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Hope for diamond workers
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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Yellowknife's secondary diamond industry has been upgraded from terminal to critical, but it's still on life support.

Arslanian, a Montreal-based diamond polishing company with a branch set up in Yellowknife, permanently laid off its last 35 employees just last month.

Fortunately permanently turned out not to be permanent at all as five workers have already been rehired and another 14 are expected to resume positions at the plant later this month.

With indications that global demand for diamonds started to rebound during the second quarter, there seems to be a light at the end of this recession, for Arslanian at least.

Bob Bies, the plant's director, said he hopes to have the 35 employees working again by sometime in autumn, and to return to 50 jobs - the original size of the staff - within the next couple of years.

The first 19 rehires will be possible without going to the GNWT for help, but further hiring may require assistance from the territorial government in ensuring there is an adequate supply of rough diamonds.

Yellowknife's "diamond row" has almost become a ghost town, with Laurelton, Sirius, Deton'Cho and Canada Dene Diamonds all closing their doors over past few years.

We're down to Arslanian and Crossworks, which employs 11 people.

The plant employees - unlike the many fly-in, fly-out diamond mine workers from the south - live in Yellowknife, bring us greater federal transfer payments, pay local rent or taxes, and purchase local goods and services.

We need more of these jobs, and we therefore need the government to do its level best to be flexible in dealing with the diamond polishing operations.

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Better days ahead for mineral sector
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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These are trying times for the NWT's mining and exploration community.

Spending on exploration for minerals and assessing the potential of mineral sites is forecast to drop to $28.4 million this year, according to Natural Resources Canada.

That's close to an 80 per cent fall from $133.1 million spent in 2008.

Yellowknife's business community is feeling a painful pinch from that extremely steep decline. There has been a falling demand for planes and helicopters. Job cuts and reduced hours have resulted.

Grocery orders are also down, one retailer reported.

One can easily conclude that all sorts of other businesses are also coping with the downturn, from hotels to vehicle rentals.

Yet some business executives are expressing optimism that things will start to turn around before the end of the year.

It's a question of whether enterprises can keep a lid on expenditures and losses until that point. Some are tightening belts while others, like Buffalo Airways, are looking abroad. Buffalo began sending planes and employees to Turkey in November to shield itself from the economic downturn.

In these tough times, businesses may have to look far afield or diversify. Innovation and creativity could very well be the key to staying afloat.

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A chance to capture elders' knowledge
Editorial Comment
Kassina Ryder
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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My grandmother has often said to me, "Listen to me now because someday I'll be gone." Usually we have that conversation when I'm in my hometown packing to return to Nunavut for the summer after a year of school.

My procrastination and, in her opinion, lack of proper packing skills drive her nuts, and she often ends up re-packing what I've packed, which drives me nuts. But I've learned one valuable lesson from her over the years: the woman is usually right. And not just about how to properly pack a tub.

"The light is too dim to read by, Kassina. You're going to end up needing glasses," she's warned.

I am now practically blind and I definitely need glasses to see properly. She taught me that when leaves on trees turn upside down, it means it's going to rain. She also taught me the value of owning a sewing kit (my sewing skills are limited to replacing buttons, but that in itself has proven invaluable over the years.)

We can all learn from our elders, and multimedia workshops such as the Inuusivut program offer young Inuit a chance to capture this knowledge on film. While the project is initially geared to healthy living, the skills students learn during the workshop can be applied to any number of themes.

Inuusivut instructor Stacey Aglok MacDonald said she first got into filmmaking during a project with Nunavut Sivuniksavut whereby students interviewed the leaders who helped initiate Inuit land claims agreements. Projects that encourage youth to speak to their elders, to ask them questions and listen to their answers in their aboriginal language are invaluable. And the ability to use a video or regular still-shot cameras can be used in many different ways, as youth across Nunavut have shown. The "Don't Call me Eskimo" video from youth in Arctic Bay is a perfect example of the endless possibilities filmmaking can provide.

Another instructor of the Inuusivut program, Qajaaq Ellsworth, mentioned the possibility of training youth to set up their own self-sufficient multimedia workshops in their home communities.

A multimedia workshop in every community would help to teach the outside world about the North, and teach the communities about each other.

Each community in Nunavut is distinct, and while some cultural traditions are similar, language dialects and other customs are very different. Sharing stories is the basis for traditional knowledge, and filmmaking offers the opportunity to share stories on a large scale. It also provides a way to protect and encourage Inuktitut and other aboriginal languages. Youth who participate in multimedia workshops have the opportunity to capture Inuktitut stories on film and preserve them for future generations. Soon, many elders will be gone and now is the time to sit down and ask them to tell their life story.

So to everyone who reads this and owns a videocamera: go interview your grandparents. You won't regret it.

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Justice for Keisha
NWT News/North - Monday, July 13, 2009

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The death of Keisha Trudel was a tragedy fueled by foolish choices.

Her death has irreparably marred more than one life. For years, or maybe for the rest of their lives, her family will struggle to come to terms with losing her. The boy responsible for her death will surely forever regret and question the choices he made leading to the fatal car crash that claimed the 16-year-old's life.

