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The territory has seen its share of gold-mining communities come and go.

Once the mine folds, so goes the settlement that housed its workers and managers. The operation is shut down, and the land on the site restored according to an abandonment and restoration plan.

Homes are dismantled, demolished or moved. A few specimens of such mine-site homes can even be spotted in Yellowknife, brought here to take on a new life.

A new lease on life is just what is needed for the empty homes at Giant Mine. These came into the spotlight last month, when nine of the 22 houses at the old mine site were vandalized.

Thoughtless as the act was, and criminal as some may believe it to be, the vandalism highlights the end that awaits vacant properties. The only way to keep them from becoming an eyesore of destruction left over from a past era is to put them to use again - by homeowners.

The Giant Mine homes, dating back as far as the 1940s, hardly make for a tourist attraction. Proposals to protect them as heritage homes that illustrate the history of Yellowknife, as argued by some members of the city's heritage committee, are only useful if the area is inhabited again.

Whether these houses are worthy of being designated as heritage is a moot point until they are proven worthy of attracting buyers - a good idea, in view of the city's persistent housing shortage. To accomplish that, the best of the houses must be restored, along with infrastructure and land in the area - to be made liveable. Short of that, the only fate fit for the Giant Mine homes is the usual one - to dismantle.

After years of bordering on obsolete, Caribou Carnival made a righteous comeback this year. Under the leadership of fresh young faces, such as those of Tiffany Gallivan, Jolene Hughes and Catherine McManus, the organization received a breath of fresh air along with some much-needed enthusiasm.

Visitors to the Carnival site this year were treated to a variety of activities and entertainment, including the cabane a sucre, handgames and even a beach volleyball tournament. Old-timers got a glimpse into what the carnival used to be, and newcomers got a taste of an age-old Yellowknife tradition.

Organizers and volunteers alike must be commended on a great job of reviving the carnival. However, it's no secret the event could have been much bigger. While the carnival needed about 200 volunteers, said McManus, only about 50 turned up.

Activities for next year are already being discussed. Should the Caribou Carnival Association find enough volunteers, popular activities such as the ugly truck and dog competition could come back.

The organizers have stepped up to the plate, and next year, they'll need more Yellowknifers to do the same. A few hours of volunteering means a lot to folks and their families who come out to enjoy the festivities.

There's something vaguely disconcerting about criminal trials in which members of the RCMP are before the court as the accused.

The uneasy feeling stems from the role that the police play in our society and the general perceptions that surround them. RCMP officers are supposed to be upholders of the law, figures who protect the rest of us from wrong doers and make sure the bad guys pay for their crimes.

As a result of their position of trust, the public holds members of the RCMP to a higher standard. They are expected to set an example for the rest of us. So when an RCMP officer is in court they're expected to be there as a witness for the Crown, testifying against the accused, they aren't suppose to be the accused.

At a recent trial in Fort Simpson, however, this was precisely the case.

Const. Colin Allooloo was in court for two days last week in the village facing charges of assault with a weapon. The charges are linked to an incident reported to have occurred on Sept. 16, 2006 when a teenage boy was allegedly pepper sprayed while in custody.

As in any case the purpose of the trial is to establish whether or not the incident took place as it has been described and if it did, whether the accused is guilty and what type of a sentence is needed.

The judge's verdict can't come quickly enough. The alleged incident happened two-and-a-half years ago and the charges were laid in March 2007. For all this time the incident has been hanging over the lives of those involved.

Since the charges were made public, the knowledge that something might have happened has also been part of the fabric of Fort Simpson and the surrounding communities the RCMP detachment serves.

The details of the pepper spraying given during the trial by the complainant are disturbing.

The complainant, who was only 16 at the time, said he was pepper sprayed twice while in custody. He testified that he was sprayed once while lying on the floor of his cell calling at the officers and the second time the floor of his cell was sprayed when two officers came in to remove tissue that he'd thrown on the surveillance camera.

It's testimony like this that draws the credibility of the RCMP as an organization into question.

That's why the legal proceedings, which have gone on long enough, need to reach a quick and decisive conclusion. If the judge rules the incident happened Allooloo will have to be sentenced and procedures will also have to be tightened or put in place to ensure something similar doesn't happen again.

The RCMP detachment in the village will also have a job before them to restore the public's faith, despite the fact that all but one of the officers who were serving there at the time of the alleged incident have since moved to other communities.

If the judge rules that the incident didn't happen as described, Allooloo's name will be cleared and, in part, so too will the RCMP's.

If Allooloo is found innocent it is unfortunate he has had to live with the stigma of this charge for such a long period of time.

The duration of this case is hard on everyone, especially members of the community who are left to wonder if they can trust the people charged with their protection.

Regardless of the outcome, however, the decision needs to come soon to allow the RCMP and the community to rebuild their relationship and reforge a sense of trust.

The Department of Justice should also review why it took so long for this case to go to trial.

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say I was completely petrified upon hearing the deafening roar we were all treated to early Friday morning.

