Features

Democracy is a fundamental part of Canadian life. It's a value Canadians have chosen to fight and die for more than once.

Democracy is dependant upon maintaining our rights and freedoms, but how far do we need to go to protect those rights?

A good example is the court ruling overturning the recent election for Hay River town council.

We commend Hay River resident Wayne Keefe for bringing the election irregularities to the surface. His court challenge revealed serious breaches in election procedure, such as candidate scrutineers counting ballots, unsigned nomination papers, a ballot box opened prematurely and a lack of a mobile voting station.

Most importantly, the court ruling identified a lack of adequate training for returning officers and has recommended the GNWT and the municipality improve on training for election officials.

However, after more than a year of service, Hay River councillors should not have lost their seats. If declaring the council election invalid was the only course open to the courts, the councillors with the top votes from the previous election should have been reappointed.

Holding a second election is going to cost Hay River in excess of $100,000. For a community of under 4,000 people, such an unexpected hit to the budget is significant and could be put to better use.

The interruption to council business also comes at a time when councillors should be in budget deliberations.

A Fort Smith couple's win of $11 million in Lotto 6/49 has people asking if vendors should be allowed to purchase tickets at their own stores.

An investigation revealed no wrongdoing on the part of Barkley and Ann Heron. The ticket was bought by Barkley at his store - The Rapid Corner Store - in Fort Smith.

In most contests, rules stipulate that employees directly involved with the distribution of tickets, and their families, are not allowed to enter.

Remember the Ontario lottery scandal where a retailer cheated a customer out of their winnings?

To ensure fairness or even just the perception of fairness, it seems prudent to change the policy regarding who is eligible to purchase tickets.

A simple rule prohibiting retailers from buying lottery tickets in their own stores would go a long way.

The Western Canada Lottery Corporation states that ticket purchases are very secure. As the scandal in Ontario has proven, cheating the system is not impossible.

It should also be recognized that the lottery corporations are in a conflict of interest when it comes to maintaining the integrity of their product. Revealing cheating by employees would undermine the integrity of the draws. How many corporations sweep internal scandals under the carpet to protect their good reputations?

We are in no way implying that the Heron's winnings are not legitimate, but for the sake of people's peace of mind, it is time to review how and to whom tickets are sold.

A horrific crime was committed in Kimmirut last week.

Someone shot an RCMP Const. Douglas Scott in the head, killing him, as he was responding to a call of an impaired driver.

Just the thought sends shudders down the spine.

Many people across the country are learning about the tragedy from afar: newspaper, radio and television reporters are converging on the tiny community, broadcasting images throughout Canada.

The 400 residents who are accustomed to a quiet must be absolutely overwhelmed by the intense media scrutiny.

Simply put, they never asked for this tragedy. Regardless, they have to cope. They must endure.

Unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, the association many Canadians are going to have with Kimmirut will be a negative one, one of a remote, Northern community where a police officer's life was ended by a heinous act.

This too was true for Cape Dorset in 2001. That's when Const. Jurgen Seewald fell victim to a shotgun blast from Salomonie Jaw. In 2004, Jaw was convicted of first-degree murder by a jury.

That murder has not been forgotten, nor should it be, but only the passage of years has allowed attention to return to Cape Dorset's other qualities, primarily its rich artistic talent. That community, it so happens, has been anointed the artistic capital of Canada because it has the most artisans per capita.

With that in mind, we encourage others to keep in mind that Kimmirut isn't solely a site of tragedy.

It's a place that fostered carving luminaries like Davidee Itulu, Iola Ikkidulak and Simata Pitsiulak. It's the home of the Soper House Gallery, which houses an array of amazing carvings. The community has produced a 125-page guide profiling its accomplished and up-and-coming artists.

Kimmirut is where elders like Eliyah and Jeannie Padluq reside. They possess a vast knowledge of the land, the history and the culture.

The Pujualuissait Committee operates in Kimmirut. It has helped residents find healthy alternatives to alcoholism, a problem that plagues most Northern communities.

As well, the Kimmirut area is becoming renowned for its gems, particularly its sapphires.

It's geological formation - a community hemmed in by rocks along a bay - has made it known as "the heel" in Inuktitut. It's a place that visitors are getting to see more and more as cruise travel to the North increases.

These are just some of the things we know about Kimmirut, some of the same things that many previous RCMP officers have discovered.

We also know that the sorrowful family of the accused has expressed its condolences to Const. Scott's family. The police have, in turn, offered their moral support to the suspect's family.

There are many victims in this unthinkable misfortune, and we hope the waves of sympathy gradually give way to a newfound sense of trust and respect on all sides.

Daily life is filled with decisions.

From the moment a person wakes up they have decisions to make. Hit the snooze button another time or get out of bed? Two cups of coffee or one?

Many people want advice from others when there is a decision to be made, whether on personal or work-related matters. On other occasions, people just want to be reassured they are making the right choice.

While most people are willing to give advice to friends, family members or coworkers so they can make a decision, matters change when it's a larger entity that's looking for help.

Consultation is a term that has been getting a lot of use over the past few years.

Technically, a consultation is a conference between two or more people to consider a particular question. Really all this means is that someone is asking advice on a decision.

It seems that almost any project of notable size needs to involve consultation. The Joint Review Panel is a perfect example of a consultation.

But everything from the construction of a new bridge to revising a community plan seems to require a meeting to ask members of the public for their opinion or thoughts on the matter.

The list of organizations needing to hold consultations can get overwhelming and probably as a coping method the average citizen has become immune to the pleas for public input. It's hard to blame anyone for not wanting to give up their free time to arrive at a meeting, sit on uncomfortable chairs, eat snacks if they're lucky and listen to a presentation on something that likely won't have an impact on their daily life.

