Features

Monday, August 27, 2007

In February 2006, the Colville Lake family sought medical help because Ashley was suffering from a high fever.

Over the phone, a nurse told the family the fever was due to teething. It was not until later that month when the child's condition did not improve and she was sent to hospital in Edmonton that doctors diagnosed her with meningitis.

Unfortunately, by that time, Ashley was terminal. After six months in hospital, the family returned home with their daughter and she died in August 2007, after a year of suffering.

Has the GNWT failed by not providing sufficient resources? Should have staff at the health centre been able to recognize the little girl's symptoms? Should Colville Lake have better access to a nurse?

An inquest into little Ashley's death should be ordered by the coroner's office. These questions need to be answered and solutions found to prevent such tragedies.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya's suggestion that all communities have access to medical care on par with Yellowknife may be pie in the sky. But is it too much to ask that all patients have access to one-on-one care? Diagnosing over the phone, based on the observations of parents with no medical training, can produce fatal results.

Any improvements will come too late for the Kochon family. If any good can come out of their daughter's untimely passing, it will be to help save the lives of other NWT children.

The danger of government allowing industry to police itself on the protection of our nation's rivers is clear.

Facts heard at a water conference in Fort Smith last week, organized by the Akaitcho First Nations and hosted by the Smith Landing First Nation, is proof all level of governments have failed over decades of discussion to put proper safeguards in place.

The GNWT has been accepting gridlock in negotiating bilateral water agreements that would protect our most vital resource. At the federal level, there as been a blatant lack of will to regulate industry that directly affects rivers crossing provincial and territorial boundaries.

Regardless of the cause of the changes in water flow and quality, governments must be pressured by the citizens of Canada and the North to begin long range management of our precious waters, that, especially in the North, are relied heavily upon for survival.

The Fort Smith conference is a good first step to accomplishing this goal. Hopefully, the recommendations that come from the conference are not merely sent off to some government department to collect dust in a drawer.

It will be up to committed individuals, both in government and outside government, to ensure that doesn't happen.

Overshadowed in the federal government's Aug. 10 announcements of a deep-water port for Nanisivik and a military training centre for Resolute was word that the Canadian Rangers will expand nationwide to 5,000 members from 4,100.

In addition, they are to be provided with new gear, weapons and vehicles, an investment that will involve tens of millions of dollars over the next decade.

The Rangers routinely travel across remote areas of Canada, representing the military, carrying out search and rescue missions and leading soldiers on sovereignty patrols. Although they're capable of using modern technology such as global positioning systems (GPS), the Rangers possess skills that their Canadian Forces counterparts lack: familiarity with the vast expanse of land and ice and the ability to recognize weather conditions that can mean life or death.

The North is home to 1 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. At about 1,500 members, it's the largest of five such regiments across Canada, with the others in Quebec, northern Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Prairies and Pacific west coast.

While satellites and radar have become primary sources of intelligence gathering for the world's leading militaries, they still require people on the ground. At a time when the High Arctic has become an international hotspot politically - for its natural resource riches and as a commercial shipping route - the Rangers are another means by which Canada can stake claim to disputed territory.

Not only are the Rangers a military presence, they are role models to youth in their communities. Easily identified by their signature red sweaters, these men and women play prominent roles at community events and are often a bridge between elders and youth in sharing knowledge of the land.

We will be better off with more of them.

For several years employees in Grise Fiord's 1960s-era government office building have been subjected to poor ventilation, sewage overflow, frozen fuel lines and deteriorating walls, floors and windows.

Reassuring words from the Department of Community and Government Services have amounted to no action at all.

In May, the Workers Compensation Board ordered the government to repair the building after it failed an inspection.

Government officials, however, are pleading that they have no money. Those same government workers wouldn't stand to have their own workplaces in such a hazardous state.

The Grise Fiord office building must be made a priority for the sake of the employees who have to suffer there every weekday.

That's the legendary motto of the Three Musketeers, three men who stayed together through thick and thin. It could now be used just as successfully by the communities of Jean Marie River, Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake.

These three communities have come together to sign a joint venture agreement which has launched a numbered company currently being called the Tri-Corporation until a final name can be settled on.

The original goal of the agreement and the corporation was to give the communities the means to bid for contracts relating to the Mackenzie Gas Project. The communities have realized that separately they don't have the means to secure contracts either because they don't have enough manpower or because they lack the capital to purchase or rent the necessary equipment.

The communities have now broadened their plans for the corporation to include joining together the three local stores and possible agreements with catering companies and airlines.

These communities have precisely the right idea.

The simple truth of the matter is that in the smaller communities there simply are not enough resources to tackle large projects. Between them Jean Marie River, Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake have a total population of 264 people according to 2004 statistics. The three are among the smallest communities in the area.

While 264 people is enough to create a mid-sized village by Deh Cho standards it doesn't provide a lot of people to muster together for a potential project.

Coming together to share what they have and benefit as a group is an ideal plan. If enough determination and energy is put into the relationship, the benefits will be reaped on a number of levels.

To begin with, the communities are following one of the principal Dene values - sharing. According to documents prepared by the Dehcho First Nations, the Dene shared in the use of the land and the resources of the land, food in particular. The work needed to maintain a camp was shared along with the responsibility for caring for children and protecting the health and safety of the family.

