Nineteen seats in the legislative assembly. Two female MLAs. Thirty-three communities. One female mayor.

Remember the late 1980s and early 1990s when more women than ever were elected to federal government? Remember how much attention was paid to issues such as child care, pay equity, and the environment? Weird, huh, how when more women are in government, government cares about issues that women care about.

There are issues that affect women in our territory which have yet to be satisfactorily addressed, such as violence in the home, access to health care, and the targeted training and access to child care women will need in order to take advantage of the employment opportunities that come with resource development.

But women's concerns don't often make it to the top of the government agenda because there aren't enough women in government to push them there.

A few years ago, MLA Sandy Lee said that there would need to be at least three women in the assembly in order to form a true women's caucus. Two female MLAs talking with each other, she said, just wasn't enough.

Why are few women elected in the NWT? The short answer is because few women run for office in the NWT.

So why do few women run? Lots of reasons. Most don't have the time or the money for to mount a campaign. Some are baffled by the bureaucratic convolutions of government. Many don't see themselves as leaders.

Since 2002, the Status of Women Council has been working to change this through their Women's Voices in Leadership project. The council offers women information on how government works; information about leadership opportunities on boards, committees, and councils; and manuals and workshops on how to get elected.

Most importantly, the council offers encouragement. Through workshops and conferences, women who are thinking about getting involved in government can meet women leaders who can offer advice and support.

Getting women into political offices will take more than workshops and conferences. First of all, women have to seek election.

At the recent women's leadership conference held in Yellowknife with the help of the Native Women's Association one woman who put herself forward in the mock election held that weekend said she is considering running in the territorial election this fall.

There's no reason why the Native Women's Association couldn't recruit a number of high-profile female candidates to run in both community and territorial elections.

Getting women elected also means getting women out to vote. According to July 1, 2005 demographics, there are 13,970 women aged 20 and older in the NWT, compared to 15,032 men. Women's groups need to organize like political parties, collecting names and campaigning to get women to the polls through telephone calls and by offering rides to the voting booth.

At approximately 6,000 residents, Iqaluit wouldn't be considered a city practically anywhere else in Canada.

But it is Nunavut's capital, and one of the country's fastest-growing cities.

The city's mayor is employed part-time, and paid $40,000 annually. That was in line to change at a city council meeting earlier this month - a switch to full-time status and $70,000 a year - but council got cold feet and let the motion die.

They should reconsider, and here's why:

- Iqaluit's mayor must doggedly attempt to raise the city's profile at home and abroad. Her time is tied up in issues as complex as a deep-water port and negotiating a resolution to the North 40 contaminated gravel site to things as mundane (but never-ending) such as problem dogs and water and sewage service.

- The city's leader plays a role in how a $31 million budget is spent. That's a lot of money and responsibility. By comparison, Port Hardy, B.C., a rather isolated B.C. community of 5,000 people, only had expenditures of $5.6 million in 2005.

- As acting chief administrative officer John Hussey suggested, raising the pay level is likely to keep highly-qualified candidates interested in the job, especially considering that the position invites complaints and criticism from the public.

- Inuvik, a coastal town like Iqaluit but with about half the population, has made its mayor full time.

- Finally, no one can legitimately accuse Sheutiapik of being in this for the money. She has already completed one term as mayor under the current financial terms. Prior to that she was Iqaluit's deputy mayor. She seems to have a genuine concern for the city and its citizens.

It's time to give her a vote of confidence and give the city the full-time booster it needs and deserves.

Ask any single parent how frustrating it is to try to collect money from a deadbeat spouse. Pinching enough cash to keep a child fed, clothed and enrolled in any sort of programs can be extremely difficult on one modest income.

Nunavut is finally updating its Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act, better known as child support. This move is long overdue. The territory's balance sheet shamefully shows $2.7 million worth of child-support payments in arrears.

Parents with custody must know their rights under the changing law. While we need not go overboard in punishing the delinquent or "deadbeat" spouse, we can't continue to make life easy for those who are all too willing to neglect their responsibilities.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

A special day in Canada slipped quietly past the Kivalliq this past week with little fanfare whatsoever.

