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Taxi licence freeze won't help
Yellowknifer - Friday, June 26, 2009

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Yet again, city council is being prodded into a debate over taxi numbers that shouldn't have been their business to decide in the first place.

We don't tell airlines how many planes they can put in the air, just as we don't regulate how many flower shops there can be in the city.

Capitalism might seem like a dirty word these days, but since we do conduct business in a free market society it doesn't make sense that a municipal government is at the controls when decisions are made about how many taxis are operating on our city streets.

City council seemed to have picked up on this point earlier this year when, despite a chorus of complaints from cab drivers, it rejected a call to freeze the number of licences the city issues.

That has yet to be written in stone. Council has continually delayed a vote on amending the city's livery bylaw, which would put deregulation of the number of licences into effect.

Now cabbies are threatening to go on strike, which in the heat of summer, is akin to threatening to hold your breath until you turn blue.

No doubt, with 140 cars on the road, there are too many cabbies in this city for each to make a decent living. Whitehorse, with 4,000 more people living in it, only has about 50 taxis.

A simple freeze to the existing number of licences likely wouldn't help much. In fact, drastic cuts would probably be needed in order for the remaining cabbies to thrive. It's better for competition to influence those decisions rather than a bureaucracy that is slow to react to the ebb and flow of demand.

Cab drivers are feeling the pinch, but alas, that's business. And in case not everyone has noticed, as of late business hasn't been all that great for a lot of people.

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Entrepreneur opens NWT to the world
Yellowknifer - Friday, June 26, 2009

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For a business to thrive and grow in Yellowknife, particularly in a time of recession, is no small feat. Entrepreneur Don Morin has done just that with Aurora Village, having expanded his clientele by more than five times over the past five years.

Yellowknife needs more entrepreneurs who are committed, as Morin is, to pinpointing unique attractions the territory offers, not just to other Canadians, but to international visitors as well.

In working to attract tourists to Aurora Village, with its northern lights tours and recently-launched Great Slave Lake cruises, Aurora Village opens the door to the NWT better than any embassy or trade mission can, much in the way innovator Bill Tait and Raven Tours did in the 1980s and '90s.

The city and the GNWT must help clear the way for entrepreneurs like Morin by helping to rebuild the aurora-viewing market, do more to support the tourism industry and showing the world the best of what the NWT has to offer.

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Equalizing the sexes
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, June 25, 2009

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The Introduction to Heavy Equipment Operation Course held in Trout Lake recently was a resounding success and a model for future initiatives.

The course the first time such a trades program was offered to an all-female class.

Few, if any, jobs in this field in the Deh Cho are filled by women.

But that may change with the conclusion of the two-week course in Trout Lake. The 10 women from the community who completed the course were undeniably proud of their accomplishments.

They proved how much they learned with a driving display during a pre-graduation heavy equipment parade.

Nine of the 10 women started the course with no previous experience and now they are all comfortable operating a range of equipment.

The course was empowering.

Mavis Wasp-Colin said. She decided to take the course so she wouldn't have to find a man every time she needed a water delivery or snow removed from her driveway. The course proved women of the community can take care of these jobs by themselves, Wasp-Colin said.

In Trout Lake, one of the more traditional communities in the Deh Cho, the outcomes from the course might cause a shake-up of the established gender roles, said Rick Phaneuf, the general manager of the Sambaa K'e Development Corporation.

The men, who normally take the heavy equipment jobs, will now have competition, said Phaneuf.

Trout Lake has proven there is a demand for courses like this one and benefits to offering women-only sessions. Phaneuf said when the development corporation offered a similar course two years ago to anyone who was interested only men signed up. The women said they were intimidated.

With the women-only course everything changed. The attendance rate during the course was 100 per cent except for cases where a participant had a legitimate reason to be excused.

Across the Deh Cho, a variety of organizations regularly offer training courses for areas traditionally seen as men's domains such as heavy equipment. Unsurprisingly, men normally fill the spaces in the courses.

