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Poor foresight NWT News/North - Monday, January 3, 2011
Two of the biggest catalysts for change are the possibility of a devolution deal with Ottawa and the approval of the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline. Although we expect a devolution deal will not be finalized in 2011, discussions surrounding the GNWT's agreement in principle with Ottawa will spark a lot of debate among aboriginal governments. The territorial government has said it will move forward without the support of the aboriginal governments, but the backing of First Nations and Metis groups would go a long way towards settling an agreement faster and ensuring the deal is equitable for all parties involved. Negotiating a devolution deal will require strong resolve on the part of Premier Floyd Roland. The GNWT cannot simply ink the first deal that comes across its desk and must keep in mind the poor deal the Yukon was saddled with when it finally assumed provincial powers. Although the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is still at least four years away its approval by the National Energy Board will help to restart the NWT's stagnating oil and gas sector. Companies have already expressed interest in restarting paused exploration programs by 2013 and interest in the annual Inuvik Petroleum Show surged following the December announcement. Unfortunately, low natural gas prices mean there are no guarantees the project will go forward, but the federal government and the NWT must step up their training of NWT workers to ensure they can capitalize on the hundreds of construction jobs the $16-billion project will possibly create. Even if the project proves unfeasible, that training will be invaluable to those looking for skilled work. November should mark the completion of another major infrastructure project -- the Deh Cho Bridge. The bridge has been a source of criticism since it was signed during what many considered a questionable back-room deal in 2007. Since then the project has been plagued by cost overruns, construction delays and mismanagement. Although the hope is a year-round road link to the south will reduce the cost of goods, we expect bridge tolls on transport trucks will have the opposite effect. More cost overruns and a final bill exceeding $200 million are possibilities before we get there. Power rates and food -- two of the territory's major cost of living factors -- will hopefully benefit from significant changes in 2011. The standardization of power rates across the territory will mean cheaper electricity for NWT businesses, community governments and a few residents using more than the government subsidy cap. Hopefully cost savings at the commercial and municipal levels will mean lower costs for goods and services and more spending power for community governments. Changes to the Food Mail program -- now Nutrition North -- will mean reduced cost for nutritious foods and staples such as milk, although it has been criticized for increasing the cost of products such as bacon. We encourage consumers to watch closely to ensure stores in their area are passing on the reduced shipping cost. On the athletics front, some sports enthusiasts across the North will be training hard in 2011 in preparation for the 2012 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse. Team NWT will be vying to improve on its third place finish during the 2010 games in Grande Prairie. Sport North will also be looking to match its participation levels from 2008 when the most community athletes represented the territory. We also wish all our athletes the best of luck who are travelling to Halifax for the 2011 Canada Winter Games in February. Our teams usually find themselves in tough when facing the top athletes from across the nation but we always find ways to shine and often have a few surprises up our sleeves.
Learn from Inuit Nunavut News/North - Monday, January 3, 2011 Polar bears. Seals. Narwhal. The list of Nunavut species becoming the focal point of international lobbying efforts is growing. The federal government is bending to the wishes of global conservationists, while largely ignoring the Inuit who have traditionally sustained themselves on these animals and know them best. In the latter stages of 2010, Nunavut harvesters were slapped with a couple of unwelcomed announcements, one being the U.S. threatening to list ringed seals as an endangered species. The other announcement was narwhal tusks from 17 communities could no longer be exported outside the country. That means fewer customers for hunters, who could have supplemented their often modest incomes by a few thousand dollars per tusk. Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the decision to ban the sale of tusks from those communities was made to ensure Canada meets its international obligations, which apparently are to mollify animal lovers from around the world. The alleged concern is that narwhal numbers among certain Nunavut populations are too low. It should be noted that the government is not reducing the quota - 594 narwhal were harvested in 2009; those came from a population of close to 80,000 of the mammals in northeastern Canada. Instead, the government is trying to prevent international trade in ivory tusks. The population figure for narwhal was revised from earlier this year due to a new counting system. Previous estimates were around 30,000 This is reminiscent of the federal government's gaffe in 2008 when it admitted the number of bowhead whales in Nunavut's waters were indeed healthy, just as Nunavummiut had been telling them. In that case the Department of Fisheries, again due to changing scientific methods, revised its estimates from 345 bowheads to an approximately 14,000. Nunavut Tunngavik's newly installed president, Cathy Towtongie, has already taken the feds to task and demanded a reversal of the narwhal tusk decision. She said a court case is an option. Last August, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association was successful in its legal action to prevent seismic testing off of Nunavut's eastern shores. QIA president Okalik Eegeesiak said consultations that had taken place months earlier did not include Inuit in a meaningful way. The same appears true in the narwhal decision, as Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of Nunavut Tunngavik's wildlife department, said Fisheries has not explained its actions. Ottawa does hold a trump card in Article 5 of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement, which states that "government retains the ultimate responsibility for wildlife management." Yet the clause before that one should not be forgotten: "there is a need for an effective role for Inuit in all aspects of wildlife management, including research." There is room for much improvement on that front. Let's insist that 2011 be the year of engaging Inuit in decisions that affect their territory -- they will be the ones bearing the brunt of these decisions
Cancun not the right climate for MLAs Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, December 31, 2010
Little significant news came from the United Nations' latest climate conference in Cancun, Mexico earlier this month, other than reports that delegates had reached yet another non-binding agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Still, climate change is very much on the mind of Northerners. Many want to see the government take some form of action toward negating its effects, whether it be tougher emissions standards or more hydro instead of dirty diesel-powered electricity in the territory. Of course, a call for action does not translate into a blank cheque on spending, especially if it appears pointless and wasteful.