And that is something our politicians, leaders and educators must address.

Feb. 15 was National Flag Day in Canada, marking the 42 years we, as a nation, have had our own distinct flag, after being without one for almost 100 years.

Those not up to speed on our flag's history should do a little research.

The first attempt at establishing our own flag began in 1925 when a committee of the Privy Council began looking for designs.

The task was never completed and the idea lay dormant for two decades.

Then, in 1946, a select Parliamentary Committee asked for designs and received about 2,600 of them. But, once again, the idea fizzled out.

Almost another two decades would pass until Lester B. Pearson decided in 1964 that the matter had to be addressed once and for all, especially with the nation's centennial celebration a scant three years away in 1967.

This time the task was completed and, after much debate over the final three choices, the Maple Leaf was raised for the first time in 1965.

Precious few things have held the power to bond people together and produce a torrent of human emotion such as the symbol of a nation.

Yet, many Canadians give little thought to the symbol that flies over our freedom each and every day.

I smiled this past week when I read Nancy Karetak-Lindell's thoughts on watching our flag being raised for the first time in Arviat.

I remember the first time the flag was raised at Central school in Glace Bay, N.S.

I was in Grade 2 at the time and, although I could not comprehend the significance of the event, there was no denying the electricity in the air as it made its way up that old wooden flag pole.

What a sight as it unfurled and rode the wind for the very first time.

We are fortunate to live in the greatest nation on Earth and our flag is a tribute to more than our nationality.

It is a symbol of our pride, convictions, courage, sensibility, sensitivity, fairness, tolerance and understanding.

You can't help but notice how many of these traits combined to play an integral role in the birth of our great territory almost eight years ago.

Many nations don't share all these traits with us.

Should we have lived in any of those places, there would be no Nunavut today.

Come Feb. 15, 2008, Kivalliq should lead the way in turning Nunavut into a sea of red and white for we owe those colours much.

Yes, there have been mistakes made in the past, but justice and forgiveness are two more distinct Canadian traits.

In many parts of the world, deserving one's own land would not equate into having one's own land, at least not through negotiation without a single shot being fired.

That type of civility is rare. Yet, here we sit in Nunavut. To those with entitlement, our land.

And, to all of us, our territory, under our flag.

The colours of our nation.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
Friday, February 23, 2007

You know what really grinds my gears? The fact that in almost 30 years, no one has opened a movie theatre in Inuvik.

The last shrine to Hollywood productions was what was called the Polaris theatre. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the place.

Wow, that was a while back wasn't it? For those of you too new to our community to know what I'm talking about, the Polaris was the hang-out spot for youth in the late 70s.

How do I know about the Polaris you ask? Simple answer: old newspapers. I was eyes deep in some old, bound copies of The Mackenzie Drift, a newspaper from the era.

Turns out that before channel four existed, people would get their entertainment from movies shown on a big screen. Wow, that must have been fun, gathering with friends, going on a date or just catching the Sunday matinee with the family.

I read that the operators of the theatre fell on hard times when Inuvik TV was established, which looks like a pirated feed of new releases and older movies. I read a few letters going back and forth about why the theatre really fell down the tubes.

Some complained the people who managed the place weren't keeping it clean and most of the seats were broken. The theatre's owners blamed the new TV channel for the lack of customers.

I'm sure there were also some rowdy groups of youth who would bring the house down with their views against authority while they blasted Black Sabbath's War Pigs from their oversized stereos. Either way, Inuvik's only movie theatre was shut down.

So now why the lapse in service? Shouldn't someone have picked up the ball and ran with it? Did movies suddenly become extremely unpopular in the few years before I was born? Was it all a conspiracy by our parents to hide the best thing Inuvik had going? I don't have the answers to those questions, but I am sure some people in town do.

Now, I can't start preaching about how a theatre would increase our tourism. Frankly I wouldn't want to waste my summer days in a crowded theatre.

