Editorial

Yellowknife Catholic Schools may have faith in the divine, but its board isn't willing to wait for a miracle to solve a pending space crisis for students at Ecole St. Joseph school.

Negotiations to share space with the public school district (Yk 1) failed and the Catholic board is willing to spend $2.5 million to buy a portable school that will be here in time for classes in the fall.

This very expensive decision solves YCS's immediate need to house students during the next three years as St. Joe's undergoes a retrofit. It does nothing to deal with dozens of empty classrooms around the city, nor does it solve YCS's ongoing space crunch.

Whether or not the territorial government is going to pay the cost remains to be seen, but the Catholic board appears confident it will be able to sell the school modules when they're no longer needed.

We don't know why the two school districts were unable to agree on sharing space. Nobody's talking about that, which is a shame because parents and taxpayers are left wondering if our money is being put to the best possible use to teach our kids. One thing we do know is that YCS was adamant about having all its students in one space, and wasn't willing to have kids scattered around Yk 1 schools.

Now the question that remains is what to do about Yk 1's empty space. Overall, Yk 1 schools are at about 70 per cent capacity, with NJ Macpherson at 52 per cent and Sissons at 60 per cent and William McDonald at 59.

The territorial government wants Yk 1 to close a school and consolidate students. The minister cut funding by $200,000 to pressure the board. A closed school would have allowed St. Joe's students to move en masse during renovations and save taxpayers thousands of dollars. Defiant Yk 1 trustees, teachers and parents say they're willing to spend what it takes to keep all its schools open.

Only an unexpected boost in tax revenue averted the district from having to dip too deeply into its savings this year. What happens next year is unclear. Are parents willing to pay a tax increase to keep a school open?

Enrolment is stagnant, meaning Yk 1's classrooms are going to remain empty for some time, because the Catholic board isn't about to boot out its non-Catholic students.

The YCS decision to buy portables gives both sides some breathing room.

In the end, however, Yk 1 has to deal with its empty classrooms because for all the talk about smaller classes and neighbourhood schools, the $200,000 spent each year on administration and operations for a school that's not really needed is only robbing money from students.

Different scale of thought

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, May 30, 2007

There are two sides to the common perception among Kivalliq's working class that the Nunavut Housing Corp.'s rent scale acts as a disincentive for some people to find employment.

Corporation president Peter Scott is bang on when he says that contention is more of an excuse for people not to work than an actual perception.

However, Scott is not necessarily bang on for all the right reasons.

The examples Scott gives that encourage work are preaching to the converted.

How many in the working class wouldn't like to have five to eight years of working full-time and only paying $100 a month in rent?

The point Scott is missing, is how attractive the public housing rent scale is to those who are less ambitious than most.

Personally, I don't know what I'd do with all the free time, but that's mainly because I start climbing the walls if I don't have a purpose to my days. But even I have to admit, those in public housing who are on social assistance have a pretty good deal going.

Basically, all they have to pay for is their phone, cable and food.

Being the president of the Housing Corp., Scott has to come across like everyone's a straight shooter, despite the fact he readily admits many tenants show a discernible lack of math skills when reporting their total income to the various housing associations.

Just like we all know every food industry and hospitality worker in Canada reports every dime they make in tips at income tax time -- we can take for granted those in Nunavut on fixed incomes never bring in a little extra under the table (wink, wink).

And, those in public housing who know how to work the system can, basically, stay at the low end of the rent scale by only working every second year.

Talk about great vacation benefits!

When you understand the system, you realize the public housing rent scale does give some in our communities an excuse not to work, or, at least, not to work too much.

Water and sewer costing Scott's department as much as heat and power combined is staggering.

When you throw in the elimination of housing costs for elders, and the break at the fuel pumps being absorbed by the Nunavut government, you can't help but wonder how long territorial coffers can support this method.

It may be time to, at least, consider a time frame for those in public housing who are capable of working to have to do so, at least occasionally.

Even having to work one year out of five to maintain control of their unit would have them contributing something to the community.

Couple that with a wee rent hike WHILE they're working, and the perception of those who punch a clock every day may soften a bit.

Of course, homeowners who pay for a mortgage, insurance and full service bills on their utilities may take more convincing.

But, who knows, at the end of the day those who join the workforce may get used to that weekly paycheque or, at the very least, feel a bit better about themselves for contributing once in while.

Now there's a scale of thought for the government to tweak with a bit.

Clean up your act

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum
Friday, May 25, 2007

Melted snow in Inuvik means two things: massive puddles and visible garbage.

Both are an inconvenience for the people in town.

