Subscriber pages
 News Desk
Columnists
Sports
Editorial
Readers comment
Tenders
Demo pages Here's a sample of what only subscribers see Subscribe now Subscribe to both hardcopy or internet editions of NNSL publications Free Features
News Highlights News briefs News summaries
Entertainment Arts / entertainment
Games page
TV Listings
Obituaries Remember loved ones with online obits Best of Bush Some of the best by cartoonist Norm Muffitt Views North NWT views Nunavut views YK views Wildlife Pictures Last week in pictures
Classifieds Nunavut classifeds NWT classifieds National classifieds Southern jobs
Northern Jobs Nunavut and NWT job opportunities Guest Book Leave a message or see who signed in Visitors guides Inuvik and Region Deh Cho Region Yellowknife Iqaluit
Handy Links Free travel brochures Market reports Construction Oil & Gas Drum Mining Symposium NWT Nunavut Mining Opportunities North
Special issues Dozens of features reports from NNSL publications Advertising Readership study, demographic and market information Year in review Deh Cho Drum
Inuvik Drum
Kivalliq News
Nunavut News/North
NWT News/North
YellowkniferContacts All papers, offices and departments. Phone, Fax and e-mail numbers Distributed in Northwest Territories and Nunavut Canada |
|
Road to an economy NWT News/North - Monday, November 2, 2009 A majority of hamlets in the territory do not have a year-round road link to neighbouring communities or the south.
Cece Hodgson McCauley, one of our most vocal supporters of a proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway, is adamant that a road link will lower the cost of groceries, solve social issues caused by isolation, and provide a needed connection to hamlets in the Sahtu.
She is right, but starting with the Mackenzie Valley Highway is economically the wrong choice for the territory. Department of Transportation estimates peg the cost of the road at nearly $1.82 billion - not including annual maintenance costs.
Sure-fire ways to generate more resource dollars, prolong employment opportunities and create incentives for population increases are essential.
Roads to major mining regions of the territory are vital to creating an economic atmosphere that will achieve those goals. For the $190 million Diavik estimates it would cost to build an all-season road, the NWT can connect to the heartland of territorial mining potential and enhance options to replace existing mines once they are exhausted.
That would come with the added benefit of cost sharing agreements, which should be integral to the plan, among industry, the GNWT and the federal government.
Aside from government, mining is the only other major contributor to the territory's economy. With the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline's future in doubt we need investments that will begin to show immediate return.
The road, which would take a little more than two years to complete, would yield such results - the jobs needed for its construction aside.
For example, Ekati Diamond mine has been working to extend its life to 2040. To do so it must reduce its operating costs to $50 per tonne. Presently, the mine operates at a cost of $70 per tonne. An all-weather road would decrease transportation costs. That would guarantee employment for more than 800 Northerners and sustain a $1 billion contributor to the NWT's GDP for the next three decades. Add the same potential for the other mines in the region and deposits waiting to be developed and the economic spinoffs would be enormous.
Potentially, a link to road and rail routes could mean a new resource rush in the North, which would have sweeping economic benefits.
People move to where the jobs are; more people means more money from Ottawa. Those funds can be used to pay for additional services, schools, hospitals, and, possibly, a road to the Sahtu. A growing population will also attract more business, creating competition to drive down prices. Teachers, nurses, doctors and other professionals will be more inclined to move to communities with road access.
If we control the impacts of such mass development and ensure many of the jobs go to Northerners, we can't lose.
Second on the list of roads that should be built, is the Inuvik to Tuk extension of the Dempster Highway. Such a link is essential for our national sovereignty and would create the first sea-to-sea-to-sea transportation network in Canada. It would also be a boon to the Beaufort Delta communities which are in need of ways to generate business, reduce the costs of goods and services, and attract professionals.
Both of those roads could also significantly reduce construction costs of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, which could make the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension feasible.
There is a hole in Nunavut's health care benefits, and longtime Iqaluit resident Michael Gardener is only the most recent person to fall through it.