But it is during the cold months of late winter that we could use a gathering place where we can all laugh and cry with our favourite actors.

I don't think I'm being farfetched with my vision of another theatre in town.

If we made enough of a fuss, I'm sure we could pre-empt the pipeline and all the other development in the region.

So come on Imperial Oil, make us a movie theatre. If you did that, I'd start digging up my back yard for your storage. Sure you can keep those tools in my office, so long as I get to watch Rush Hour 3 on opening night.

I understand the costs would be high, but the money would be good. Think about it, everyone likes a good movie and as long as the features stay recent, I don't see how this could fail. It's not like New North is going to start selling feeds to illegal movies, so stop waiting for the rolling ads to change.

I'd ask the town to put some money into a theatre, but in the past few years I have seen that recreation is the most important thing in Inuvik.

That family centre needs us. We all agreed to build it, now it might be cutting its operation days from six days a week to five. Come on, let's all go swimming and maybe they'll start showing movies in the pool. Oh man, that would sell tickets.

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
Friday, February 23, 2007

I don't want to ring the victory bell too early and jinx anything, but I think it's safe to say the NWT Winter Games, hosted by Fort Simpson, will go down as a success.

While talking to those involved, including chaperones, participants and instructors, over the weekend the majority of the comments I heard were positive. The odd glitch had occurred here or there but those were only mentioned if I specifically asked if they would like to have seen anything done differently.

Chaperones and instructors noted how participants moved smoothly from one event to another and almost everything was on time. The organizers and volunteers who took part in the games should be praised for that.

Keeping more than 275 athletes, who don't know each other or the community they are in, moving in a timely manner is a work of art. Although some luck is involved, it takes a lot of well-thought-out planning for something this big to go as well as it did.

Despite there always being some stragglers, almost all of the events I visited were running on time and running well.

At the opening ceremony, Fort Simpson Mayor Duncan Canvin said he wanted to set the bar high for future games. At the closing ceremony, Canvin congratulated the volunteers for making Fort Simpson one of the biggest can-do communities in the NWT.

Official praise for the games also came at the closing ceremonies from Doug Rentmeister, executive director of Sport North.

"On behalf of Sport North I would like to congratulate Fort Simpson on hosting the best NWT Winter Games ever," Rentmeister said to the crowd.

Of course this could be just pleasant rhetoric and maybe Rentmeister gave similar praise to the communities that hosted the first two games. The real proof of the success of the event will have to come from the participants themselves.

Although it can be difficult to get sentences of more than one or two words out of 10 to 14-year-olds, the words that did come out were favorable.

The most common comment was "fun." Many participants found the whole weekend fun or decided one of the sports was particularly fun.

Speaking more loudly than words were their actions.

At every event the youth were on their feet, or sitting in the case of Dene games, and really giving the sports a try. Sure there were a few students sitting on the sidelines or hunkered down in the canvas tents heated by wood stoves, but they were generally the minority.

Students were learning how to smash birdies, knock around broomballs, shoot hoops, slide down hills on snowboards, outwit their opponents and all the while wearing smiles and chatting with new friends.

For all the credit that is to be given to the organizers and volunteers, a fair amount also needs to go to the participants. The games were all about the youth and they helped to make them a success.

Many students left their comfort zones, whether they were trying out a new sport or picking themselves up after falling or failing in front of strangers. Students from the smaller communities in the Deh Cho saw more new faces than there are residents in their communities. Participating in something this big is an achievement in itself.

For everyone involved in the games, congratulations on a job well done.

In the Jan. 29 edition of News/North. Sachs Harbour's principal, Mary Kathleen Connolly ("Small classes, big responsibility," p.49) it was stated she spent 34 years teaching in Sachs Harbour. She has only been in Sachs since 2001. News/North apologizes for any inconvenience or embarrassment caused by this error.

In the Feb. 19 article, "Fewer prospecting permits issued," Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) allowed applications for prospecting in the Deh Cho region in December of 2005 and then did not issue those permits. INAC did not issue and then revoke permits in the Deh Cho region.