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Unhelpful dump response
Yellowknifer - Friday, September 4, 2009

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Dumping refuse anywhere but the dump is sure to get people riled up, and for good reason. Nobody wants their neighbourhood turned into a junkyard.

Naturally, residents are going to direct their anger at those who left the mess behind. Therefore Nova Builders, the development company that recently left a pile of demolished building debris at the old Bartam Trailer Park site along School Draw Avenue, has incurred public wrath.

Milan Mrdjenovich, Nova Builder's regional manager, stated in the company's defence that the dump was not accessible due to a broken bulldozer.

Mrdjenovich's cavalier attitude - "I have no time for this petty stuff," he said of the illegal dumping controversy - is not to be excused. While Nova Builders has survived a number of scrapes with the city and its residents over the years, it should work harder on improving its image - through its words and actions.

Breaking bylaws isn't acceptable, but the city has to bear some responsibility in this instance. Taxpayers fork over good money to keep our city dump up and running. Should the system break down, municipal officials must show more forethought than simply turning people away from city hall without a solution.

In this case a temporary permit should have been issued. That way the city would have been aware of the contents, volume and location of Nova Builder's load of debris. The city would also have put itself in a position to respond to citizens who had complaints about the situation.

This was poorly handled all around. The debris is now gone, but the lesson shouldn't soon be forgotten.

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Long road ahead for Handley
Yellowknifer - Friday, September 4, 2009

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Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is insisting his party will attempt to force a fall election, and the Liberals decided on Aug. 22 that Joe Handley is the candidate to lead the way in the NWT.

Residents here won't soon forget that the Liberals had from 1993 to 2006 to accomplish many things, but left much unresolved, including some land claims.

While the red party is now critical of the Conservatives over infrastructure spending, Stephen Harper's government is on pace to far surpass the Liberals in funding devoted to the North.

Handley has to overcome that record and his own. While premier, Handley proclaimed that devolution was only days away; we never saw anything come of it.

Then there's the Deh Cho Bridge Handley approved just days before he left office as premier in 2007. That troubled project has already experienced contract disputes, delays, the prospect of cost overruns and there are growing questions about how high tolls will be once they're in place, plus higher costs for consumers and reduced Northern benefits.

Handley and the Liberals have one thing in common: they're both going to have to work extremely hard to win back votes in the NWT.

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The driving force
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, September 3, 2009

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Across the Deh Cho students are getting back to classes and settling down for a new year of learning.

The Deh Cho is fortunate to have winning staff teams in each of the region's nine schools. The Deh Cho has a dedicated set of educators who seem to be especially willing to motivate, cajole and push students to meet and exceed their academic potential.

The regions' teachers are willing to go above and beyond the regular day to day class work to make a difference in their students' lives. Schools across the Deh Cho offer a variety of different extra-curricular programs to enhance the student's learning experiences including computer clubs, chess clubs, canoeing clubs, graphic design clubs and many others.

There is also a willingness in the Deh Cho to try new ideas and initiatives if they look promising. The exercise equipment program that two of the schools are undertaking this year is a perfect example.

Principals Lois Philipp and Robert Byatt both watched a documentary on CBC's The National about the link between sustained aerobic activity and increased academic performances and attention spans. Philipp and Byatt were both excited by the results that a teacher in Saskatoon saw in her students after making them run on treadmills for 20 minutes a day during class.

Philipp and Byatt shared the documentary with their respective staffs at Deh Gah School in Fort Providence and Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson. As a result both of the schools are using funding to install exercise equipment that students will be encouraged to use.

If the results from Saskatoon can be replicated students will gain a full grade level in reading, writing and math. The idea is unorthodox and it will likely require a lot of convincing on the parts of the teachers to get students to participate but they are willing to do it if academic performances will benefit.

It's not every educator who would be willing to go to the work to set up a room of exercise equipment and organize a program in the hopes of helping students' grades.

In Fort Providence the dedication of educators, especially Philipp, was also visible during the graduation ceremony on Aug. 28. Seven students and three adults graduated with their high school diplomas from the school.

