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The consequences of being untidy
Yellowknifer - Friday, October 16, 2009

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A resident of Northland Trailer Park had some possessions hauled away from his unkempt lot last month and he's fuming over it.

The problem is he made a mess, had plenty of time to clean it up but didn't do a sufficient job despite the passing of many months.

The Municipal Enforcement Department issued warnings to Marie-Angelo Urbancig on July 25, 2008 and again on Oct. 15, 2008 that his Northland home was unsightly due to all the aging vehicles and other property cluttering his lot.

It wasn't until June 25 of this year that a third warning came. This time it was by way of a clean-up order and word that he would be closely monitored. When the July 17 deadline came around, he stayed home to see if there would be consequences. There weren't that day, but he was served a ticket on Sept. 9 for failing to clean up his lot and his property was hauled away a short time later.

Nobody is contesting that Urbancig's lot was a shambles.

The bylaw officer brought a firefighter along during one site assessment to strengthen the case.

Urbancig himself said, "I always admitted by guilt."

On top of that, Mike Roy, the manager of the trailer park admitted that there are "a lot" of untidy properties in the neighbourhood, but none bad as Urbancig's.

"You couldn't even make it to the door," Roy said.

So it's little wonder that Urbancig's belongings were carted away.

Unfortunately the bylaw department did make a mistake in processing the ticket and sent Urbancig to court on the wrong day. That would be frustrating, but, to the Municipal Enforcement Division's credit, the office did withdraw the ticket in light of the error. That's reasonable.

In order to retrieve his possessions from the dump, Urbancig must cover the costs the city incurred in cleaning his lot on his behalf.

He could have avoided the entire ordeal had he taken adequate action long ago.

This should serve as a reminder to other Northland residents, and to any property owner in Yellowknife, that one cannot ignore warnings from the city.

If Urbancig had a leg to stand on in his opposition to the city's actions, he should have challenged the municipality's refusal to fix Northland's deteriorating roads and water and sewage pipes. If the City of Yellowknife insists that those issues are Northland condominium corporation's problem, how can it still enforce its property bylaw? It does appear to be a double standard.

Let's hear someone from city hall explain that.

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Heading out
Editorial Comment
Tim Edwards
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, October 15, 2009

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My time at the Deh Cho Drum is up and I'm headed back to Yellowknife to continue at the newspaper there.

I just want to say that this is a very nice chunk of land you've got here and, even though I'll be glad to be back with my friends and family in Yellowknife, I'm a little disappointed to be leaving. I never even went golfing.

I wish I had been able to check out more of the surrounding area, as I spent most of my time in the community of Fort Simpson, but what I saw here was a hidden gem.

On one of my first days here, I was invited to play in a ball hockey tournament.

I told the team captain who invited me that I wouldn't exactly be an asset to the team, but still he told me to come out and play, so I did. The tournament was a lot of fun, and even though my game didn't bring much other than an extra body in front of the net, no one got on my case about it. It was a just-for-fun tournament and a very relaxed environment.

In fact, I was even invited to play at the weekly games. Even though I wasn't great at receiving passes or finding the net, they'd keep sending the ball my way. I ended up scoring two in my stint here, which is a fine personal record.

I've found the folk here to be very sociable and hospitable. I didn't meet a person that I didn't like, and I felt very welcome in the community.

Another thing I've noticed is that when I gathered stories here, people are willing to talk and say what they think.

In Yellowknife, due probably to the much larger population, a fair number of people don't want to have their picture taken or even be quoted in a story - and some, if they submit, will give a safe answer that doesn't really take a stance.

Here, I had just one person refuse to have their picture taken, and that was just because they didn't like how they looked in pictures.

As well, when I talk to people about local issues, they aren't afraid to speak their mind. Most people seem to know the issues fairly well. One benefit of a small town, which can also be considered a curse, is that word spreads like wildfire.