In the Deh Cho, there's a continual dialogue about the need to prepare residents for future opportunities in areas such as oil and gas, mining and other industries. Women, of course, need to be given equal opportunity to train for these jobs. The course in Trout Lake has conclusively shown female only courses will help make this possible.

The Status of Women Council of the NWT, the Sambaa K'e Development Corporation and the School of Community Government all deserve credit for making this course possible and for providing an example for the rest of the Deh Cho.

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Getting the shaft
Editorial Comment
Andrew Rankin
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, June 25, 2009

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Living in Inuvik, I go through phases where I lose track of the outside world and just accept certain things, good and bad, about living in a remote location.

For example, I had resigned myself to the fact that everything, including groceries, costs an arm and a leg. We live in the North and it comes with the territory. (Though, in truth, I've never been OK with paying $10 for a two-litre carton of milk.)

Which brings me to my awakening during my first trip out of here last week since arriving in Inuvik last January. Me and a couple of buddies made the journey to Whitehorse and Dawson City via the Dempster Highway. It was a great getaway and the landscape was stunning.

But what surprised me was that the fellas stocked the truck up with coolers so they could load up on meat and other groceries while in Whitehorse. Actually, that was one of the main reasons they wanted to go there in the first place.

I later found out that between the two of them they ended up spending about $2,500 on everything from ground beef to toilet paper, to deodorant, to toothbrushes. Initially I thought what they were doing was bizarre and not worth the time and effort involved, especially when it came to the annoying task of keeping the coolers iced. That was until I looked closer and realized that they bought everything at half of Inuvik's prices.

To my surprise, the price of groceries wasn't much different in Dawson as compared to Whitehorse, despite the 530-km distance between the towns. From what I could see, the quality of the produce was top-notch as well.

So that got me to wondering why prices for everything skyrocket as soon as the merchandise reaches Inuvik, which is another 750 km away. I also wondered why a lot of the produce that finally reaches here is suspect at best.

One odd note - the price in Inuvik of my favourite wine is the same price as it is in my hometown of Halifax, where groceries are a fraction of the cost compared to here.

It's understandable that prices will increase when the Dempster is closed and things have to be flown in. But how can $10 for a two-litre carton of milk be justified year-round?

It appears a few players in the industry are profiting and seem to be given free rein to pull prices from the clouds given the fact that we're so isolated and have no choice but to pay the prices.

While many are calling on the government for a milk subsidy program and the like to make healthy foods more affordable, it might be more important for some arms-length government body to be established to ensure the ones setting the prices are forced to justify them and customers aren't being shafted.

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Families deserve better
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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MLAs have finally called for a review of the Child and Family Services Act, and they're right to do so.

Last week Glen Abernethy, MLA for Great Slave, said a comprehensive review of the act is necessary. He said there are some cases in which children can be taken away permanently and unnecessarily if a social worker has a bias against a parent.

For this reason, not only is a review needed immediately, but an ombudsman needs to be put in place to take parents' complaints.

An independent third party who would be able to fairly investigate complaints against child and family services is needed, even if social workers make the right call in the majority of cases.

An individual who is qualified but not part of Health and Social Services is better suited to fairly decide if parents are being treated unfairly or have had their children taken away unnecessarily.

Social work is a difficult job and it's fair to say most social workers are trying to keep parents and children together. There are, however, also situations in which parents are not given fair treatment and have no way to get justice other than through the courts. The courts, of course, pose a lengthy process and the children are, sometimes unjustly, kept separated from a parent for a lengthy period of time. Getting a top-notch lawyer is not within the financial means of many parents. They are therefore put at a disadvantage.

Taking children away from their mom and dad is a critical decision, one that parents should be able to appeal quickly. There has to be a level of oversight between the bureaucracy and the courts.

This is an ideal opportunity for MLAs to create a role for an ombudsman.