It was like a scene straight from the movie Armageddon -- not that I've seen it.

Like a terrified child, I was pinned to my bed, waiting for it all to pass. But it didn't, it just kept lingering. It was awful. I'd like to say I had enough courage to look out my window to figure out what was going on but I just couldn't.

Then suddenly it went away.

Laying in my pathetic state, I could sort of understand how the victims of those horrible Second World War air raid sirens must have felt.

For a brief moment I figured perhaps a space ship might have made a surprise landing in my back yard. Take a look at this week's Street Beat and you'll see I wasn't the only one petrified and left guessing what the heck just happened.

The thing is no one really seems to know what was making that horrific noise. One thing's for sure -- what ever it was, it flies.

So being slightly naive, I figured a quick call to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa would cure my curiosity, and everyone else's for that matter.

Not so.

Turns out my call to Ottawa was directed to Sub-Lieut. David Lavallee who's based in Winnipeg and answers these sorts of questions. His response came via e-mail.

"We do have aircraft currently operating in the Inuvik area, as part of an ongoing mission. For reasons of operational security, however, I cannot go into any further detail, as we do not discuss current operations. Thank you for contacting us."

So there you go. Satisfied?

Now I'm not sure about you, but this response does little in the way of putting me at ease, especially given the fact that a few Russian bombers were intercepted about 100 km outside of Tuktoyaktuk and sent back home by our own military jets a few weeks ago.

From what I'm hearing, the Arctic sovereignty issue between us and them is far from dead. Speaking directly on the issue, our government said last week that it wouldn't be bullied by Russia.

It all seems a little scary.

What if what happen here Friday morning happened in Toronto, Ottawa or Vancouver? Naturally people would be freaking out and demanding answers. And I dare say a response such as Sub-Lieut. David Lavallee's wouldn't go down too well.

Anyway, maybe we had better get hardened to the sounds of roaring jet engines under the cover of night. I'm sure there's nothing at all to worry about, just a few top-secret military missions, that's all.

The territorial government is taking advantage of tough economic times to promote sports fishing lodges in the NWT.

Readers of the Globe and Mail may have noticed two-page colour advertisements in the weekend editions of that newspaper.

It's not a bad idea considering that the government only paid a fifth of the usual $50,000 price tag for an ad in a national newspaper that boasts the second highest circulation in the country. Another ad is slated to appear in the April 4th edition.

The ads give a helping hand to a $17.5 million industry that needs some assistance.

Yet, the advertisements are telling in what the territorial government is not promoting. Instead of anticipating the future of tourism, the government is delving into the past, to an industry that peaked 40 years ago and has been in a long, steady decline ever since.

A 2005 Statistics Canada survey found the number of people who actively took part in sport fishing nationwide dropped by 25 per cent from 1995.

While trying to aid a tourism sector in decline is not a bad idea, the government also ought to be looking at those tourism possibilities with the potential to grow.

The GNWT has paid much lip service to "rubber tourism" in recent years but has failed to deliver. Yet general touring, dominated by road travellers, accounts for a third of all visitors to the NWT. During a recession that number is likely to grow, although cheap airfare spurred by WestJet's arrival in May is bound to make some people consider flying.

Either way, the Fred Henne campground is packed all summer in the best of times. Yet nothing has been done to alleviate the pressure. A plan to build an RV park near the city was shelved two years ago.

Industry, Tourism and Investment is planning to build another loop at the Reid Lake campground this summer but that park is used primarily by Yellowknifers, not tourists. Highway 3 at the North Arm of Great Slave Lake, meanwhile, remains without a campground, meaning visiting motorists to Yellowknife must drive more than 300 kilometres in between campgrounds.

That's why a few more campgrounds and other roadside attractions, coming at reasonable cost, can benefit us now. People looking for a cheaper summer vacation might be more inclined to drive north and camp than get on a plane for Disney World and pay a princely sum for a hotel.

People can drive the family van up North, take a side trip to a fishing lodge if they choose or just explore otherwise. Why not advertise that?

The proposed 1,200 kilometre allweather road to Manitoba was back in the spotlight this past week when it was discussed during the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce's annual general meeting.

One of the slowest moving projects known to man has almost reached the stage where its business case study is completed, and some people are ramping up hopes again by talking about construction starting in the next five years.

This project has been kicking around for a decade or more now, but we're sure the detailed routing study, which is the next link in the chain to making the road a reality, will go a whole lot quicker than the business plan study.

The $1.2-billion cost (which is a very conservative number) is expected to be shared by Nunavut, Manitoba and the feds.

The Government of Manitoba has longsupported this project publicly, and why wouldn't it?

Let's be honest. The Kivalliq is a great customer for the province of Manitoba and it isn't about to say too much to anger the big Northern goose that sends so many golden eggs its way annually.

But many on the inside insist the Manitoba government has never been more than luke warm, at best, towards the road since day one. Add in today's economic climate, and you'll have to excuse us if we don't start planning our first road trip to Churchill right away.