When the retired Anglican priest was recently billed nearly $17,000 for his stay at the Larga Baffin medical boarding home in Ottawa while accompanying his wife, Nunavummiut expressed outrage and many began planning fundraisers to help pay the bill.
Minister of Health Tagak Curley quickly withdrew the bill, paying the bulk of the charges through the extended health benefits for seniors and writing off the rest.
The reason Gardener was billed is because Nunavut land claim beneficiaries have access to health benefits through the federal government that are more comprehensive than what provinces and territories usually cover.
However, it seems that in formulating Nunavut's medical travel coverage, policymakers forgot that not everybody in Nunavut is Inuit.
Yukon and the NWT both subsidize medical travel expenses for such residents, as well as authorized escorts not covered under non-insured health benefits (NIHB) or private insurance.
Nunavut does so only for residents over the age of 65. Everybody else has to pay out of pocket with no reimbursement.
The principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit emphasize the importance of the group versus the individual, of thinking and acting collaboratively and of recognizing that every person has something of value to contribute to the community. Allowing people to fall through the cracks in medical travel coverage, even a relatively small number, and expecting them to shoulder huge bills for medical services like outpatient surgery or to give birth in a hospital, goes against such principles.
Nunavut needs a medical travel subsidization program of last resort, similar to the NWT and Yukon, to make sure all its residents are treated fairly and equitably.
Of course, medical travel is already a huge expense for Nunavut's health care system, and covering the expenses of more people will put more strain on already parched resources.
Provinces and territories fund health programs through money transferred from the federal government, and we need to put pressure on the federal government to either keep paying the ever increasing costs of medical travel or bring those costs down by bettering the territory's own medical resources and lowering the cost of air travel in the North.
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq should be well aware of these challenges. She should be our strongest advocate for more health funding.
"When we quickly hire back departing ministers to guide our political directions and policy development, we are usurping the decisions of our voting public," the Weledeh MLA said in the legislative assembly last week.
After all, isn't that why we have elections, to choose quality people to run our government?
Why is Roland rolling back the clock and using former cabinet ministers Brendan Bell and John Todd to create policies and coach his government? Surely he has capable enough people serving with him right now.
For Roland, a four-term MLA with ample cabinet experience before becoming premier, to put these two men on his payroll makes him look weak.
But it's even more troubling for an entirely different reason, at least in respect to Bell – the federal Conservative Party's candidate of record for the Western Arctic since Nov. 8, 2007 and a man who was only 59 days removed as territorial minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment when Roland hired him.
Bell was awarded his first $50,000 contract on Dec. 21, 2007; the second contract – for $130,000 – was awarded Aug. 18, 2008 while the country was gearing up for an election call by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In the election on Oct. 14, Bell lost his Western Arctic bid to incumbent NDP MP Dennis Bevington by just 523 votes.
What would Roland have done had Bell won? Would he have ripped up the contract? He couldn't have let a sitting member of Parliament remain on the payroll, could he?
We have to question Roland's judgment in offering a sole-source contract of this magnitude to a candidate seeking a House of Commons seat in the first place.
Ethics rules may not have been broken, but it's very dicey deal nonetheless.
It certainly creates a perception that Roland was using the contract to curry favour with the ruling Conservatives. Is that what Roland meant when, referring to Bell and Todd, he said, "they can help us open doors?"
This is very unseemly for a premier who professes his disdain for party politics and is "consensus to the core."
Likewise, the contract casts a shadow over Bell, who intends to make another try for Bevington's job. Did he use his big, fat GNWT pay cheque to finance his election campaign?
There are many questions that need answering. Bob Bromley and other MLAs have five more days during this current legislative assembly session to press for more answers. Not only do they need an explanation, they need to change the rules. Former MLAs and cabinet ministers should be outlawed from rolling in government money until at least a year passes, not a mere couple of months.
"Why?"
Standing in the Fort Simpson cemetery on Oct. 22 looking at what had been done to his cousin's grave Yannick wanted to ask those responsible for the damage why they had done it.