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Welcome back to Yellowknife
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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If you've noticed a spring in Yellowknife's step in recent days it should hardly come as a surprise.

It's not just the better weather, although after a less than balmy start to spring the suddenly green leaves and sunnier weather is an added bonus. No, if the city feels a little pluckier of late much can be attributed to the influx of visitors and returnees to celebrate Yellowknife's 75th anniversary.

That hundreds of past Yellowknifers and their families were willing to make the trip for the two-week party - many coming from far-flung corners of Canada and elsewhere - shows how fondly people remember their time here, even if for some it was for just a little while.

Yellowknifers feel they share a particular common bond for a variety of reasons: Having lived through long, cold winters, the summer's endless sunshine, the mosquitoes, and the isolation from the rest of the country.

Whether in Vancouver or Montreal, when two Yellowknifers meet for the first time and discover they share this bond, they can't help but feel excited about it.

For all those involved in organizing this year's homecoming, our hats are off to you. For all those returning, it's good to see you back.

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Whale-sized hypocrisy
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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Many folks were, understandably, quite upset by a story and photos of a bloody mess making the rounds this past week out of Denmark's Dantesque, in the Faroe Islands.

Less than a month after a number of Europeans voiced their displeasure over the Inuit way of life concerning seals, along comes the story of this age-old ritual. The annual gore-fest is a communal activity to store food for the winter, not a celebration of youth entering adulthood as some activists would have you believe. At least no more so than the pride felt by Northerners when their sons or daughters get their first wolf, bear, etc.

It involves packs of Faroese turning the water red with blood in the slaughter of pilot whales, which are a member of the dolphin family.

The circulated photos show them hacking away at the mammals with almost all manner of bladed instrument and sharp, pointed hooks.

And these are the same people who call Canadians barbaric?

There is no doubt the vast majority of Nunavummiut who saw the images this past week were seething over Europe's hypocrisy.

As much as we would rather not mention the East Coast and seal hunting in Nunavut in the same column, this whale slaughter puts the East Coast seal hunt to shame with its barbarism.

So much stupid venom was spread over the fairly innocuous images that came out of Rankin of our Governor General trying a piece of seal meat, we shudder to think what would have happened if local behaviour was anywhere near the same universe as these disgusting images from Dantesque.

Where are all the animal-rights condemnations now? How about a few images of a Faroese icon driving a hook in a whale's head for the next Olympics?

It would appear some areas of Europe have a distinct attitude of don't do as we do, do as we say!

The Faroese say the area involved needs the healthy country food, almost the entire carcass is used with little waste, and the hunt has very little impact on the whale's overall numbers.

Sound familiar?

We are not alone with our way of life in Nunavut.

The problem is we prefer to live and let live, while others prefer to dictate how we should all live our lives!

Well, valued readers, it's that time of year again.

I'm on vacation as you're reading this, relaxing my summer away by chasing after my two grandsons.

And, this year, my wife and I have the added bonus of meeting our first granddaughter for the very first time. How cool is that?

I leave the Kivalliq News in the capable hands of Kassina Ryder in my absence, who comes over from Nunavut News/North in Iqaluit.

A number of Rankin residents may know Kassina all ready, as she lived a number of years in our fair community.

In an effort to quell the rumour that seems to surface every year at this time, I am returning and will be back at my desk on Aug. 3.

I love Rankin and the Kivalliq News, so you're not getting rid of me quite yet. See you soon.

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Democratic evolution
NWT News/North - Monday, June 22, 2009

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Over the past few months -- perhaps years -- the media has been littered with stories of controversy and dispute from the political workings within various First Nation governments throughout the NWT.

These stories are not unique to aboriginal politics, and the frequency of the issues popping up does not reflect poorly on aboriginal leaders. It is merely a product of an evolving democratic process.

For centuries First Nation peoples had their own style of community governance.

Today, First Nation governments are blending traditional government models with western-style democracy for a system that works for them.