The result of numbness to consultation, however, is that projects that really want public input can't get it from a broad range of community members. Sure one or two people are bound to come out but how can a handful of people represent a community?

Chief Keyna Norwegian asked this question while raising concerns about the consultation process involved with making a decision on a boundary for the expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve.

Norwegian said that although meetings were recently held in Nahanni Butte, Fort Liard and Fort Simpson, the average attendance of 15 people wasn't enough to be called proper public consultation. Her suggestion was for people to go door-to- door in a community if that's what it takes to get input.

While this is certainly an idea, the same problem is bound to be reached in the end. People will get just as tired of giving their opinions on their doorstep as they did in public meetings.

Unfortunately there's no magic answer for this one.

If community members don't feel the need to have a say in a decision, there's nothing that anyone can do to force them. All the tastiest doughnuts in the world, a common incentive at public meetings, aren't enough to draw out people who don't want to participate. Decisions that have public consultation as part of their equations are simply going to continue to be made with the voice of the few or perhaps, increasingly, with no public voice at all.

Our community is about to see a big change in the social scene. Those who suffered through years of residential school and living in hostels will be getting their reparation money soon.

A lot of people in our community are on the verge of a big change in their lives. Residential school payments are coming and those who are getting them have waited a long time for this gesture of closure.

After years of not addressing the issue, the federal government is stepping up and opening its purse to the aboriginal groups of Canada.

For too long, the people of our region have been in the dark. Decades of pain and anguish have led to social issues.

Alcoholism, drug abuse, self esteem and trust issues are now rampant in the North.

I feel bad for those young kids who were taken from home and grouped in large facilities such as Grollier Hall, or Stringer Hall.

Children from any walk of life need to be raised by a family, not by a group of people who use fear to control them.

Many people who grew up this way are now sharing their stories and being open with others around them. Some say they were damaged by their childhood and it still affects their everyday life.

Whether or not you agree that money is the answer to the pain suffered through the experiences at those schools, the groups who went through it deserve something far more important than money.

Those aboriginal people who feel they lost their sense of self through that process need our respect and support.

Money will help them rebuild their lives and aid them with their responsibilities, but as their friends and family, we should stay where we have been: by their side.

Weeks ago people in our community sent back their claims forms and are now waiting on their payments.

The money that is given out needs to be used responsibly and kept safe.

Twin Lakes MLA Robert McLeod made his stance clear last month, when he spoke out against elder abuse.

There might be people out looking to benefit from someone else's money.

Since I'm too young to get any payment from any childhood experiences, I don't have any money coming to me and I don't have any place to tell someone else what to do, but moderation is important

As I said earlier, there are many addictions in our community. A lot of people are weak to their vices and might be inclined to spend their payments on negative things.

It would play into negative stereotypes if the money was wasted and not properly invested. I've heard some close-minded arguments that a lot of money would only mean a lot of liquor purchases.

I think people deserve a chance to prove the nay-sayers wrong.

There is so much opportunity in the North for those who work for it and maybe a financial windfall is just what someone needs to start their own business.

As a community, we should look for ways to make the most of the money that is coming to town.

With more money comes a sense of equality. There may be households that will be better off from the payments. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the biggest Christmas season since the first oil boom.

Despite pending lawsuits and a rather lengthy (and still growing) list of disappointments, the majority of Nunavut's leaders still say publicly that they can work with the federal government to bring substantial improvements to the North.

However, those voices have lowered to an unconvincing whisper from their previous bold statements of claim which, in actuality, were no more than audible snippets of wishful thinking.

The release of federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's stop-gap budget this past week prompted even more of those same snippets, as Nunavut politicians covered their disappointment by taking a wait-and-see approach to Flaherty's main budget coming to a TV near you in 2008.

It was almost comical to hear Flaherty announce a one-per-cent cut to the GST and nominal improvements to the income tax rate and basic personal exemption just a week after Nunavummiut were hit by a 10-cent retail hike in the price of gas (20 cents for aviation fuel) and a six-per-cent raise in the price of an airline ticket.

Nowhere in Flaherty's financial tidings was there an increase to the 20-year-old Northern residents tax deduction, nor was there anything else to benefit those of us who call Nunavut home.

Yet, the plea to wait and see prevails.

Maybe Flaherty will drop us a list of his initiatives to improve the quality of life in the North from one of those unmanned patrol planes the Canadian Forces plans to put into operation in the North?

We have yet to see any evidence contrary to our original claim that this government is not going to be friendly to the North.

We are seeing nickel-and-dime initiatives coming from the feds when it cost big bucks to carve out a life in the North, let alone make improvements.

Hopefully, Flaherty will make some substantial announcements for Northern residents in his full budget this coming year, but we're still not holding our collective breath.

Just as alarming in this scenario, is our leaders' seeming inability to impress upon Parliament Hill just how expensive the cost of living remains in the North.

They don't seem to realize they can be watching a new home-entertainment system on their leather couch for what it costs most of us to fly to Winnipeg twice a year.

And that, in itself, is an unfair comparison because many folks in the North simply can't afford to fly to Winnipeg once a year for a break.

It's time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his gang of Prairie oysters to realize Northern Canada needs a lot more than 60-minute visits, flowery lip-service speeches and unmanned planes flying around.

Maybe there's simply too much attention being paid to all the big fish Ottawa and Iqaluit want to see landed in Nunavut in the future and not enough to the here and now.

It's fine for our leaders and the federal government to discuss and argue over ways to bring new money into Nunavut, but, right now, we need to come up with ways to stop it from leaving.

And, that $3 we're going to save on our next five-bag, $300-grocery purchase at our local retailers just isn't going to cut it.