Hopefully after reading the article about what happened to the fire truck memorial on Marc Andre Lapierre's grave most residents in Fort Simpson will be asking the same question.
The incident has left some people who are already aware of the damage shaking their heads and questioning how the village has become a place where this sort of thing can happen. The nature of the incident is enough to raise some questions.
Vandalism in Fort Simpson, as in all communities in the North, is nothing new. The most common and noticeable form are the crudely spray-painted messages that appear on the sides of buildings. Schools and businesses are the most common targets.
The appearance of new messages seems to come and go in spurts as people, presumably pre-teens and teenagers, become bored and get their hands on spray paint. For a while last year the word G-Unit, the name of a hip-hop group, was appearing everywhere in Fort Simpson from sidewalks to the sign for Hole 2 on the Seven Spruce Golf Course.
Vandalism can also escalate to breaking windows and damaging empty housing units and other buildings.
What was done to Marc Andre's grave, however, takes vandalism to a different level and crosses into the realm of desecration. The people who destroyed his funeral monument should be ashamed.
For the vandals, it may have been a spur of the moment action caused by boredom and possibly alcohol, but for Marc Andre's family it means the destruction of something that helped keep his memory alive and represented one of his favourite things - fire trucks.
Vandalism in general, no matter what form it takes and what it is aimed at, all comes down to one thing, respect. If vandals respected other people's property, feelings, hard work and their community at large, they would find it a lot harder to inflict damage. Spray-painted messages and damaged graves do nothing but hurt a community's image. Spray paint in particular creates an image of neglect.
While completely stopping cases of vandalism would be impossible, community residents can speak out and let others know that vandalism isn't acceptable.
Hopefully if community pride is built and vandalism is labelled an unacceptable act, no other family will be faced with the task of repairing a loved one's grave.
Yes, I know the motion councillors agreed to included the word reprieve, which could be defined as a loan, meaning the club would have to pay it back eventually.
Nick Saturnino, the club's president didn't think he had to pay it back. If council deems it to be a loan, there should have been some talk at the meeting about how and when the money would be paid back. Council decided on Monday that it wants Saturnino to come back to Wednesday's meeting to formally clarify what he interprets the deal to be. He doesn't plan to attend.
Residents for the most part seem OK about giving the club $55,000 this time around. If they weren't, I expect they would have come to the council meetings to voice their opposition, as this discussion between the town and the club started more than a month ago.
There's a lot to this story. But basically until now the club hasn't been in the position where it has had to come up with about $80,000 on its own to sustain itself. They were able to get most of their revenue from a bingo series. It appears they want to hold on to what they've got and see if they can keep going. That's fair enough.
Mayor Derek Lindsay said his understanding of the agreement was that the reprieve would be paid after a year. It's uncertain how the club can solidify itself financially in that timeframe, given that it's already heavily in debt.
Curling has a history in Inuvik. It's brought people from various parts of the country here to participate in various bonspiels throughout the winter. They in turn spend a lot of money in town. Membership is also fairly strong. They should be given that chance to get back on the rails and maintain the facilities they own.
Maybe the town ought to look closer at how it subsidizes other recreational facilities, and apply that model to the curling rink. I know the issue is more complicated than that, but it's a start.
The club might not be able to survive on its own, but it should be given a chance. If residents aren't happy about giving a hand to the club, they should speak out.
I've heard the concern that letting the curling club off the hook for $55,000 will set a bad precedent - that all recreation groups thereafter would be entitled to a hand-out. The only precedent I see here is the opportunity for a rec group to come to council, where members use their good judgment to make a decision that could ultimately strengthen the community as a whole.
It's just been within the past week - following 23 court appearances and three previous court attempts to get the man a bed at an Alberta health facility - that the accused was finally sent to Edmonton for a 30-day assessment.
At this point the Crown prosecutor on the case admits the man has been in jail longer than the Crown was seeking to have him serve.
Surely there must be better alternatives available for this man, and others like him, who are languishing in jail when they need services from a psychiatric hospital.