Most encouraging is the amount of interest First Nation politics receive from members of the various bands and tribal councils.

Lately, garnering the most publicity have been the Tlicho, Deninu Ku'e and Salt River First Nations.

All three have been embroiled in lawsuits for various reasons. Although the situations have generated criticism from the public and our editorials, there is a silver lining.

The fact that people care enough to become involved is evidence there is a real desire to create a stable and representative system of government and that self-government is a priority for First Nation communities.

It is important to remember advancement and greater stability can only be achieved if a government learns from its mistakes.

Democracy has been thousands of years in the making and what worked for the ancient Greeks obviously isn't suited to today's realities.

The same goes for First Nations democracy. Although First Nations have a solid system of government to build on, it is obvious that European-style democracy is based on different cultural values and evolved from an entirely different set of historic events.

With that in mind, it is naive to expect a democratic structure tailored to First Nation groups would completely mimic a European-governance model.

First Nations must be allowed to create a model of government that works for them and matches aboriginal cultural, traditional and spiritual values.

Although it doesn't have to match Canada's idea of democracy directly - Canadian democracy is far from perfect - First Nations government must be seen as functional if it is to be taken seriously and if it wants the federal government to relinquish more powers and responsibilities.

A rocky start can be expected, but if people continue to take an interest and leaders are willing to admit when something is not working and make changes, the result will be a successful transition to self-government.

The Iroquois were widely believed to be one of the oldest participatory democracies on Earth. Many ideas that helped form American policy and law may have come from the Six Nation model of government.

Perhaps lessons from the past can help First Nations people make the transition to self-government.

Aboriginal groups governed themselves for centuries, and although a more contemporary government model is necessary, many past practices may still be relevant.

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Fear spreads faster than flu
Nunavut News/North - Monday, June 22, 2009

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No one likes getting sick. So it's understandable that some people get cranky when the government tells them to do all they can to prevent the spread of a new flu but won't tell them where exactly it already exists.

After several days of wondering, we know now it's mostly in the Kitikmeot. And there's some in the Kivalliq. Oh, and now on Baffin Island.

One case. Six cases. Twenty-five. One hundred forty-five. Two hundred and three.

Some argue that if they knew swine flu was going around their community, they would take more precautions.

But swine flu, or H1N1, spreads like any other kind of flu. The only precautions you can take are to wash your hands frequently, sanitize frequently-touched surfaces and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. There's no flu shot available yet to give you immunity to H1N1 because the virus is so new.

Only fear spreads faster than flu, and had the Department of Health and Social Services publicly identified the communities where a few people were sick with swine flu, those communities would have faced ostracism.

Places with swine flu would have been avoided and people from those communities travelling to other communities may have been treated like they had the plague, even if they were perfectly healthy. Children from the communities travelling with sports teams or on school trips would have been taunted by their peers.

These are things that have happened during disease outbreaks, including the current pandemic, in this country and others.

Communities fighting swine flu outbreaks deserve our aid and moral support. If they have to remain unidentified for this to happen, then so be it.

Respiratory ailments haunt Nunavut. The territory has the highest rates of tuberculosis in Canada, a disease mostly eradicated from the modern world. Respiratory synctitial virus (RSV) sends children to hospital every winter. Flu outbreaks shut down whole communities.

And there are lots of reasons why. Being cooped up indoors much of the year in overcrowded houses lets sickness spread. Smoking makes respiratory illnesses worse, and last longer. So does poor nutrition, when healthy food costs more than empty calories. Rationing trucked water, or no running water at all, may mean less frequent hand washing.

Every update issued by the Department of Health and Social Services stresses the illness caused by the H1N1 flu strain is mild for most people. That's the same as any flu.

And all flus can kill. Health Canada says 4,000 people a year die from common seasonal flus in Canada. That's why we should be practising flu precautions everywhere, all year round, regardless of whether there's an outbreak or not.