We're not about to start rehashing the old prosandcons argument about the road.

Suffice to say increased tourism, reduced transportation costs and job creation far outweigh the perceived risk of bootleggers and dope dealers barrelling down the road.

The second detriment to the road happening anytime soon is the cost of maintaining it year-round, estimated in some corners to be about $4 million per year.

The grand plan calls for most of the maintenance jobs to go to Inuit and First Nations, which is a good thing.

However, the plan also calls for maintenance to be done on a regional basis, and that might prove a little more difficult to pull off when you consider some of the parties, most notably on the Manitoba side, don't even talk to each other let alone agree to work co-operatively on a project of this magnitude.

Finally, there doesn't appear to be any dedicated individual to this project who even remotely resembles Alvin Hamilton and his dedication to the Dempster Highway back in 1957.

Even if there was, he or she wouldn't have the same political backing Hamilton had in then prime minister John Diefenbaker, who shared his vision of opening the North.

In fact, Stephen Harper leading a country on the brink of a recession is almost the polar opposite of the Diefenbaker-Hamilton tandem.

And even the Dempster sat abandoned for about 10 years after the first 72 miles were built, before finally being completed in 1978. It officially opened the following year.

It will be a glorious day for the Kivalliq if and when the first day of construction on the road to Manitoba actually begins, but we strongly advise against making your travel plans just yet.

The GNWT's announcement that it is planning to spend $2.5 million to send people to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver begs one question: what for?

Although we agree the NWT should stand side-by-side with the rest of the nation to represent Canada, it's just as important that more prudent spending be observed and the type of people who go are carefully considered.

As it stands, the territory's spending for the Winter Olympics is more than half of what it took the City of Yellowknife to host the 2008 Arctic Winter Games.

It seems odd the GNWT could scrape together a mere $700,000 towards the 2008 Arctic Winter Games - the North's premier athletic and cultural showcase - but somehow find three times that amount for an event that has little direct benefit for the NWT.

If the idea is to send a host of senior bureaucrats, MLAs, ministers and their entourages to the Olympics, then let's put a stop to it right now. No more than three people is all the NWT needs to represent the government. They do not need aides, baggage handlers or people to make them coffee.

Besides, their presence should be secondary. Any money spent to send representatives to the Olympics should create a contingent that proudly demonstrates our territory's rich culture, artistic and musical diversity and our success in winter sports.

In other words, we should be sending artists, singer/songwriters and top performing athletes in traditional and contemporary winter sports.

No matter who gets on a plane for Vancouver, the number should be kept within reason.

The territory is staring hard economic times in the face, just like the rest of Canada.

Dozens of NWT-based jobs have been slashed over the past several months, mines are delaying projects, mineral exploration spending is down. The ripple effect is wide-reaching.

The GNWT needs money for many health and social services programs, to improve education and should be prepared to assist the ranks of the unemployed, should that number continue to grow.

For the time being, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger has opted to take on a territorial deficit.

If and when he again proposes to raise taxes or cut programs as a result of budget shortfalls, he and his legislative assembly colleagues will surely be confronted with having thrown away $2.5 million on the Olympics hoopla in B.C.

They better reconsider now.

Racism has no place in the legislative assembly. Period.

Whether ministers are Inuit or non-Inuit should not be the focus of how they manage their departments.

Unfortunately, the way Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik chose to attack Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk's ability to handle his portfolio has overshadowed the substance of Okalik's message.

Okalik is right. The seal industry is under threat and the government needs to do more than send out press releases.

Stern letters do little overseas to spur movement on Inuit issues. Nunavut is so remote, it's easy to ignore. Looking European parliamentarians in the eye and asking them to defend a decision that would take food from the mouths of children of struggling Northern families does much more.

But Okalik's assertion that the current Environment minister is not qualified to defend the seal hunt because he is not Inuk threatens to overshadow any valid points he raised. His message risks getting lost in his discriminatory approach.

So far Okalik has refused to apologize for the remarks he has made in the legislature. But whether he apologizes or not, he should put the mud-slinging aside and focus on the issues at hand, because the Nunavut government needs his expertise.

As a politician, Okalik is plain spoken and pugnacious.

In his time as premier, pelt prices were rising due to a renewed fashion interest in fur. But when the seal hunt was threatened by Paul and Heather McCartney's much-publicized protest on the East Coast in 2006, Okalik came out swinging.

In Europe to talk to parliamentarians about climate change in 2006, the former premier told reporters seals were "our daily basic diet -- we can't grow potatoes ... It's something we require to continue to survive and it's far more nutritious than what is imported from southern Canada.

He added that the seals Nunavummiut hunt are "not those fluffy, cute things that you see on TV all the time, that these (conservation) groups use to try and kill the sealskin market."

We urge Okalik to continue fighting for the interests of Nunavummiut and holding the executive accountable for their actions, or lack of them, so long as MLAs' ancestry stays out of the debate.