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The number of syphilis cases in the NWT has grown exponentially since the Department of Health reported five infections in September.

In October, those numbers rose to 11, then jumped to 20 and as of last week surged to more than 30 cases of the potentially deadly infection.

The territory's chief medical officer, Andre Corriveau, said we have yet to hit the peak of the outbreak. He said there are those who have yet to be tested, and he warned that people need to adjust their high-risk behaviour to protect themselves.

The Health Act provides the GNWT with extreme measures to stop an outbreak of a deadly communicable disease.

Those measures include forcible quarantine and public identification of infected individuals.

However, people should be able to police themselves. Presently, the outbreak is circulating among a high-risk segment of the population - drug users, excessive drinkers and people failing to practise safe sex.

One key to successfully stemming this outbreak is for those who have been identified as having had contact with an infected person to get tested.

The health department contacts everyone who could have potentially been in contact with an infected person, so they can seek treatment. Unfortunately, ignorance seems to be the biggest threat. Not only are people engaging in high-risk activity, health officials have stated patients can't remember the names of those they have had sex with in many cases.

In 2005, the GNWT released its strategic document pertaining to sexually-transmitted infections (STI) - titled the Naked Truth. Its goal was to establish community education to help combat STI rates in the NWT, which are the highest in Canada. Among the strategies was better sexual education for youth and ensuring access to contraception.

Unfortunately, all the goals in that strategy were directed solely at the youth population. On the bright side, it seems to have had an affect as this current STI explosion has proliferated only among the 19 to 50-year-old demographic.

We need to expand our education campaigns to the adult population through posters, mailed-out pamphlets, public announcements and even public meetings through community health representatives.

This outbreak originated in Alberta and has spread like wildfire. The situation once again proves that the NWT is not an island. We are not safe from disease outbreaks that can have horrible consequences.

As strange as it may sound, we're lucky it was syphilis. What if it were HIV? Then, we'd have more than 30 people waiting to die. We can't afford to wait until that happens. We have to get the word out now.

On Sept. 17, 2003, in Hall Beach, Silas Ammaklak spent a night drinking. He then began beating his common-law wife Susan Natar. She was medevaced to Ottawa and died in hospital of her injuries five days later.

Ammaklak had been warned by a judge after assaulting Natar in 2000 that if didn't stop drinking he would eventually kill her.

"Putting alcohol into his system was like loading a bullet into a gun," said Crown lawyer Qajaq Robinson at Ammaklak's sentencing hearing for manslaughter earlier this month.

But Ammaklak continued to drink and, on Sept. 17, 2003, killed his spouse in a drunken rage.

Being drunk is not an excuse for violent behaviour. Alcohol does not erase responsibility.

However, following precedent in the Canadian court system, Ammaklak was able to plead guilty to manslaughter instead of the original charge of second-degree murder due to being drunk, and other factors.

When someone who is known to become violent while drunk still chooses to get drunk and then commits a violent crime, that should be considered an aggravating factor, not something the accused can use in his favour.

The charges in Ammaklak's case should have been raised to first-degree murder, rather than reduced to manslaughter.

This is an important case to consider during National Addictions Awareness Week.

Many people feel their addictions, be it to alcohol, drugs or smoking, are out of their control. They are not. An addict makes choices every day that can either pour fuel or water on the flames of their addiction.

A person who wants to beat addiction faces a number of questions. How does your behaviour make you feel? What effects does it have on the people around you? What do you hope to accomplish in life and what obstacles are preventing you from getting there?

Addictions are easy, familiar and comfortable. They can also be extremely difficult to overcome. But making every effort is necessary, as addictions are barriers at best and at worst, they kill.

Last week the Liidlii Kue First Nation was confronted with a serious issue.

On Nov. 4, a petition with 125 names was dropped off at the band office in Fort Simpson. The petition calls for the removal or the resignation of the chief and the entire council. The number of names on the petition, while not exceptionally large, is enough that this matter needs to be handled professionally and not simply dismissed.

The leadership was scheduled to address the petition during the council meeting on Nov. 12. Concerned members of the band are also being advised they can air their grievances during a membership meeting scheduled for Dec. 3.

Band membership now needs to decide on a course of action. According to the band's election code, if a quorum of 25 per cent of residing voting members vote 60 per cent in favour at a general or special membership meeting it's enough to remove chief and council. Petitioners also have the burden to prove the leadership has violated the band's code of conduct.

Before members decide on this course of action there is at least one item that should temper their decision. That item is the number six.

Six is exactly how many full months Chief Keyna Norwegian and the band council have left in their existing three-year term until the scheduled elections arrive in June 2009. Six months, or half a year, is how long people would have to wait before they can vote for new leadership of the Liidlii Kue First Nation.

Norwegian has close to nine years of experience being part of the leadership of the band. Between 2000 and 2003 she served as the sub-chief. She was elected to her first three-year term as chief in 2003 and voters returned her to the position again on June 15, 2006.