A number of factors that speak to systemic problems in the North contributed to the tragedy.

Alcohol continues to be a major problem among youth of the NWT. In 2002, an NWT Bureau of Statistics survey indicated 34 per cent of residents 15 years of age and older consumed five drinks or more when they drank.

Compounding the problem of excessive drinking is the tendency for people in the NWT to get behind the wheel while intoxicated. In 2007, according the NWT Bureau of Statistics, 768 charges of impaired driving were handed out.

Trudel's family is outraged the offender in their daughter's Nov. 23, 2008 death in Fort Smith did not receive jail time as part of his sentence, going as far as to call the judge unsympathetic.

Judge Bernadette Schmaltz said she was not convinced jail time would result in rehabilitation.

It is difficult to argue in favour of jailing a teen who did not intend the unfortunate event that left a person dead. But, make no mistake, what happened was not entirely an accident.

These youth made a choice to drink underage, the offender still got behind the wheel and the risk was compounded by lack of seatbelt use.

The offending teen's prohibition from driving for five years and the 240 hours of community service should be standard in cases such as these.

However, the drinking prohibition for two years is an insult. The boy is 17 years old, under NWT law he is not allowed to drink until he is 19. His drinking ban should have lasted for at least as long as his driving ban.

As for the year-long curfew, the harshness of this condition will depend on the enforcement. Essentially, for the next year the boy will be under house arrest. His conditions state he will not be allowed to leave his home unless he is accompanied by a guardian, in need of medical attention or has written approval from his probation officer.

Restrictions on movement imposed by the courts have been ineffectual or come under heavy criticism in many past cases. The public needs assurance that monitoring of offenders is stringent and those who break conditions of probation will face severe consequences. Criminals cannot be allowed to make a mockery of their sentence.

In this case, a full-time jail sentence - exposing the teen boy to hardened criminals - may have done more harm than good.

However, forcing the boy to serve weekends in a cell for the nine months of jail time the Crown prosecutor requested would have sent a stronger message.

Yet, the sentence has now been passed. In December, Keisha's mother, Sharon Allen, told Deh Cho Drum: "I pray to God that (the offender) learns from this and moves on with his life."

In light of the irreversible consequences of his actions, the best we can all hope for is that the offender and other young people have learned a lasting lesson. Any sign to the contrary should be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

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Showing up for work
Nunavut News/North - Monday, July 13, 2009

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How reliable are Northern workers?

Recently a geography professor at a conference on economic opportunities for the territories said the "great challenge" for the North is finding a way to accommodate the flexibility of traditional culture within an industrial economy.

He said that, in particular, the North needs to encourage a culture of reliability and dependability among its workforce.

We would argue Northern cultures value reliability and dependability as much as others, if not more so.

When survival in a harsh environment hangs on such things as getting up with the dawn to spend hours perched over a seal breathing hole and sharing the catch with those unable to hunt, co-operation and teamwork become as valued as individual fortitude.

But retention problems are widespread in the North among both aboriginal and non-aboriginal workers.

That's not surprising when you consider that, for a Northern worker, wage-based work can mean working outdoors in a harsh environment, spending weeks or months away from home and family and trying to get along within a culture not your own.

Other factors, such as substance abuse, or the North's astronomically high birth rate coupled with lack of child care also contribute to absenteeism.

These problems obviously have to be overcome to increase the number of long-serving employees.

The professor noted exploration companies have particular problems finding employees as their work season coincides with the brief Arctic summer -- those few months of camping, hunting and fishing which, for some, are worth far more than a few weeks' wages.

Anywhere else in the country, the poor economy and fear of unemployment would help keep an employee on the job, regardless of their personal difficulties.

But the North is so short of skilled labour, it's still a sellers' market up here. The labour pool is small, but is expected to grow, as every year more and more students stick it out and finish high school.

It falls on employers to woo potential workers by offering training, child care, counselling, seasonal breaks ... whatever it takes to help a worker stay on the job.

As the professor said, finding a way to accommodate such flexibility will be key to the economic advancement of the territories.

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Reveal those bonuses
Yellowknifer -Friday, July 10, 2009

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Despite public ridicule and contempt, the NWT Power Corporation continues to refuse to explain maddening bonuses paid out to middle and senior managers each year.

The corporation is currently involved in a court battle with the Union of Northern Workers, which is trying to obtain figures on how much managers are getting paid in performance bonuses.

The power corp. argues that revealing this information, even if it's just dollar amounts and not the names, would breach the privacy rights of these employees under the Canadian Charter of Rights. The corporation's lawyer argues that the public could connect the dots, figure out who these people are and how much each received.

It's a convenient ploy. By hiding behind its cry for confidentiality, the power corp. can avoid all that embarrassing business of having to justify some of these exceptional bonuses, which amounted to more than $600,000 in 2007, according to MLAs.

The rich payments are tied to profits and can be higher or lower depending on how much money the power corp. pulls in from its customers. One senior manager made $155,000 in 2004, $34,700 of which came in bonuses.

That might stick in the craw of powers users, who in Yellowknife, witnessed at 10 per cent increase on their electricity bills last winter – never mind the continuous and annoying power outages we experience several times each month.

