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Unity key to NWT's future
Yellowknifer - Friday, May 01, 2009

Intriguing but short on specifics - that's been the general response to the "Declaration for the NWT" unveiled by a group of mainly Yellowknife businesspeople and politicians last week.

The group, which includes Mayor Gord Van Tighem, management from Ekati diamond mine and Premier Floyd Roland, is calling on residents to ponder the future of the Northwest Territories.

The territory has long struggled with its identity and purpose. People may recall the infamous campaign to re-name the territory in 1996.

In a survey held that year, the number one response was to keep the status quo; the runner-up was "Bob."

Obviously, questions over how to diversify the territory's economy beyond diamonds and other mineral resources will need to be answered. Plus, how to combat the many social ills in our communities, such as alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

But residents still must develop a common purpose and identity. The longer the territory remains a house divided, the easier it will be for Ottawa to say the NWT is not ready for devolution.

Yellowknife versus the rest of the territory is the most obvious source of division, but as we've seen with the dissolution of the Aboriginal Summit two years ago, the division lines run deep and wide throughout the territory.

On the topic of solidarity, among those who profess to be members of the group making the NWT declaration, only one is aboriginal and from outside Yellowknife, that being Roland.

Unless its authors reach out to aboriginal people and communities outside Yellowknife, it's doubtful their project will gain much momentum. The key to the NWT's future is unity, and right now we have a long way to go.


Aboriginal entrepreneurs vital
Yellowknifer - Friday, May 01, 2009

The territory's future success also depends on fostering industry and business here. The Northern Aboriginal Business Association is a major player on that front.

The association, founded in 2007, underlined this at its first public conference in Yellowknife this month. Aboriginal people make up half the territory's population and a significant portion of Yellowknife.

Their lives are rooted here, so they should maintain a central role in defining the territory's future.

This is particularly important as the NWT remains far from self-sufficient.

The territory's economic engine -- the diamond mines - have a fixed lifespan, and are reliant on technology, expertise and markets from outside the NWT. Moreover, the territory is heavily reliant on federal government funds and programs.

The Northern Aboriginal Business Association promises to help people born and raised in the NWT continue to hone their business acumen and give rise to local initiatives and industry that will last well into the future. "It's up to us to define the future for all the North," Dettah Chief Ed Sangris said.

Now is the time to follow up.


Joint responsibility
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 30, 2009

The leadership of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Wrigley has narrowly dodged a bullet.

In a scene that's become familiar for this small community, a portion of the membership voted in favour on April 26 of removing the chief and council. The leadership is still in place, but only because the band doesn't appear to have a ratified code that recognizes a vote of non-confidence as a legitimate way to end a chief and council's term.

While some may shake their heads and wonder why Wrigley seems to have the worst track record in the Deh Cho when it comes to leadership longevity there are actually some valuable lessons other leaders and band members can take away from this incident.

For leaders attempts like this one to cast out those in power are a reminder of what being a chief, Metis president or council members is all about. Metis and First Nations band members vote people into positions of power because they expect to be well governed by them.

If leaders ignore the wishes of the majority of the people, they should be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.

Even doing the right thing often isn't enough. If communication breaks down between leaders and those who are being led there's no way for the members to know what's being done to serve their interests.

In Wrigley, the fact that there hadn't been a public meeting since Nov. 13, 2008 seems to have played a major part in the calling of a non-confidence vote.

The lessons for members include the fact that it's important to be aware of your rights.

The realization that a vote with 23 people in favour isn't enough to remove the leadership has come as somewhat of a surprise to those who raised their hands when the vote was called in Wrigley. If people are unhappy with the way they're being led, they have every right to take action. It pays, however, to know the precise avenues that can be used to bring about change.

It's also important to think the process through. There's little to be gained by removing a leadership if you'll be left afterwards wondering what to do next.

In Wrigley the members who were in favour of change had a plan. They had already charted out election dates and had chosen a time to hold a meeting with the new leadership to discuss priorities and direction.