While there are social ills such as alcoholism and drug abuse everywhere, they don't overflow into the streets here like they do in bigger cities. As a city grows, everything multiplies, including the negative aspects. Sometimes it seems the negative aspects, such as hard drugs and violence, outweigh the benefits of a larger populace and economy.

The countryside here is fantastic. Yellowknife has its lakes, which are great when you go out on them, but the rivers here offer a lot more to look at on the land.

Enjoy the small town life because, at least in my opinion, you've got everything you need here. Except maybe a movie theatre.

Thanks for the good times.

Editor Roxanna Thompson returns this week.

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How long does it take to be an informed voter?
Editorial Comment
Andrew Rankin
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, October 15, 2009

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With the election on Oct. 19 only days away, things are getting interesting.

Most captivating for me is the mayoral race. Based on what I'm hearing around town, it's too close to call. It's great to see people out wearing their pins in support of their favourite mayoral candidate. The whole thing's got me excited for election day.

That said, I wouldn't mind voting since I've been living here for the last 10 months and have no plans of moving anytime soon. But unfortunately the territorial government says I'm not qualified to vote. So I'll let someone else decide who will represent me on council for the next three years.

In order to vote in an NWT municipal election you have to have been a resident of that jurisdiction for at least 12 consecutive months. Why? The government's stand is that one has to live in Inuvik for 12 months to have a proper grasp of the issues to make an informed vote. A rather vague statement but it does have some merit.

People should get to know their community and get acquainted with the issues and its political representatives before they go out and vote. But does one need a year in order to make an informed vote, or more to the point, to decide which candidate they would like to represent them at the council table?

Look at other provinces in Canada. None of them require the same length of residency in order to exercise a basic democratic right in a municipal election.

Maybe someone working for the NWT government could tell me how much more informed I would be about Inuvik if I lived here for a year, compared to six months. Is there a certain formula to support such an electoral rule? If so, I would like to know about it.

If the government wants to go to such lengths to ensure voters are casting an informed vote, why not introduce a testing process where residents would have to prove they had a basic understanding of Inuvik and its issues before they could vote? I wonder what the results would be.

I don't pretend to know everything about Inuvik and I don't know any of the councillors on a personal level. Yeah, I have a lot to learn. But I do believe that I've learned enough to make an informed vote; enough to decide who I want to see making decisions on how the town is being run and how my tax dollars are being spent.

Some might say I have an advantage because my job is to be informed on the issues. That's true. But anyone can pick up the phone and talk to the mayor or councillors, or attend council meetings.

What this rule does is offer one more way to discourage people from being involved in local political discourse. It really is a shame, because Inuvik needs all the help it can get in that department.

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Children are left behind
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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Education officials are all aflutter after enduring criticism recently about the territorial government's inclusive schooling policy.

In response, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment held a press conference last week to reinforce its commitment to the policy.

In short, inclusive schooling is a practice that loathes holding back students from the next grade level merely because their marks aren't up to snuff. The preference is to keep students within their own peer group in the hope that those students will improve as they progress through the school system.

The sad reality, however, is that many students graduate without the skill sets needed for for future careers and post-secondary education. Many others, particularly aboriginal students, don't graduate at all.

The NWT Bureau of Statistics reports that as of last year, Grade 9 to 11 are the highest grade levels attained among 35 per cent of aboriginal residents in the territory.

"Many of our students do go uptown to the high schools, but also, many of them end up lost," said Eileen Erasmus, a K'alemi Dene School teacher and recent Prime Minister's Award recipient.

Rubber stamping any student for 12 years and then handing them a certificate and a cap and gown before showing them the door just doesn't work.

The cultural realities of the North should mean that it's OK to take longer to earn a diploma.

The most important thing is that high school graduation means something, and right now, for many it doesn't.

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Restaurants haven't gone up in smoke
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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Ten years ago, despite a considerable hue and cry from some business owners, city council outlawed smoking inside restaurants.

