One could say the Feb. 8 territorial budget was an investment in people.

Overall, spending for 2007-2008 has increased by eight per cent to $1.15 billion in what Finance Minister Floyd Roland called a conservative "hold the line budget." Last year, spending rose seven per cent and it was called "bold" and "decisive."

First of all, there was plenty of money for new schools - more than $7 million to begin replacement of Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Hearne schools in Inuvik; $1.3 million to expand Jean Wetrade school in Gameti; and $7.9 million to finish the new school in Tulita. There's more planned for 2008-2009, principally replacement of Chief Tseliyh school in Fort Good Hope.

As well, total spending for Education, Culture and Employment has surpassed health and social services, thanks to nearly $1 million for full-day kindergarten, $3.9 million to reduce student-teacher ratios and expand trades and physical education programs, plus money for literacy, day care and housing. The government has even set aside money to open a full-time RCMP detachment in Sachs Harbour.

All these dollars are going where they're needed, to boost education and training so Northerners have the tools they need for the jobs of the future.

Thankfully, the government has slowed down the juggernaut pushing to build a $41 million courthouse in Yellowknife. It's still on the books, but maybe a one-year delay will give the government cause to reconsider the expenditure.

The other kind of people spending is on the civil service.

For the third straight year, the civil service is expected to grow by 101 jobs to 4,854, which is over 10 percent of the population. One-third of those new jobs will be in the Yellowknife area. No one ever seems to ask why the government workforce needs to grow when NWT population growth has stalled.

The budget is also full of the same old rhetoric from Roland and Premier Joe Handley about how the federal government needs to come through on resource royalty revenue sharing. In 2005-2006, the federal government collected $244 million from oil and gas and diamond royalties.

Strange talk, considering how many times Handley has trumpeted during the past four years that a deal was weeks or months away. MLAs thumped their legislative assembly desks at the tough talk, but none seems to want to hold premier and cabinet accountable for the failure to strike a deal in the seven years since then Northern affairs minister Bob Nault opened the door to talks in January 2000.

So while the government deserves full marks for new spending on schools, literacy and quality of education, what's needed is a new sense of urgency in the legislative assembly.

The next premier and cabinet should be selected on their commitment to wringing a deal on royalties from Ottawa. It's time the NWT stopped taking no, maybe, and not now for an answer.

It's sad to think that one or more kids in Hall Beach robbed their relatives, friends and neighbours of an integral part of their community with one careless and dangerous act.

On Jan. 31, a fire started in a bathroom. The source of the blaze was a garbage can, which was filled with paper products and then set aflame. Although the fire itself reportedly didn't cause much damage to the building, the water and chemical foam used to extinguish the fires did result in a great deal of damage.

Of course the most important thing is that nobody was hurt or killed in the fire.

But now the place where Rangers go to train, where youth show up to engage in various activities most evenings of the week, where annual events like Christmas games and Nunavut Day festivities are held, well, that place is no longer available. Instead, the school gym, roughly half the size, will have to substitute.

Fortunately the community hall, which is approximately 15 years old, was insured. The cost of renovations wasn't clear as of the middle of last week. Whatever tab isn't picked up by the insurance company, however, will have to come from the territorial government's recreational facilities funding program, which is allotted annually by a committee that reviews applications. That panel only had $655,000 at its disposal for 2006-07 fiscal year.

When the community hall does reopen, possibly as soon as this spring, the adolescents at fault - too young to be charged criminally - should not be banned from the facility. They should be counselled through the educational Junior Firestarters Program and also directed to work at the hall to get a true understanding of just how valuable the building is to the community.

To save Inuktitut, some drastic steps must be taken.

There is growing awareness that the language is in decline, and some measures have been adopted to help it, but much more is needed.

As you can read in these pages, Peter Irniq, one of Nunavut's cultural champions, is strongly advocating a central authority be created for Inuktitut. That way, usage and spelling will officially be uniform.

Jose Kusugak, also deeply knowledgeable on matters of culture, has long called for standardized Inuktitut, which would result in uniformity in speaking and writing the language.

Although controversial, these moves would bolster the language.

Then the government must do its part, heavily subsidizing the language to encourage its use in the marketplace.

That way Inuktitut can compete with English as a part of everyone's daily life.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

If ever there was a glaring example of how much the almighty dollar dictates many of the decisions made in today's society, it came courtesy of the boob tube earlier this month.

The stage had been set for a proud moment for aboriginal people in Canada on the evening of Feb. 3.

Akina Shirt, a 13-year-old originally from Saddle Lake First Nation and now living in Edmonton, was scheduled to sing our national anthem at a NHL game in Calgary pitting the Flames against the Canucks.

It was, in fact, history in the making as Shirt was to become the first person in NHL history to sing O Canada in her native Cree language.

The network carrying Hockey Night in Canada had been advertising the significance of Shirt's appearance on its website, and many an aboriginal was in front of the TV to witness the historic moment.

Given the proud aboriginal history in Canada and the importance placed upon hockey in this nation, this was the type of event where, many years from now, people could proudly proclaim that they watched as Shirt sang the anthem in her native tongue.

But, unfortunately, the earlier game matching the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Ottawa Senators went to a shootout and put the network behind with its commercials.

So, someone in a position of authority - no doubt making a salary most of us can only dream about - decided Shirt's appearance was of such minor interest that it could be skipped over for an extended run of commercials.

Hey, people who watch hockey would probably rather watch a bunch of ads than history in the making.

Besides, hockey fans even know the words to all the jingles and wouldn't understand a word in Cree anyway, right?

All together now: "Hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets."

Simply put, Canadians should be more than a little embarrassed by the network's decision.