Although the vote of non-confidence failed to remove the chief and council of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation, this time it's unlikely to be the last chapter in this story. The relationship between leaders and those who are being led requires a delicate balance. If one part of the equation falls out of line, it can result in a reaction like a vote of non-confidence.

Leaders and membership share an equal responsibility to listen to and respect each other's needs in order to maintain the balance of good governance.


Eat healthy
Editorial Comment
Andrew Rankin
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, April 30, 2009

There's no question that groceries in the North are expensive.

Arriving from the south, I was floored by the difference in prices, especially when it comes to the produce section. But this shouldn't excuse people from making healthy choices.

Instead of spending $5 at NorthMart on a calorie-infested 320 gram bag of Lay's potato chips, which has little or no food value, you can spend less than $1 more for a three-pound bag of apples that are not only tasty but are filled with fibre and vitamin C, as well as potassium, iron, calcium and vitamin A. They are also fat, sodium, and cholesterol-free.

I won't waste your time with endless comparisons, but you can spend $3 on a 16-ounce, sugar-loaded slushie that not only throws your insulin levels out of whack but also rots your teeth, or you can buy a litre of calcium-rich milk that strengthens teeth and bones for about the same price.

Every time I walk into that store I'm flabbergasted by the hordes of people enjoying those awful empty-calorie drinks.

Study after study show many Northerners eat too much fat and sugar, which contributes to high diabetes rates here. The Canadian Diabetes Association figures by the end of next year more than $5 million of taxpayers' money will be needed to treat the disease. That number is expected to rise to more than $7 million by 2016.

The territorial government is among many supporting partners of the Healthy Foods North project.

But at the same time, the government does little to make groceries more affordable. Just recently it refused to implement a milk subsidy program.

Government generally always follows the status quo, which means they do what the electorate demands, nothing more. So it's obvious that people don't want such a program that badly. They'd rather their money be spent on prescription drug coverage to treat diseases that are preventable through healthy diets.

Imagine if the territorial government had the courage to propose a food subsidy program that might result in less dependency on drugs for wellness? But that's just wishful thinking.

Which brings me to my point.

Maybe the solution doesn't rest solely with grand, multi-million dollar subsidy programs. Maybe the solution can be found locally.

Take Healthy Foods North employees and Inuvik residents Annalee Heidl and Jennifer Cockney as great examples. This week's Inuvik Drum features these two women and the valuable work they're doing, teaching people that eating well isn't an impossible feat through the use of countless interactive programs, including food samplings, healthy recipe giveaways and contests.

People know that simply throwing in a few peas into a traditional dish makes a big difference as well as substituting water for pop. It all adds up.

Healthy eating is a process. You make simple healthy choices, and you feel and look better. Then you start eating salads and perhaps cut out the junk on the weekdays.

The responsibility lies with the individual, but a community approach is needed, too. Of course it would be nice to have more government support, but unless it becomes a number one priority in the territory that won't happen and we'll always be left to our own devices.

So we better get moving.


That's just gross
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The old saying about Yellowknife's gold being paved with streets may have to bear the addendum, "but the road on the way is littered with poop," unless there's a serious attitude adjustment.

Blair Weatherby, president of the NWT Motor Transport Association, says there is a lack of washrooms on Highway 3, leaving drivers to answer nature's call at roadside pullouts and anywhere else as the occasion demands.

While there are certainly fewer washroom facilities - especially flush toilets - on NWT highways compared to those further south, the situation doesn't appear to be entirely unreasonable.

Richard Zieba, director of tourism and parks, says the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has committed to working with the Department of Transportation to ensure there are washroom facilities about every 80 km. But the number of washrooms on the highway, all the way from the NWT border to Yellowknife, is already close to that range.

The longest stretch without a washroom is about an hour's drive - 108 km - from outhouses at North Arm Territorial Park to Yellowknife. All other distances between public washrooms along that route are 86 km or less.

The problem is that no one is maintaining the washrooms during the winter and that some people using them are acting like pigs.

Industry, Tourism and Investment and the transportation department need to sort out whose responsibility it is to keep them clean and make sure they're accessible during the winter months.

