Features

It's the same story, but this time there is a different character playing the lead role.

Once again the leader of the NWT has gone south with a war cry of reaching a devolution agreement with Ottawa.

Once again the leader has returned accommodating a federal government that continues to deny us the same benefits as Canadian provinces.

Premier Floyd Roland's meek return from the First Minister's conference in Ottawa demonstrates a damning lack of will to fight for the NWT's priorities and sends a defeatist message to our other elected leaders.

First it was Joe Handley, promising a devolution deal before he left office, who failed. Now Roland looks to be following the same tortured path.

He was previously quoted promising to champion the cause that would give the territory more control over resource development and access to the $250 million worth of revenue the feds siphon away annually.

Instead, Roland crawls back to Yellowknife with the same meaningless rhetoric of speaking "under the umbrella of working together," whatever that may mean.

Worse yet, Roland seems to have laid down his sword, hinting that devolution may be a lost cause and if so the government would look at putting it on the back burner.

Are there cocoons in Ottawa encasing the original versions of NWT leaders?

Do they head south only to be replaced by federally brainwashed clones?

How does a leader go astray after telling his people "I really believe that Northerners need to benefit from the development of the resources in the North."

How does he go from promising a "stronger approach" to NWT relations with Ottawa to basically pandering to the tired federal agenda? It appears that the federal government intends to drag devolution negotiations out until the NWT is stripped of every natural resource it has to offer.

We're tired of leaders who back down from their convictions and don't have the fortitude to stand up to the bigwigs in Ottawa.

What the NWT needs is strong leadership who will not bow down to the prime minister in hopes that saying "yes, sir" and "no, sir" will gain us the respect we need to further the development of our territory.

There's a time to work with Ottawa and a time to stand up and fight.

Our premier initially indicated that this was a time to fight. He should make up his mind so he can stop flip-flopping, which only makes him look weak in the eyes of those who must call him premier.

Emergency locator beacons could put an end to many lengthy and sometimes unsuccessful search and rescue missions, but only if they are used.

Inuit have been travelling throughout Nunavut for thousand of years. In bygone eras, they were largely on foot or using dog teams, living nomadically. While most of their excursions ended uneventfully, some went missing on the land, never to return. The only means of finding them was for family and friends to spend days trying to cover vast tracts of territory.

That no longer has to be true today. Now people travel on the land primarily by snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle, but there are still occasions when they get lost, particularly in harsh weather.

In the past few weeks, Nunavut News/North has profiled a couple of veteran hunters: Hugh Haqpi and Teddy Carter. Both had made successful trips many times prior to getting caught in poor conditions and losing their way. Their stories then became ones of survival against a fierce Mother Nature.

There are many other tales like theirs.

Those sorts of incidents have surely been reduced by the increasingly common global positioning system. They could be further reduced with the advent of the emergency personal locator beacon. When activated, the device sends signals to a satellite, which alerts search-and-rescue experts in the south. The beacons are so precise that locations of the individual in distress can be narrowed down to 10 to 20 feet.

That's amazing. Providing weather doesn't prevent rescuers from making a rapid response, then no elaborate planning and searching would be required.

Nunavut has 100 such beacons available to be signed out. They have been seldom used over the past few months. There may be some initial reluctance to adopt a new technology. The sooner this is overcome, the better.

Ed Zebedee, a civil servant who oversees the use of the devices, says he is considering having a simple instruction sheet - translated into Inuktitut - accompany the beacons. This would be a wise move.

Another possible hindrance may be that it's primarily the RCMP who are issuing the beacons.

Some travellers would undoubtedly be more comfortable borrowing the device from hunters and trappers organizations. It would make more sense to have them available there.

Travellers should be packing these devices among their gear before heading out on what could otherwise be their final journey.

According to Chief Keyna Norwegian, some residents and the RCMP, a number of recent deaths in Fort Simpson can be attributed to alcohol abuse that is being fuelled by residential school compensation payments. Depending on who you talk to either all four of the deaths that have occurred in the village between Dec. 20 and Jan. 17, or just three of them, are the result of this combination.

Regardless of whether the true number is three or four the equation still reaches the same conclusion -- tragedy.

Money that was meant to serve as a recognition of suffering caused by the residential school system has created even more heartbreak.

There are a few points that need to be drawn from these senseless deaths.

Although Fort Simpson has been singled out as a community that has recently had a high number of alcohol-related deaths, this does not mean we are alone.

Whispers from across the Deh Cho and maybe even across the territory have suggested that residential school payments are funding the increased use of alcohol.

It also needs to be pointed out that although the recent spate of deaths related to alcohol abuse can plausibly be linked to residential school payments, it does not mean that everyone who has received a payment is abusing alcohol.

As a number of people have pointed out, the majority of those receiving the money are making wise choices with it. Some people are paying off debts, others are putting some away in savings and a large number are treating themselves to new vehicles and snowmobiles.

Residential school compensation payments are not necessarily the cause of alcohol abuse and deaths.

A number of people have said that for the segment of the population that is at risk of alcohol abuse, an influx of money is dangerous because it gives them increased buying power.

Normally, a run of heavy drinking would stop when the money came to an end. Any increase in money allows for a longer drinking binge and, therefore, increases the chance of self-harm and death.

The argument that follows is that residential school payments just happen to be the source of increased personal wealth and, therefore, alcohol-related deaths. Winning the lottery or coming into an inheritance could lead to the same result for people at risk.

