such a vast area is, clearly, a problem.

Yet according to MP Dennis Bevington, the government officials with the power have no intentions of rectifying the system, which creates hassles such as suggesting people travel across a territory for service.

If the federal government is serious about immigration and helping to find skilled workers for places like the NWT, more resources must be devoted to the department.

Residents of the NWT may be far removed from the rest of Canada, and there might be fewer of us, but that doesn't make us second-class citizens who deserve reduced federal services.

The Feb. 5, News/North article 'Glitches get case tossed from court', stated the court case was dropped partially because the crown couldn't prove it had served Mr. Berton properly regarding a probation order. In fact, the court still would have allowed the probation order to be used as evidence if it had been stamped with the correct seal.