Many of the graduates had come close to not finishing their studies. Most of them credited Philipp for never giving up on them and helping them find alternate options to fulfill their graduation requirements.

It may take some longer than others but all of the students in the Deh Cho are capable of achieving a level of academic success. It is the educators in each of the schools who help to ensure that each student is supported and encouraged on that journey.

The educators all deserve grateful recognition for the work that they do with the Deh Cho's youth.

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It's about communication
Editorial Comment
Andrew Rankin
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, September 3, 2009

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Denny Rodgers' letter to the editor came as a welcome addition to this week's edition of Inuvik Drum.

Not only was it well written but it spoke directly to the heart of an issue that seems to have caused a stir among many residents in town: whether the mayor's position should revert to part time and take a 50 per cent pay cut given the slowdown in the economy.

Looking at the big picture, $40,000, which is the amount at stake here, doesn't seem like that much money and it would probably be difficult to find someone qualified enough who would be willing to work part time for an annual salary of $40,000. It seems to me that a mayor of a town with a population of about 3,500 should be working full time with a salary that reflects that. When times are tough, the mayor should be working just as hard to try to stimulate the economy.

Rodgers' central point rests on the importance of keeping the public informed on important matters such as this. Since it's their money that pays the mayor's salary, residents obviously should have a say about how that money is spent. It's too bad there wasn't a public debate on the issue and the decision made by council to maintain status quo happened when three councillors weren't present.

It's certainly OK for some councillors to want to cut back on the mayor's salary but at the same time there should be a plan about where that money should be spent. Maybe it shouldn't be spent at all. But there probably should have been more dialogue on the matter.

While we're on the topic of communication, Rodgers also writes that the mayor should present a report to council at every regular meeting that would demonstrate whether he or she is earning the salary. That makes sense. I wonder if that is something other residents support? If community members are concerned about the issue, then maybe they should show up to the next council meeting to voice their concerns.

The same holds true about the prospect of having a bus service for elementary school students. I've talked to a handful of people about the possibility and most agree that it's needed, especially in the dead of winter. An interest group has already been formed to lobby for the service, which includes Melissa Lennie and Kathy English. A meeting to discuss the issue was scheduled this summer but only a few parents showed up.

The Inuvik District Education Authority receives money from the Department of Education for a bus program. Its members have decided that a Beaver program to mentor elementary school students is more important. Maybe it is.

But if you feel passionately enough about the bus service and how your tax dollars are being spent then perhaps you could give Lennie or English a call.

Maybe a bus service is the answer or maybe a car pool can be created among concerned parents. It doesn't seem like an impossible situation.

It just means that people have to be willing to work collectively to find a solution.

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Tin Can no man's land
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, September 2, 2009

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Five years ago, when Tin Can Hill was still solidly slated for future development, and city councillor Mark Heyck was a long ways from achieving his dream of preserving it forever as a dog park and hiker's hill, Heyck pointed to the enduring wisdom of Vancouver's civic fathers for creating Stanley Park.

Leading the charge to re-zone Tin Can Hill from growth management to parks and recreation, Heyck must view himself in a similar vein. He's almost there. A couple more council votes will ensure Tin Can will never be burdened by bulldozers and real estate agents – unless they're out there walking their dogs, of course.

Fortunately at city council last week, there were enough municipal politicians wary enough of pressing forward with a vote that there will yet be another debate before all is said and done. We owe that to councillors David McCann, David Wind and Paul Falvo, and tie-breaker Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

While we appreciate Heyck's passion for protecting green spaces in the city, removing Tin Can Hill entirely from development plans would be a particularly reckless move in a city with a real lack of available land for residential development. Where else can the city build other than the last couple of remaining phases at Niven Lake?

That's why Tin Can Hill was included in the 2004 General Plan inventory; that's why it's acknowledged in the city's own Metroquest study into long-range growth needs as the logical location for future residential development. Should council ban development on Tin Can right now, it will be against the advice from members of the city's own Smart Growth committee, which has yet to complete a study of development there.