And for those who think it's appropriate to defecate on the side of the road or on washroom walls and floors without cleaning it up, get a grip.


Earth Week is every week in Yk
Wednesday, April 29, 2009

In Yellowknife, Earth Week is more than just an incentive to go green. It's also a reason to celebrate the city's tremendous efforts to protect the environment.

There's no masking the litter problem in the city, but in spite of a few litterbugs, groups and individuals have done some amazing green work.

One of the fastest growing green practices is the use of reusable shopping bags.

Local grocery stores are encouraging it by putting reusable bags on sale and charging fees for plastic bags.

Other groups around town, such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Green Team, are making their workplace more environmentally-friendly through reducing paper usage, buying fair-trade coffee and even composting with worms in a filing cabinet.

Worm composting was also the focus of one of the many Ecology North events this past week. The nearly 38-year-old group's efforts to educate the public and soften Yellowknife's environmental footprint have not been in vain; residents are taking notice and following the group's example.

When you add the individual efforts in simple things such as turning off lights and avoiding idling, the city's future is looking greener and greener.

With its geothermal plans and EnerGuide 80 standards, it's no wonder Yellowknife is attracting national attention as a green city.


50 cents worth of racial debate
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 29, 2009

So Iqaluit's Seeka Veevee Parsons was quite upset this past week because the majority of New Zealanders were out of sorts with her.

She simply couldn't understand why so many disapproved of her remarks and how unpopular a person she had become in their country.

Well, let's see. At the worldly age of 21, you visit another continent for a working vacation and the people who live there welcome you with open arms.

Within two months you stumble upon the dreaded Eskimo Lolly, which has only been one of that culture's favourite treats for more than half a century, and proceed to insinuate they're an insensitive, politically-incorrect society that is purposely insulting Inuit with a product that has racist connotations.

Geez. Why would they be upset?

Well, first off, they're not Canadians. So that means they don't like it when you come to their country, enjoy their hospitality, and then proceed to insult their culture, try to change the way they live, and get them to adopt your way of thinking and your cultural beliefs.

Do any of us truly believe there's any kind of racist malevolence behind a 50-cent marshmallow candy?

We all know we live in a time when political correctness has gone mad, but c'mon. It's a candy.

Parsons went on to attack the back of the candy wrapper which, apparently, suggests you try Eskimo pie for another culinary pleasure.

She didn't like how the company directs you to cut the pie into little pieces before enjoying it.

How many times in the past decade have we seen people carry in special cakes during celebrations, decorated as some form of Inuit or Nunavut icon?

My very own eyes once saw a drum dancer (it was a cake!!) cut up into pieces and enjoyed by a large crowd of people, mostly Inuit.

Oh the horror of it!

But enough on the silliness of a marshmallow candy being anything but that.

A very dark side begins to emerge when someone speaks in racial terms about something so innocuous, and it creates a media frenzy on a slow news day.

Parsons prompted numerous responses on media sites and message boards across the Internet, the majority of which were pointed and angry.

Some suggested Inuit should worry more about the baby seals they butcher than the candy New Zealanders eat.

That's the type of ill-informed and stupid notion words like those spoken by Parsons can elicit from people.

How would you like to be the person to stand up in New Zealand tomorrow and try to explain the difference between the East Coast seal hunt and the importance of the mammal to Inuit culture?

Harsh words are circular by their very nature.

I wonder when Parsons is home in Nunavut if she ever wonders if the term qallunaat upsets anyone?

Can bushy or pampered eyebrows be any more, or less, offensive than eater of raw meat or snowshoe?

Or, is it really more a case of don't do as I do, do as I say -- the same type of colonialist thinking that so many profess to abhor?

Hard debate for such a soft candy.


Banishing the bottle
NWT News/North - Monday, April 27, 2009

Who can blame the people of Behchoko for wanting to vanquish the scourge of alcohol?

Just in the past few years at least three people have been found dead outside in the crippling cold of winter. Alcohol was suspected or proven to be a factor in two of those deaths.

So it's little wonder residents of Behchoko want to do something. But it was only a slim majority that voted in favour of an outright alcohol ban during an April 15 plebiscite. The tally was 256 votes for, 237 votes against.