Anyone elected in back to back terms as chief must be doing something right. Now this doesn't mean that Norwegian's time in leadership has been perfect.

Those who created the petition allege Norwegian has been making unilateral decisions without consulting the band council or membership. This might be true and if so it will likely become apparent to more and more people as they investigate the matter for themselves.

Six months, however, is a relatively short amount of time and is certainly much less trouble than a forced leadership change could be. If proper procedures aren't followed members of the current leadership could be given grounds to challenge the matter indefinitely in court. The case of the Salt River First Nation in Fort Smith provides a timely example of how messy a leadership struggle can become.

If Norwegian has done what the creators of the petition claim then it would be far easier to keep a close eye on her for the rest of her term and then make their point heard by electing a new chief in June.

Although waiting for the next election might not feel as satisfying, it would be a responsible and straightforward course of action.

In the province where I grew up, one major chain of grocery stories had outlets that were open 24/7, including Christmas and Labour Day. The only exception was Remembrance Day.

As I write this I can see that at least one business in town couldn't resist opening for holiday hours. While I'm not naming any names, I can say I will be firing off an email to the head of that company as soon as I file this editorial.

There is always essential work that has to go on every day, but I don't see how you can make the argument that retail services are in any way essential, at least not in a 24-hour period. Doing without shopping for a day is the absolute least we can do to remember those who sacrificed everything so we can live in this land of plenty.

Remembrance Day should not be treated like any other holiday. If it falls on a Sunday, we shouldn't be taking Monday off in lieu of the potential day off we missed. Remembrance Day is meant to serve one purpose: to honour those who served and those who died for our freedom.

There isn't a single Canadian citizen who does not owe a debt of gratitude to those who served or are serving this country. There is always a tiny minority of peace activists that decry the so-called glorification of war that takes place on Remembrance Day. They should remember in stating their misguided opinion that thousands of men and women gave their lives so they could be free to voice it.

Their opinion is misguided because I have yet to attend a Remembrance Day service where we are not reminded that there is no glory in war and death. I heard it again today at the service held here in Inuvik. If you were there, I was the one standing near the front, holding a camera and wiping my nose with my sleeve. I'm not ashamed to say that I get a lump in my throat every time I hear In Flanders Fields recited.

I guess as a writer I can't help but think of what was said by the French philosopher Voltaire: "I may disagree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it."

I'm overcome with the thought that people have fought to the death for this right, and I pray that I will never be called upon to defend it in battle.

To those of you who have served or continue to serve our country: thank you.

- Brodie Thomas is interim editor of Inuvik Drum. Dez Loreen will return in two weeks' time.

When Kivalliq News broke the news on the hamlet of Arviat's financial woes, I wrote in this space (Blue collars can expect to be tightened, May 14), that it would be the working people who paid the price for the sea of red ink soaking the hamlet.

At the time, Arviat estimated its deficit at a little more than $300,000.

However, we went on record as saying it would be significantly higher and found out shortly afterwards it was, in fact, more than double that amount.

Now Arviat's deficit is about $1 million and, as predicted, four hamlet employees were laid off earlier this month with four more likely to come.

A number of other positions remain vacant until the deficit can be recovered.

With recent estimates at the two-year mark for recovering the deficit and four layoffs already announced - council members' promise about six months ago to take a cut in honoraria following next month's municipal elections seem rather humorous, in a dark sort of way.

Almost as humorous in all of this, in a very dark sort of way, was Nunavut Employees Union president Doug Workman's ah shucks attitude over the loss of jobs in Arviat.

Workman tossed out a little less sympathy for those who lost jobs than one would expect from a union head.

He then added insult to injury by happily pointing out the hamlet of Arviat had, at least, honoured its new collective agreement that came into place this past spring, at about the same time the hamlet's financial woes kicked into high gear.

The part of the agreement Workman was alluding to was the retroactive pay the union got from hamlet negotiators during collective-agreement talks.

And, while Arviat's deficit may have been inching upwards since 2005, roughly $400,000 comes as a result of retroactive pay.

It must have been even more entertaining for the government of Nunavut (GN) to hear Workman talk about the union's efforts to make sure the GN supplies adequate funding so a similar deficit situation doesn't happen again.

I'll be the first to admit I don't often take the GN's side, but the government does supply adequate funding to keep hamlets from finding themselves in deficit situations.

When a deficit does occur, you can rest assured it almost always results from bad decision making, as in Arviat's case.

Maybe the GN can create a slush fund to help out in times like this.

It could be called the hamlet got snookered fund and be used to balance the books anytime the union does its job in collective negotiations by pushing a municipality to the brink of insolvency.

There's a mighty big difference between ensuring your members are treated fairly and biting the hand that feeds you.

In the meantime, more Arviat families are bracing for the news their livelihood could soon be taken away from them.

Maybe Workman will find the time in his busy schedule to give them a call and explain why the latest collective agreement hammered out in Arviat was such a good thing.