Through their joint venture agreement, the three communities are following a modernized version of this value.

By joining forces, they are helping to ensure that the work needed to support the communities and, therefore, the families they contain, can be shared by a broader base. Many hands make for light work.

Individual residents will be able to benefit from the joint venture agreement if it brings more jobs to the communities or even lowers grocery prices through a buying group.

The agreement also means that the communities are binding their fates together. What better reason is there to build co-operation between neighbours than having something valuable resting in the balance?

The communities have little to lose and possibly a lot to gain by working in tandem.

Co-operation on this level is something that we need to see more of between communities in the Deh Cho, especially if self-government becomes a reality.

We all need educators, whether they be in a school or just someone you can learn from.

The most important trait of a successful teacher is the ability to reach out to students in a way that they understand.

I want to take this opportunity to recognize a strong teacher and friend who recently passed on.

I was in my office earlier this week, when I heard that Samuel Hearne teacher Gord Church had passed away, due to a failed liver.

With only weeks to go before school, this will be a tremendous loss for the faculty.

I knew Church, he was always a good listener and would always make an effort to help in any way he could.

It's frustrating that we have to deal with death so close to us, but this is where we pull together as a community and grow stronger.

With the help of loving, dedicated teachers like Church, we can fully move forward as a community.

I'm sure that there will be a rush of new teachers this year, all eager to see what awaits them in September.

I want those new teachers to learn from the legacy left by those educators who have passed on.

On behalf of the younger people who have gone to school and remember the teachings of those men and women, I hope all the teachers and staff at both schools never forget the important lessons being taught in and out of the classroom.

Teachers and staff in our schools carry a heavier burden than most people recognize.

The teachers in the region need to know that they are important and are deserving of our respect.

The truth is that many parents are not equipped, or are scared to teach their children.

Maybe they aren't at home, or they don't have the know-how to encourage their child.

As a community, we rely on the strength of our teachers, young and old to set a good example and to make learning as memorable as possible.

Trust is one of the backbones of any relationship.

Trusting a teacher should be paramount in the process of learning.

Once a student can trust their teacher, it makes it easier to get along and to complete the ultimate objective: graduation.

There are many youth who step out on that ledge, who want to further themselves with the aid of an older person.

If you are that older person, don't do anything to breach that trust.

Remember, education is a two-way street.

The student invests a lot of themselves to believe another adult.

It's a shame that we lose our community members who work hard to ensure the prosperity of the town, but I hope someone else will stand up and ease our loss.

To the students, when that bell rings next week and you're back in class, let your teacher know they're making a difference.

It would probably mean a lot to them.

Without a healthy relationship between the two groups, we might end up with an empty room and a lonely educator, or a room full of unanswered questions.

There were a few who took the time to let me know I was dreaming in Technicolour after reading my views in this space almost two years ago on what the future may hold (Little island could mean big bucks).

It was about the time Canada and Denmark were posturing over who held ownership of a tiny piece of real estate sitting squarely in the middle of the Kennedy Channel in the Nares Strait, known as Hans Island.

It was, after all, only Denmark, and a few readers thought my notion of the Northwest Passage becoming a viable international shipping lane was a little far-fetched.

Besides, even if it did happen and he who owns Hans Island controls the passage, everyone knows Canada holds the rights to the Arctic.

Of course, the Americans felt a little differently, and so did the Russians.

I wonder what those readers were thinking as the Russians decided to plant a flag at the base of the North Pole recently?

Many scientists and industrialists view Arctic ice as nothing more than a formidable barrier to the incredible wealth of mineral and energy resources that rest beneath.

The Russians have openly stated they are in the process of trying to expand their 200-nautical-mile limit, which would have their mail going to the same box as Jolly Old St. Nick.

If the Russians show the Lomonosov underwater shelf is an extension of their continental border then, presto, they'd have instant claim for an economic zone that would make them neighbours at the North Pole.

It's time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his band of cohorts to get off their duffs and start staking a stronger claim to Northern turf.

Some predict the passage will be open during the summer months - instantly creating a shipping route between Europe and Asia - in as little as two decades.

The announcement of a deep-sea port at Nanisivik is a start, but, Canada has to move quickly to increase its military presence in the North and be far-more diligent in mapping the Arctic sea-bed and compiling data than it has been in the past.

Make no mistake about it, the days are gone when Canada could lay claim to the entire Arctic sea-bed. The goal now is to ensure we get our share when the bed is divided up like a large pizza, topped with energy and mineral resources instead of cheese and pepperoni.

Add on the commerce that comes with an open Northwest Passage for one-third of the year (explorers haven't been searching for five centuries because of the scenery), and it's obvious just how lucrative the future could be.

In the meantime, the feds should remember how important Inuit are to Canadian sovereignty in the North.

As Canada steps up its efforts to assert its Arctic ownership, Nunavut should be at the front of the line to start reaping the benefits.

As we said in 2005, the Canadian Forces can't assert its presence from southern computer screens.

It's time to man existing bases, get Hercules aircraft stationed in Nunavut year-round, and start pumping money into the Northern economy to protect the North.

After all, we're not just after riches, we live here.