So while the recent deaths could be a rallying cry for better use of the residential school payments, they scream more loudly about a need to rethink attitudes towards the use of alcohol.

Although people have right to use their money however they see fit, at times they are not making healthy choices. Steps need to be taken so that any future influx of money, whether from other payments or increased employment, won't lead to the same tragic results.

Warm weather and a shining sun can play tricks with your mind.

A few days of balmy goodness and bright skies was all we needed to get outside and bask in our lovely countryside.

We're definitely blessed to have such a great landscape on which to build our community and, most importantly, play.

As Northerners we're supposed to indulge in the lifestyle. Grab a snowmachine and spend the day working on your wind-tan.

Playing around is fun, but it should go without saying that we need to be smart and safe.

Take a lesson from the Canadian Rangers. They live their lives responsibly and make sure that everyone is safe.

They recently returned from an exercise on the land and were out there for a few days. Hopefully they were able to do some fishing while they were in the bush.

While joining the ranks of the local Rangers would be the best way to get acquainted with on-the-land safety, I think we can all just live a little smarter.

Call this pre-empting an accident, but it's been quiet around here lately. Maybe people around town have learned to be safe when going outdoors. Oh, hang on. Was that kid on that snowmobile wearing a helmet? Nope.

Sorry junior, but your knit toque will not help you here. Get properly fitted for a helmet and gear.

In Fort Smith, a teenage girl is comatose because of an accident involving a Ski-Doo pulling an inner-tube. Wham. It can all become horribly real within seconds of an accident. Nobody cares whose fault it was, all they care about is the victim.

If people would take just a few moments to think things through before acting, a lot of harm could be saved in the world. Please, wear a helmet.

I see so many people on their snowmobiles, cruising around and speeding down the river bank.

I'm not even just referring to young people.

I see old men bombing around with hundreds of pounds of wood in the back of their sled, but no helmet!

What sort of example are we setting for our youth, if even the elders don't look after their own skulls?

All it takes is one good roll to crush it. Maybe even just a strong whip to one side.

Life changes when you wind up in a hospital. Some people experience that pain and get to walk away.

Then there are those who are permanently seated because of accidents.

Nobody is to blame in an accident, right? Wrong. Someone is always to blame, most of the time for being careless.

I have caught myself driving without a seatbelt before. (I don't have access to a sled, so I drive a truck.)

The same question always runs through my head: Would it be worth it if I was to get maimed or worse for lack of a simple precaution?

Of course the answer is always no. Taking that second to secure a seatbelt or a helmet can mean the difference between being shaken up after a close call and being carried out of a church in a casket.

We don't need to add to the list.

Don't be a fool, follow the rules and stay safe when you're out on that souped up Bravo.

I'm sure you'd much rather tell your own stories about being on the land rather than have your best friend talk about them during your funeral.

An important battle will begin in an Iqaluit courtroom on Jan. 25 to cap a busy month for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) and its president, Paul Kaludjak.

Nunavut Justice Earle Johnson is expected to hear arguments on whether NTI must include the Government of Nunavut (GN) on its lawsuit against the federal government.

NTI launched the $1-billion suit in December 2006, claiming the feds have failed to live up to their part of the bargain in implementing the Land Claims Agreement.

Federal lawyers quickly filed a defence against NTI's contention that the feds breached their contract, and followed that up with a motion to the Nunavut Court of Justice to name the GN as a co-defendant in the suit.

Their reasoning is simple enough: since the federal and territorial governments are partners who share the responsibility of properly implementing the Land Claims Agreement, they should both be named in any breach-of-contract suit involving the failure to do so.

Should the courts agree and order NTI to serve the GN with a statement of claim, it would be suing its own government.

Messy business to be sure, even though NTI claims it has no intention of seeking damages from the GN.

This lawsuit is rapidly shaping up to be a winner-take-all affair that, should it turn even more ugly, could drive a huge wedge between Iqaluit and Ottawa.

NTI got its wish on another front this month when the feds announced they would be aggressively recruiting Inuit employees in Nunavut.

About 33 per cent of the roughly 300 federal jobs in Nunavut are held by Inuit.

While we were pleased to hear Indian and Northern Affairs Canada regional director Michael Nadler talk about training and professional-development opportunities for Inuit, he did so under the banner of employee retention.

That, given relatively few Inuit possess the technical skills many federal jobs require in Nunavut, raises the spectre of headhunting to increase the federal government's percentage of Inuit employees.

Should that prove to be the case, it would be great for Inuit hired by the feds -- salary, benefits and lucrative pension -- but not necessarily so good for the territory.

Unless plans are in the works to train Inuit who don't possess the needed technical skills, the feds will lure away qualified individuals from the Nunavut government, regional Inuit associations and, possibly, NTI itself (wouldn't that be ironic).

The feds must be wondering which Paul is in charge of shaping Nunavut, Okalik or Kaludjak?

If not for the stakes being so high, it would almost be humorous to envision a courtroom with Premier Okalik sitting next to his federal co-defendant, staring across at Kaludjak and his southern lawyers at the NTI table.

Of course, should this legal battle last for an extended period of time, neither Paul may be around for a final verdict once Nunavut voters pass their own.

And, as the gap between Iqaluit and Ottawa continues to widen, former director of devolution John Lamb could find himself anywhere in the GN, back at NTI or heading up the next federal task force on cultural sensitivity in the workplace.

Talk about irony!