It's no wonder MLAs and the NWT Association of Communities are calling on auditor general Sheila Fraser to audit the power corp.

It's time for this GNWT-owned company to quit this shell game and explain and justify these bonuses to its customers, if it at all can.

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No excuse for not buckling up
Yellowknifer - Friday, July 10, 2009

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Seatbelts are an essential part of driving.

When all else fails – whether it be road conditions, vehicle defects, traffic mayhem, or the driver’s better judgment – seatbelts are the last resort in saving lives.

Even so, when Yellowknife RCMP and municipal enforcement stepped up traffic patrols during Canada Road Safety Week in May, lack of seat belt use turned out to be the number one violation by far. The RCMP rightfully concluded that more must be done to promote seatbelt use and safe driving.

Instances of drunken and reckless driving are not uncommon in Yellowknife, so even motorists who are supremely confident in their own abilities are at risk of accidents due to those who are out of control.

Even though we live in a small city where driving distances are short, there can be no excuse for overlooking seatbelts.

Thankfully our law enforcement officers are ready to remind drivers of that. Increased check stops and fines issued accordingly should help drive that point home.

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The right priorities
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, July 9, 2009

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From initial observations it looks like there's a storm brewing in southwestern Deh Cho.

Both Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte are eyeing Fort Liard warily. The cause of the unrest is traditional land, or more specifically who will get control over the land that two or more of the communities share.

A year ago Acho Dene Koe First Nation (ADK) in Fort Liard signed a framework agreement with the governments of Canada and the territory allowing it to negotiate its own lands claims agreement. Part of the land that ADK is claiming in the territory is also considered the traditional land base of either Nahanni Butte or Trout Lake.

As ADK's negotiations progress it has to reach an agreement with the other two communities about how to address the overlap issue. Both Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake have already taken offence over the fact that ADK didn't come to them first before signing the agreement.

Although the bands seem to agree that the land doesn't really belong to any of them, one of the parties is going to end up with jurisdiction. There are a lot of questions about what this jurisdiction will mean and how it will effect the traditional uses of the land by the other parties.

The negotiations could easily deteriorate into the worst kind of fight, the type that occurs between people who are close to each other. Due to their proximity the three communities are both figuratively and sometimes literally family.

So what's to be done?

The best possible scenario is for the three communities to set a shining example of how situations like this can be addressed. No one wants to see news reports of the in fighting that could easily take place. It would provide the same cringing responses that the protracted leadership disputes in bands elsewhere in the territory have elicited.

The source of the conflict, however, can also be the answer.

As long as the three parties keep what's best for the land as their primary concern, they'll stand a better chance of reaching an agreement. Again and again First Nation residents of the Deh Cho talk about their connection to the land and how important it is to protect the land for future generations. The integrity of the land is often more important than the profit that could be gained by using its natural resources.

Protection of the land and the water, animals and plants on it needs to be the focus during the negotiations between ADK, Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake. If the three parties can all agree to this they'll start on the right path.

This isn't the first and it won't be the last case of tension caused by overlapping traditional lands in the Deh Cho. These three communities have an opportunity to set an example and prove that the land truly is sacred in our region.

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A tragic weekend
Editorial Comment
Andrew Rankin
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, July 9, 2009

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There are few things more sad than the death of a young person.

Burton Keevik, 14, drowned in the Mackenzie River over the weekend.

I walked into the Youth Centre Monday afternoon, the same day Burton's body was pulled out of the Mackenzie River. He was especially active and well-liked at the centre and I noticed a beautifully illustrated display on the wall which read RIP Burton Keevik. It was made and signed by the staff and kids there.

Then I talked to a kid who normally is always so busy he never has time to talk, but on this day he wanted to tell me a few words about Burton, just to say that the teenager always made an effort to be nice with the smaller kids, and with him he was always up for a game of pool.

It reminds us that every person's life touches many others, and he will be missed.

Last weekend was a tough one for Inuvik.

Before the search for Keevik began in the wee hours of Sunday morning, many of the volunteers involved had already responded to four fires the day before, including the house fire on Bonnetplume Road that took a team of 20 firefighters about four hours to extinguish.

Then they joined in an around-the-clock search for Keevik. In an interview with Fire Chief Al German on Monday, he talked about how firefighters were worked to the bone all weekend and he was hoping that effort would not go unnoticed or unappreciated by community residents.

Volunteers are often taken for granted.

German said whenever the volunteer firefighters are called upon as emergency responders they're always ready and willing. An example of that came last month when a house on Bompas Street came off its pilings. A crew of volunteer firefighters responded right away.

But until I saw the group of 20 firefighters tackle the house fire on Saturday, it never really occurred to me just how important their help is, not to mention the skill and danger involved in what they do.

What would have happened if there were no firefighters in Inuvik on Saturday? Where would the help come from?

What's worse is the one big party they have each year, the Fireman's Ball, they lose money on.

I doubt any volunteers want to be worshipped for what they do. They volunteer not for the recognition but because someone has to help, and they want to contribute.

Taking the time to recognize the services they provide and say thanks would be more than enough for most of them.