The vast majority of hockey fans would gladly have foregone a few minutes of play for the network to get caught up on its commercials after Shirt had her historic moment on national TV.

In fact, many of us were looking forward to her appearance and that giddy feeling we get when we're proud to be Canadians.

Instead, I was left to feel embarrassed and, even though I had nothing to do with the decision, more than a little guilty.

The call to cut Shirt from the show was but another example of why so many aboriginals continue to distrust corporate (read white) Canada.

Even more disturbing was the slap in the face to our fellow Canadians by our supposedly national network.

The network did air a taped segment of Shirt's performance later in the show, but it was too little too late.

An apology should be issued and the network should show the good sense to bring the teenager back for an encore performance.

It may no longer be a first, but it could be done right to give Shirt - and the millions of us who would be honoured to have her sing our national anthem in Cree - the proud moment on the national stage that she was promised.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
Friday, February 16, 2007

Seriously, I think it's high time that we stand up as a community and give the boot to crack dealers in town.

These people come to Inuvik with a suitcase full of cocaine and a hunger for money. It must be the easiest job in the world to sit by the phone and wait for the business to roll in. In an industry where the product moves itself, any greedy, selfish person can become a crack dealer.

We need to take a proactive approach to this situation. We cannot wait for the police to step up and make another "large" bust. Pre-empt the RCMP and make some phone calls. Send anonymous tips to the detachment. I've been told that is how our system works.

People who attended those meetings last year about the crack problem are still waiting for results. Well guess what? You are the ones who should be blamed. If you claim to know who these dealers are, then rat them out.

Every crack dealer in this town is an outsider looking to score some easy money from the weak, addicted people in the North. If you are a crack dealer from in town, you just became an outsider.

I'd like to ask a crack dealer what he or she wants from this life. I'd like to know what he wanted to be as a kid and how his mother must feel about his career choice.

As much as I want to, I cannot leave all the blame with the dealer.

After all, it's called supply and demand. Just because he brought some rocks up North on the plane does not mean you have to buy them.

Problems like this only go away when people in the community stand up and admit they have a problem. If they can't stop, there is no reason for the dealers to leave.

I don't think people in Inuvik are taking this problem seriously. Maybe they didn't attend that meeting because they don't know anyone addicted to crack.

Well hey, every addict is someone's family. If you have not been affected by crack yet, you may be soon.

People get curious. It's our nature to question the world around us and try new things. Now, if we could push crack dealers out of town, there would be no temptation for kids to try crack.

Part of the power of cocaine, crack, speed or any other chemical is the physical addiction. You cannot control it even if you want to. It starts with a harmless sample at a party, and eventually you're flushing entire paycheques down the toilet.

If you are battling an addiction to crack, please get help. Talk to your family about it. Let them know that you plan on beating this.

By being an addict and giving these crack dealers a reason to keep coming back to the land of the midnight sun, you are a big part of the problem.

I have faith in the people here in Inuvik. Rather than boot out all the addicts in town to starve the dealers' demand, maybe we should just deal with the crack merchants.

By giving a dealer your money for a gram of rock, you just sealed that guy's fate. Instead of learning a useful trade or finding a career, this person is making it rich in life by feeding off people's weakness.

He could have been a pilot or he might have been a good basketball player, but someone hooked him up with a sweet gig, selling cocaine to Northerners.

Can we just put everything else on hold and fix this? I think it's time to put the pipe away and crack down on rock.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
Friday, February 16, 2007

While people are constantly beaten over the head by the idea that it only takes one person to make a difference in the world, this theory recently worked astoundingly well in Fort Liard.

Thanks to the idea of one man and the backing of some community members, a young girl now has a greater amount of independence.

Gene Hope noticed the difficulties that Patricia Duntra had travelling around the roads in Fort Liard using her own arm power to propel her wheelchair. One day he took a chance and started canvassing for donations for an electric wheelchair. In a day he had gathered enough for three-quarters of the price of a new wheelchair.

While most plans don't always go that smoothly, it's actions like this that give rise to the theory that one person can change the world. In this case the change was in the world of a young girl.

A lot of great ideas come from observing something that doesn't work as well as it might and coming up with a better or different way to do it. All those people out there who have been storing a plan in the back of their heads, whether it is for a change in their community or a useful invention, should take this opportunity to try and make their own plans into realities. You'll never know if something will work unless you give it a try.

The clock has ticked down and for the residents of Fort Simpson the NWT Winter Games are upon them.

With confirmations from 31 of the possible 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, this means close to 300 students and their chaperones will be descending on the village for the weekend.

For the participants the games will provide a wealth of benefits.

The games are designed to be non-competitive and introduce youth ages 10-14 to new sports and hopefully get them hooked. If even a handful of the participants are inspired to join a new sport or take a familiar sport to a higher level the games will be worth it.

With all the recent statistics concerning overweight and unhealthy children, every youth needs to be encouraged to take part in a physical activity regardless of whether or not they become a star athlete for the territory.

Participants at the games will be able to play badminton, snowboarding, speed skating, cross-country skiing, broomball, basketball and Dene games. Darts, curling and archery will be held as optional activities.

Other benefits will include the chance for the youth to travel and meet new people and old friends. At almost any gathering, youth say the best part of the event is socializing with people their own age.

Residents of Fort Simpson can also get more out of the games than just a weekend where the village is overrun by youth.

The games will provide a great chance for people to get out, cheer on some athletes and maybe rekindle some athletic abilities of their own.

Let's make this an event that will have participants talking positively about the Deh Cho and Fort Simpson long after the games are over.

The Feb. 12 News/North article "Straight from the runway" the reporter was told new equipment to collect and disperse information on runway conditions being tested at Hay River Airport cost $35,000. The correct amount is $24,000.