There was a time when the government went nose to nose with diamond companies and firms eager to get in on cutting and polishing Northern gems lined up for their piece of the pie.

That was 1999. Today, two diamond mines are going strong and a third, De Beers' Snap Lake, is expected to begin production next spring. A fourth mine is in planning stages. According to Statistics Canada, diamond exports from the NWT hit $1.6 billion in 2005.

For all the mining success, however, the secondary diamond industry city and territorial politicians dreamed about has never really hit solid footing.

Eight years ago, 10 firms bid for the right to open cutting plants here. Eventually four were opened, but only three continue to operate. About 110 people work in the plants that remain in operation, a far cry from the 400 one industry insider suggested as possible four years ago.

Last week, the secondary diamond industry got an apparent shot in the arm with word that De Beers had agreed to provide 10 per cent of diamonds mined from Snap Lake to Northern cutting and polishing houses. The deal is good news.

First of all, it has the potential to resolve a longstanding supply.

Secondly, it shows that Industry Minister Brendan Bell is finally starting to take the industry seriously. It was less than a year ago that Bell admitted previous agreements with Ekati and Diavik were flawed and that he didn't know how to fix the problem.

Diamond cutting houses had a solution: guarantee a supply of quality rough diamonds. As recently as April 2006, Arslanian Cutting Works bought diamonds from Belgium because of problems getting gems from NWT mines.

Last week, Bell agreed that city cutting houses need "the biggest and most valuable diamonds."

There's one flaw in the agreement, however: neither De Beers nor the government will say if there are any guarantees of size or quality of gems that cutting houses here can buy.

As well, under the agreement De Beers can even stipulate who can buy Snap Lake diamonds. They have to meet criteria set out by De Beers' marketing company, including adding value to the diamonds, its financial situation and adherence to ethical business standards. It's also important to remember that in 2003, De Beers balked at territorial government demands that it supply rough diamonds to Northern manufacturers.

In the end, only time and the government's determination will show if the De Beers deal will make a difference. Cutting houses must remain vocal and demand they get a fair share because since the tough talk in the late 1990s, the government has never really shown its willingness to stand up to multinational companies looking to profit from our diamonds.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The future's so bright I gotta' wear shades.

Nobody could really blame Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) president Mac Clendenning or Kivalliq campus director Mike Shouldice for humming the one-time Top 40 AM hit on occasion.

Training has finally become the name of the game in Nunavut and the college is starting to reap the benefits.

The announcement that the Kivalliq campus in Rankin Inlet will play host to the Northern Teachers Education program (NTEP) during the next four to five years is but the latest in a series of good news events for the college - and there could be much more to come.

The good folks from the federal Justice department and Corrections Canada paid a call to the campus during their recent trip to Rankin.

First and foremost on the list for discussion were, of course, preliminary talks on the possibility of initiating a training program in Rankin to supply corrections officers for the new Nunavut correctional facility.

Add in the continuing success of the midwifery and observer-communicator programs, as well as curriculum development for the new trades-training facility, and things are looking up for the college, indeed.

Close contact

Clendenning and Shouldice are keeping in close contact with Education Minister Ed Picco - proving himself to be Nunavut's most effective education minister to date -- regarding the NTEP review the Nunavut government has begun analyzing.

Picco is on a mission to increase the number of homegrown teachers entering the Nunavut education system.

To accomplish that aim while still managing to produce fully qualified and effective teachers, Picco realizes the NTEP has to be broadened in its capacity, scope and delivery.

It may not be too much longer before we see a second permanent NTEP-delivery site announced to compliment the Iqaluit-based program.

And, at the risk of sounding pro Rankin, the Kivalliq campus would be a leading candidate to host the addition should it come to fruition.

Solid job

We would be remiss if we did not also point out the solid job done by Arviat in hosting the current revolving NTEP, which holds the promise of seeing at least 10 graduates earn their bachelor of education degree, recognized by McGill University, this coming June.

Also lost in the shuffle from time to time is the high job-placement rate among graduates of the management studies program at the Kivalliq campus.

Clendenning and Shouldice are to be commended for their efforts in upgrading the curriculum and program delivery at NAC to meet the needs of our still very much developing territory.

And, they've done it with an emphasis on both Inuit students and staff members.

Here in the Kivalliq, NAC's development has reached the point where every one of its adult educators across the region are Inuit.

That's another goal the college has reached that sometimes gets overlooked while exciting new announcements grab the headlines.

The next few years hold a vast amount of promise for NAC, and within its walls rests the promise of continued growth for our region and a higher standard of living for its residents.

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.

Jessica Leduc's name was incorrectly spelled in last Friday's Yellowknifer ("French students learn Spanish," Feb. 23). Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion caused by the error.