Inmates in the NWT who are sent for a psychiatric assessment must wait until a bed becomes available in an Alberta hospital. There are other provinces with appropriate facilities and medical professionals. The government should not view Alberta as the only option when justice and fairness is at stake.
Inmates could be sent to hospitals in Saskatchewan or British Columbia as well. With more hospitals to choose from it would cut down on wait times, which can clearly become excessive.
Another option would be for the GNWT to hire a psychiatrist on contract to come to the territory and give assessments on an as-needed basis.
Something needs to change. Leaving potentially innocent people with possible mental illness to spend lengthy stretches in jail is despicable. Having victims wonder if the person charged in crimes against them will ever come to trial isn't acceptable.
It's a problem that the territorial government must address.
The NWT Power Corporation should have known it had major work to do when it purchased the Bluefish Hydro facility from Miramar Con Mine in 2003.
Built in 1942, the facility's timber dam, by the corporation's own admission, had a lifespan of 40 years. Earlier this month, 67 years after the construction of the dam, the power corp threatened the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board with court action unless it was given immediate permission to build a new dam without the usual regulatory scrutiny. That permission was granted.
Normally, any new construction in waterways around Yellowknife requires approval from the land and water board and may necessitate an environmental impact assessment. The approval process commonly takes at least a year to complete. Instead, the power corporation is riding roughshod over a legal process established by our government in its haste to have a new $17 million dam built.
The power corp should have known from the moment it purchased the facility in 2003 that the dam had to be replaced very soon. "Upgrades" carried out by the owners of Con Mine in 1973 and 1983, and a third carried out by the power corp in 2007 were clearly not enough to extend its life expectancy beyond 60 years.
The power corp obviously needs to improve its inspection process. Critical pieces of infrastructure can't be neglected to the point of crumbling.
The decision to have the sentence of a Rankin Inlet youth challenged in the Nunavut Court of Appeal has sparked a flurry of debate in the youth's home community.
The youth, who cannot be named, was given 11 months after being convicted of committing 17 break and enters in Rankin over nine months.
The youth's lawyer, Scott Wheildon, wants to know if a young person should be punished for living in an impoverished remote community?
The reasoning behind that sentence was the lack of treatment or counselling to help the youth instead of jail time.
We would be remiss if we did not say there was no violence involved in any of the break-ins and the youth had no previous criminal history.
The Crown also supported the appeal.
We accept the no previous criminal history argument, but the no violence angle, quite conceivably, came about by pure luck.
Any cop can tell you the dangers of fight or flight, which grips criminals of any age when caught in the act.
Had the youth been confronted or stumbled upon by an elder during one of the crimes, this saga could have ended much worse.
Let's not forget people were hurt by these actions in a number of ways.
People lose their confidence and comfort when their private space, whether at work or home, is invaded.
They get angry when stolen from, or when things they've worked hard for are destroyed. And rightly so.
We won't discuss the belief of the majority of Canadians: that laws today are too soft on young offenders. They are what they are.
And we certainly aren't giving up on a person still in their teenage years, especially in a culture where granting a second chance is the rule and not the exception.
But does that mean we should also buy into the idea that failure to understand the difference between right and wrong should not be punished, whether there's an addiction involved or not?
When standing in front of a judge, many offenders, no matter what their age, come up with a reason or an excuse – real or fabricated – to explain their actions in hopes of leniency.
The decision, or, more to the point, the reasons behind the decision to grant an appeal, have people questioning the court's confidence in community justice programs and elder counselling.
Are we to understand from the impoverished community and lack of treatment remarks that the courts, and lawyers on both sides, look at such Northern initiatives as completely ineffective?
Is Iqaluit's young offender's facility really the only place in Nunavut where some of our troubled youth can get the help they need to turn their lives around? And, if so, why?
Is the public wrong to wonder why punishment for a crime seems to always be unacceptable in the face of counselling? Can the two not work together effectively?
In her ruling, Appeal Court Justice Constance Hunt said the case deals with broader issues relating to youth justice.
We certainly give full marks for that one, as the ruling seems to have provided far more questions than answers.
| |||||||||||||