Tin Can Hill is approximately 100 hectares – around a quarter the size of the aforementioned Stanley Park. But unlike Stanley Park, there is no actual municipal infrastructure there to service it: no maintained trails, no street lights, no police or bylaw officers making patrols.

If council votes against any development there, what they're really voting for is no man's land – for more broken glass and litter, for a place where dog owners let their pets defecate with impunity, and for more squatters to set up tents.

Levelling Tin Can and dumping a bunch of trailers there would be a terrible crime, but if development is nixed entirely it will remain the domain of few and enjoyed by fewer still.

Let's not forget that this city does need places to put workers and their families. When the economy is again red hot, as it was a few years ago, there will be plenty of calls for more homes and apartments.

Therefore a compromise of limited development with tax dollars created to pay for real parks and trails makes the most sense.

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A needle in the H1N1 haystack
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, September 2, 2009

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While top Canadian health officials have been promoting immunization against the next wave of H1N1 (swine flu), there are many health professionals around the world who refuse to endorse or receive the vaccine themselves.

The estimated number of Canadian health workers who get vaccinated against seasonal flu tops out at the world average of 60 per cent.

But the number of health professionals in many countries who accept flu immunization shots are far lower, with American professionals routinely coming in at about 40 per cent and those in Britain known to register around 20 per cent.

And, even more fear surrounds the H1N1 vaccine.

It's already been reported in the British Medical Journal that more than 50 per cent of health workers in Hong Kong have refused the vaccination, as well as 30 per cent of British nurses.

In short, health workers around the planet have grave misgivings on both the effectiveness and the safety of the H1N1 vaccine.

That's led to about half the world's health workers balking at the same vaccine we're urged to accept.

This is extremely concerning in the Kivalliq, which, to date, has accounted for 48 per cent of Nunavut's 560 confirmed cases of H1N1.

Add to that the evidence of aboriginals being more susceptible to the virus, and we could be in for a nasty flu season if a second wave of H1N1 does, in fact, strike.

The disparity between the number of confirmed cases during the first wave in other countries compared to Canada is bad enough.

A total of 24 in every 100,000 Canadians have been infected by H1N1, compared to 11 in the United States and nine in Mexico.

But what's truly alarming is the infection rate among aboriginals.

According to published reports, First Nations people in Manitoba have an infection rate of 130 per 100,000 people, while, in Nunavut, the number of Inuit infected by H1N1 swells to a staggering 1,070 in 100,000.

Nunavut's Department of Health has been saying for months it doesn't want to needlessly alarm people over H1N1, but these numbers are alarming!

They're especially alarming considering how many health workers - rightly or wrongly - have little or no faith in the H1N1 vaccine.

So, what's a person to do when a local health-care professional ramps up the public relations on the benefits of getting the H1N1 vaccination?

With what we know right now, and the almost continual mutation of the virus, the vaccination seems to be a 50-50 proposition at best.

A fact most of the world's health professionals seem to already know.

There is also evidence, yet to be substantiated, that there could be a genetic component at play in the infection rates being seen in Nunavut.

If so, the vaccine could prove itself to be far more of a benefit to Nunavut's minority population than Inuit.

As it looks now, good hygiene, including frequent washing of hands, proper diet and exercise, could very well be the best needle in the H1N1 haystack when it comes to effective vaccines in the Kiv this year.

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Knock down those doors
NWT News/North - Monday, August 31, 2009

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Open government is a crucial pillar of democracy.

Fort Smith town council has struggled to understand that concept, but it must grasp the idea.

In June, a majority of councillors passed a bylaw that would have permitted them to operate behind closed doors at their own whims.

Private discussions could be held on any matter "which council or its committees agree, by resolution, to discuss at an in-camera meeting."

That sets the stage for poor government. Thankfully the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs agrees and the department intervened, advising council to revise the bylaw.

It's generally understood, and largely accepted, that municipal councils are within their bounds to conduct some business confidentially, namely legal issues and personnel matters.