Fortunately for the annual rush of tourists, they only see the tail end of both problems.

By the time Arthur and Agnes Southerner make their way up the mighty Dempster in their RV, we've already cleared most of the garbage from our streets, thanks to town council for giving us the prized initiative to pick up after ourselves.

The annual clean-up rewards those brave souls who don the gloves and pick up year-old trash from the sides of the street and our playgrounds.

Here's a crazy suggestion. How about not throwing your garbage outside?

Like, maybe you should just use a trash bin.

Litter bugs have wreaked havoc in this town once again, with potato chip bags and crushed pop cans peppering our streets and culverts.

I don't know who to blame in this situation. I guess I could start with myself.

I caught myself casually dropping a Quickstop cup on the ground a few weeks ago.

I felt bad and regretted it, but I didn't feel bad enough to pick it up. Yes, I'm an awful person.

The worst part of this whole dirty situation is that people litter every day.

It makes the town look really bad and I don't think the all-day sunlight helps the situation.

Maybe you could hide from the problem in mid-February, but not now.

I totally support the idea of a town cleanup, but I wish it didn't have to be so extreme.

I'm sure that every year the town staff collects tons of trash from our streets.

People won't bother to pick up after themselves, but they are sure willing to pick up trash for some cold hard cash.

Isn't littering a fine-able offence? Can someone get charged for dropping garbage on the road?

I think they should be for sure. I know that I would stop littering if it meant paying money.

How about a posted list of people who litter? Can I post photos in the Drum office window of everyone who has the brass to litter?

Instead of just cleaning house before company comes, we should strive to live in a cleaner environment.

Let's stop with the annual last minute rush and start cleaning in the fall season, too.

Maybe some people will stop their dirty habits, but old habits die hard.

Stop smashing bottles everywhere.

Oh those green bottles, how many times do I have to change the pace of my steps just to avoid you on my daily walk to work?

My beef with broken glass is not just because it's inconvenient. Some innocent little kid might get hurt if they trip or fall off their bike.

Hopefully those people so inclined to litter will take this as a wake up call and not just as criticism for their littering life choice.

There is a sobering fact through all this; tourists pay their money to spend time in our town.

That's right. Hard working people pay large amounts of tender to spend a week here under the midnight sun.

Sweep a sidewalk or pick up some trash, so they don't go home and tell all their friends what slobs we are.

Persistence pays off

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
Friday, May 25, 2007

Sometimes persistence helps.

Residents in Wrigley have spent years asking for a permanent RCMP presence in their community.

The community is serviced by the Fort Simpson detachment, but a variety of residents pointed out that this is not the same as having their own, permanent RCMP presence. People noted that the RCMP could help deter crimes and make residents feel safer.

Now, after years of requests, the community of Wrigley is about to get what they have been asking for.

The territorial government has approved the funding for two RCMP positions in Wrigley, Gameti and Sachs Harbour, three of the 13 communities in the territory without a permanent RCMP detachment.

Two RCMP officers are expected to be located and living in Wrigley by the fall. This will certainly be a change for a community that has spent so long time with the RCMP being an over three-hour drive or an hour flight away.

Now that the territorial government has taken this step, the next steps cannot happen quickly enough.

Community members will need to continue to push to ensure that the detachment is made permanent. The officers cannot be officially posted to Wrigley until there is permanent housing and a new detachment building available.

Until then two officers will live in Wrigley but they will be stationed there on a rotational basis. While having two officers is an important step, having the same officers posted for continuous periods of time is also essential.

That will allow those RCMP members to become familiar with the community so a positive relationship can be formed.

Now that the residents of Wrigley have seen their request for RCMP come this far they just have to make sure it goes that little extra distance.

The gift of music

There is little that a group of people or even one person with a dream can't accomplish.

The Kole Crook Fiddle Association is a perfect example of this concept. The association started as an idea between two people to make something positive out of a tragic situation. Although it's hard to make something like the death of a promising, young fiddler like Kole Crook seem positive a group of his friends have done just that.

In the five years since the official beginning of the association it has grown from a few students being taught to fiddle in Wrigley to an organization that spans seven communities.The success of the association has shown what a few volunteers with determination and a joint cause can do.

The association has created a whole generation of young fiddlers.

Young people are learning how to play an instrument, a skill that they will be able to keep for the rest of their lives. They will also gain a number of important side benefits including increased self-confidence, pride in their achievement and the knowledge that they can learn a new skill.

The Kole Crook Fiddle Association is a testament to the fact, that in the North, if there is a will, there's a way.