These days it seems almost incomprehensible that lighting a cigarette or cigar would be allowed inside a public building.

However, in 1999, Carlos Gonzales, owner of Our Place restaurant, went to city council as a representative for Yellowknife's restaurateurs to plead against the anti-smoking bylaw. He told city council banning smoking would drive business away and devastate the livelihood of restaurant and bar owners.

The smoking ban didn't have the dreaded effect Gonzales, and other restaurateurs, were worried about.

While some of the names have changed over the years, Yellowknife's bars, pubs and restaurants are often full of patrons enjoying a smoke-free environment. As well, fellow bar patrons and staff are no longer subjected to second-hand smoke. If anything, smoking in restaurants today would drive away customers given the long list of terrible diseases that come from second-hand smoke, including various types of cancer and lung ailments like emphysema.

It turned out to be a wise move, and because of it we can now breathe easier.

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Call for a colour-blind policy
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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We give full marks to Nunavut Health Minister Tagak Curley for doing the right thing in the case of Iqaluit resident Michael Gardener.

For those of you not up to speed on this one, Gardener, 79, is a retired Anglican reverend and Order of Canada member who has lived in Iqaluit since the 1950s.

He had been staying at the Larga Baffin boarding home in Ottawa since January, after escorting his wife for medical treatment.

Like all Baffin Nunavummiut - or so we thought - Gardener had stayed at Larga before on medical travel with no problems.

But this time around, it was decided a non-Inuk could no longer stay at Larga.

Gardener was told to leave and slapped with a $34,000 bill for his time spent there, which was later cut in half to $17,000.

Curley earned our respect this past week for stepping up and publicly announcing Gardener will not have to pay a dime of the bill.

Many Inuit across Nunavut are also to be commended for the outrage they expressed over Gardener's treatment, as are the numerous communities that offered to hold fundraisers to help him pay the bill.

As much as we admire Curley's quick action in dealing with the affair - although it should never have happened in the first place - we can't agree with him that this is not a race issue.

Whether it's our Health department, the federal NonInsured Health Benefits Program or the man in the moon running Larga, when someone is thrown out based on the colour of their skin, it's a race issue.

Former Nunavut commissioner Peter Irniq was also quick to condemn the actions taken against Gardener and applaud Curley for overturning that decision.

He said the action sounded like discrimination against nonInuit to him, which is not the Inuit way.

We'll go along with Mr. Irniq on that one, but not without asking the question: then whose way is it?

How long does one have to live here before they're regarded as Nunavummiut? Twenty years? Fifty years?

Or is the answer you will never be Nunavummiut if you are a non-Inuk?

The initial action against Gardener is exactly the type of narrow-sighted, weak-minded and stupid decision that continues to feed the jaws of racism, decades after it should have disappeared altogether.

Until we have enough homegrown talent to fill the jobs necessary to run an effective territory, we need skilled southern workers to lend us a hand in Nunavut.

It's that old walk-before-you-can-run deal.

But this is exactly the type of decision that can keep good people from coming here and that's not a good thing - even if those who asked Gardener to leave may be cheering the concept.

In fact, a number of message boards on the bumpy Internet highway contained that exact message this past week - don't go there!

The Government of Nunavut had better roll up its sleeves and produce a clearly defined policy in regards to the boarding home issue for medical travel.

And it better be a policy that looks at the care and protection of all Nunavummiut - and not the colour of their skin.

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Privacy act should help, not hinder
NWT News/North - Monday, October 12, 2009

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Should NWT municipal governments be included under territorial access to information legislation?

As is it stands, most municipal governments have very open policies for releasing information to the public.

During council meetings, for example, the only discussions barred from the public domain relate to personnel, finance and legal matters. However, at times, the interpretation of those issues can cause disputes and accusations of secrecy.

That is where having a tool such as the access to information legislation would be useful. Any arguments about interpretation could easily be settled by the access to information officer.