But what happens when a personnel matter balloons into something alarming, something that the public ought to know about because mayor and council may have mishandled the affair?

That's essentially what Fort Smith is now examining. Councillor Brenda Johnson blew the whistle on what she felt was financial mismanagement pertaining to former longtime senior administrative officer Roy Scott's contracts with the town.

Johnson made the relevant accountant's report public, providing it to the local newspaper. Indeed, a look at the document does reveal some startling figures that beg for explanation: Scott reportedly received a $140,00 signing bonus in 2006 and a $20,641 bonus in 2001; there was $52,842 for education leave in 2002 that was never taken; salary payments in 2002 and 2003 that exceeded contract amounts by close to $11,500.

Johnson's fellow councillors are slapping her with disciplinary action and want her to apologize for breaching council's code of conduct. If there's no apology, they want her to resign.

In addition, the disciplinary committee has recommended that she should no longer be allowed to attend future in-camera meetings.

So what exactly should Johnson have done? Been quiet?

It certainly seems that she's raised an issue worthy of some serious consideration. After all, council, in a necessary move signalling accountability, has approved a forensic audit of the town's finances. Council had been preparing to move ahead with a forensic audit shortly after Scott was dismissed in May.

However, Mayor Peter Martselos expressed reluctance to go ahead with such an audit, saying it would be too costly. He contended that a cheaper financial review would achieve the same goal for less money.

Fortunately council wanted to dig deeper, despite the cost, and voted to move ahead with the forensic audit at a special meeting on Aug. 25. That meeting was open to the public, also a positive development. To keep the momentum going in the right direction, the results of this audit should be made readily available to the public.

As well, to ensure residents aren't left in the dark on too much council business done in-camera, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs should adopt an access to information policy for communities similar to what exists for the territorial government. It would be a means of recourse for frustrated citizens.

After all, secrecy is no ally to good government.

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Hospital needs first aid
Nunavut News/North - Monday, August 31, 2009

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When Qikiqtani General Hospital opened less than two years ago amid great fanfare, it was touted as a modern facility with the capacity to meet the territory's health care needs.

But shiny new facilities and equipment are useless without the appropriate personnel required to staff them.

Last week we reported two cases where the hospital seems to have failed in its attempt to serve Iqalummiut. These incidents should be an embarrassment to Nunavut MP and Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq.

In one incident, a woman in labour expecting her fourth child went to the hospital. She was sent home after being seen by two doctors despite traditional knowledge that women giving birth for the second, third or fourth time (or more) tend to have quicker deliveries.

She gave birth about 10 minutes after arriving home. Fortunately, both mother and daughter are fine.

In another incident, a 52 year-old woman tumbled down the stairs at the Nova Inn after midnight on Aug. 9 and sustained head injuries. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the emergency room. While there, she reportedly caused a disturbance. At about 3 a.m. hospital staff asked police officers who happened to be at the hospital on another matter to remove her from the hospital and to bring her back when she was sober. It's unclear whether she was medically assessed prior to her arrest. As Supt. Howard Eaton put it, "She was brought in by ambulance so we're assuming that somebody looked at her."

When officers called the hospital 12 hours later and asked if they could bring her back, staff told the police the emergency room was busy and had no beds. At 5:20 p.m. on Aug. 9, RCMP staff monitoring the woman noticed she was in medical distress.

She was taken to Qikiqtani General, medevaced to Ottawa and died in hospital Aug. 14. According to the RCMP, her death was the result of the injuries she had sustained prior to her arrest.

RCMP in Winnipeg are investigating the case, as it's being considered that the death occurred while she was in police custody.

But the case deserves a full Nunavut coroner's inquest to determine what went wrong and how it can be fixed. The ability of Qikiqtani General Hospital to provide emergency health care for Iqaluit and the rest of the territory needs to be examined.

These incidents raise concerns that there may not be enough staff and the staff that is there may be overworked or lacking appropriate training.

Qikiqtani has nine emergency room nurse positions, three of which are vacant.

The hospital may need emergency attention of its own before someone else in medical distress slips through the cracks.