It's a drastic measure. Those in favour of it can argue the obvious: if it's illegal to have it and harder to get, there will be less of it. It's not much different from a person on a diet – when there are chips and cookies in the cupboard, it's easier to give in to temptation. Tuktoyaktuk provided an example with a temporary ban on alcohol during the Beluga Jamboree earlier this month. The number of alcohol-related complaints dropped by almost half from 2008 due to a week of prohibiting alcohol.

Those against the move will counter that responsible drinkers will no longer be able to enjoy so much as a glass of wine among friends.

Of course, only the naive would believe that a law against booze will make it disappear altogether. Bootleggers will find a way to sell bottles of beer and spirits at exorbitant prices. There will always be a market.

The NWT has several dry communities – Whati, Lutsel K'e, Nahanni Butte, Tsiigehtchic, Gameti and Wekweeti – but they still have problems with liquor even though most of them are remote communities.

Behchoko, on the other hand, is on the road system. It's only an hour's drive from Yellowknife. As a former social worker pointed out, those with a thirst for booze will simply hop in a vehicle and less than 100 kilometres later they will have rum or whiskey in hand. The real danger, the social worker said, is that a growing number of intoxicated people may risk driving back home to Behchoko. The chances of carnage on that stretch of Highway 3 will rise.

It's a legitimate concern. But what can be done? Putting an additional highway patrol vehicle on the road, especially during weekends, would be a wise precautionary measure. People in Yellowknife will have to be ever more vigilant of people stumbling to their cars and getting behind the wheel.

As for the bootleggers, people in the community have to decide to turn them in to police.

Behchoko addictions counsellor Joe Beaverho said he doesn't expect magical results over the next year.

"People need to believe in themselves. We have to work together," he said.

He's right.

People in Behchoko don't want to trade people freezing in the snow for crash victims strewn on the side of the highway, but they had to do something and they've made their choice.

We know the consequences of doing nothing. We can anticipate the effects of the upcoming ban. As Beaverho says, we're going to have to work together.


How to get found
Nunavut News/North - Monday, April 27, 2009

"It sure the heck ain't Disneyland out there."

Those are the wise words of Peter Taptuna, a member of a Kugluktuk search and rescue team that tracked down two youths last spring who got lost while goose hunting.

With warmer temperatures, many people get the urge to get out on the land – and not all of them are prepared for what awaits them.

Weather changes. Snowmobiles run out of gas and break down. Ice melts. People get lost.

Last spring there were several searches for lost travellers and hunters, none of whom carried

a working emergency locater beacon, GPS unit or satellite phone.

Being safe requires the humbling realization that you are but a tiny dot on Nunavut's vast terrain, and that you may not be as independent as you'd like to believe.

When an Iqaluit man went out for a snowmobile ride a few weekends ago, he left a message with a friend about where he was planning to go.

But when his snowmobile got stuck, he was nowhere near where he had told his friend he was going. Convinced search and rescue volunteers would never find him where he was, he struck out on foot and headed for cabins marked on his GPS for survival necessities.

It took nearly two days for volunteers to find him by following his tracks from his abandoned snowmachine.

Search and rescue officials advise stopping if you get lost, and staying with the snowmobile or dog sled. Stay dry. Take emergency supplies with which to make camp, regardless if you only intend to be out for the day.

And this is very important: take an emergency locater beacon or satellite phone.

Nunavut has 100 such beacons available to be signed out for free from RCMP detachments and hamlet offices. When turned on, search and rescue personnel receive a signal that pinpoints the beacon's location to within 10 to 20 feet. It ensures the quickest possible rescue when something goes wrong on the land and saves the taxpayers' dollars spent on lengthy aerial and ground searches.

However, despite the beacons easy availability, Nunavummiut have not flocked to use them. Last year, the Cambridge Bay RCMP detachment said their locator devices had only been signed out twice over a period of a couple of years.

Signing out a beacon takes a few minutes but it can save you days spent stranded on the land, or even your life. Don't leave home without one.