Admittedly, there are definite hazards to applying the act to municipal government.

Cost to taxpayers is one. If a new municipal position is needed, it will mean adding administration costs to already heavily burdened municipal budgets. Training existing staff to handle access to information requests could be difficult, especially in the smaller communities

If municipal officials apply the act where it is not required, it could be difficult to obtain information that was previously easily accessible.

For all of the above reasons, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs would have to get involved in providing training, funding and staffing support to smaller communities

After all, many communities depend upon territorial funding. It's in the interest of the territorial government to ensure the money is spent properly.

An open public process is the best way to keep everyone honest.

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Jetboat Kings
NWT News/North - Monday, October 12, 2009

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Spencer and Russell King are among the best in the world when it comes to jetboat racing. With a host of titles under their belts, competing as far away as New Zealand, they are a true Northern inspiration and an example of the heights Northerners can reach in the national and international competition circuit.

Placing second at an international competition in New Zealand last month can be seen as positive. Although the Kings would have preferred a first place finish, it never hurts to have something to strive for.

Commitment is the driving force behind the King's achievement. Although the Kings have a host of water ways to train on in the NWT, it takes more than practice to achieve at the international level.

Without competing against the best in the world, it is impossible to become the best in the world.

Although Hay River at one time hosted some high caliber competition for its annual jetboat race, it has been a number of years since water levels in the community have permitted that race to go forward.

Without close-to-home competition, the Kings have had to travel far and wide to compete.

It's an expensive endeavor, but the money spent has paid off and we can be proud to have such world-class team to call our own.

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Move capital to Ottawa?
Nunavut News/North - Monday, October 12, 2009

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Ten years ago, Nunavut began with grand dreams of a representative civil service - 85 per cent Inuit - spread out across the territory, bringing jobs to communities without any other major industry, doing its day-to-day business in Inuktitut and living happily ever after.

But that hasn't happened. The still fledging Government of Nunavut is being accused of not serving Nunavummiut.

According to Canada's Auditor General, the government's financial records are in shambles. The housing crisis worsens daily. Too many students are graduating who are not literate in either English or Inuktitut.

Report after report points to lack of staff and disorder in departments as the government's biggest handicap.

In the GN Report Card released this month, some Nunavummiut stated that decentralization isn't working and the current timeline for 85 per cent Inuit in government jobs is far too optimistic.

Jobs in government departments decentralized to the communities are either going unfilled for lack of qualified workers, or are filled by outside workers who then strain the community's housing capacity. Spotty communications infrastructure leads to confusion between decentralized branches of departments and a record-keeping nightmare.

GN employees complain people are being hired for jobs they can't do. Clerks and other workers are being forced to stand in as translators in addition to their other duties and the few staff on duty in each department get snowed under more every day.

Pretty grim picture.

Fortunately, Premier Eva Aariak and her government accept the assessment of performance. They have pledged to do better. That's a healthy reaction to indisputable criticism.

It's much healthier than those calling for an end to decentralization and a halt to the effort to promote Inuit in government departments. These critics would probably prefer the capital of Nunavut was moved to Ottawa, where there is no end of highly-educated and well-paid civil servants to fill all the vacant policy and financial positions.

The fact is, government is the largest single employer and industry in Nunavut. To abandon decentralization for centralization would be to destroy any hope for community economies to grow. Without healthy economies, there will be no opportunities to instil the values of a good education, to upgrade housing, no money to stem the tide of social ills that come with poverty.

The dream of Nunavut was a territory where Inuit could govern themselves. Such a lofty goal comes with a price, often in blood on the ground in other parts of the world. Rather than spilling blood for a cause, patience is required to tackle these problems.

Progress has been made, much is being done right, that no one can deny. Huge problems remain.

Patience is one of the traits that enabled Inuit to survive for thousands of years where no others could. Just as the Government of Nunavut should and will survive for many decades to come into provincehood.