Last year's NWT delegation to the conference in Copenhagen, Denmark had that appearance. With five MLAs and three GNWT bureaucrats, it was hard not to write off them off as just another junket-craving group of politicians and bureaucrats seeking to hobnob with international celebrities and opinion makers.
It seemed hypocritical to send such a large group. If we're trying to fight climate change, and air travel is a major contributor of greenhouse gases, it seemed misguided to send eight people halfway around the world, burning fossil fuels all the way.
In any event, NWT residents hardly got their $55,000-worth for the trip. Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger acknowledged as much in an interview with Yellowknifer last month, when explaining why only one GNWT delegate - director of environment Ray Case - was attending the Cancun conference, on the federal government's dime.
Miltenberger deserves some credit for his tacit admission that Copenhagen proved to be a bust. No doubt, the GNWT needs to be kept apprised of international developments, so it made sense to have Case at the Cancun conference - but we don't need a whole bunch of MLAs soaking up the sun in Mexico for that.
We need our politicians here asking questions of our government on how it intends to fight climate change and adapt to its effects at home, and that's the way it should be.
The decision has been long awaited considering the project's proponents submitted their major application for the pipeline six years ago. Those years have concluded with a green light for the project.
Instead of jubilation and mass celebrations, however, in Fort Simpson at least there's an air of quiet acceptance. The decision is good news, the project is still alive, but there are serious questions about how long that status will be maintained.
A lot of large obstacles stand between the dream of a pipeline and a working conduit for natural gas not the least of which are economic feasibility and the current low price of the commodity. There are also the 200 conditions that the board's approval is dependent on and the thousands of permits.
While some are holding out hope many people are taking a realistic view about the chances of a pipeline bringing economic prosperity to the Deh Cho region. As Fort Simpson Mayor Sean Whelly said, no one is holding their breath.
It's good, therefore, to see groups taking steps to ensure whether or not the pipeline is built they have a plan for their economic future. Dehcho Regional Helicopters is a perfect example.
The 100 per cent aboriginal owned company was formed in 2004 by the investment arms of Acho Dene Koe First Nation, the Fort Simpson Metis Nation, Nahanni Butte Dene Band, Sambaa K'e Dene Band and Jean Marie River First Nation. The organizations wanted to capitalize on the exploration and seismic activities that were taking place.
Since then the company has prospered. In 2008 the business purchased its first helicopter for $1.6 million. The NWT Chamber of Commerce named it the 2010 Business of the Year.
Most recently the company's ownership base has expanded to include the economic arms of Pehdzeh Ki First Nation of Wrigley and Liidlii Kue First Nation of Fort Simpson. Every First Nation in the Nahendeh region is now part of Dehcho Regional Helicopters. The company is an example of what can be achieved when First Nations come together and work co-operatively on a solid business plan. While Dehcho Regional Helicopters would benefit if the Mackenzie Gas Project went forward it has other contracts to supply revenue.
If the optimists are right, however, and the pipeline becomes a reality, strong partnerships like Dehcho Regional Helicopters will allow the region to draw economic benefits from the Mackenzie Gas Project.
You've lived with the pipeline's hope of economic improvement, discussed the possible consequences to the environment and how to leave a smaller footprint on the land for decades.
So if you see me around town, I'd rather hear about the pipeline from you. I've got a lot to learn.
The greatest pleasure of my job is being invited into people's lives and communities. At no time is the honour felt more keenly than at Christmas - a time when communities are in full bloom celebrating family and friends and when I'm missing my own on the East Coast. I had the pleasure of feasting and dancing with you at the Midnight Sun Complex, hearing your songs at the Community Christmas Concert in the lovely igloo church and seeing a thoughtful play at the Baptist Church.
The play, Miracle on Mackenzie Road, discusses the consequences of a future in which the Christmas season has been stripped of religion and how the message of Christ is critical to keep it from becoming just another consumerist holiday.
Christ is inseparable from Christmas.
So are children.
While I'm not qualified to talk to you about God or children (I don't have any), I do know the latter's importance to communities. It's often in something's absence that we see its real value, so with that in mind I'll share a story of Christmas from another coast.
Croque is a community drawing its last breaths among rotting fishing boats at the tip of Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula. Youth left with the cod and two years ago Croque's K-12 school had three students. The principal/teacher/secretary had to join the three boys, aged 10, 11 and 13, to make up a doubles match in the school's main sport - ping-pong.
The wooded and well-protected little harbour, around which the three boys travelled to school by foot and snowmobile, is beautiful and quiet. But one evening a year something very special happens in Croque.
All foot prints and snowmobile tracks lead to the community hall, glowing with light and laughter over a frozen harbour. It's the school Christmas concert and every soul from Croque and neighbouring Grandois, whose residents keep an axe by the pond from which they gather their water, are there.
The boys don disguises as they go through their elaborate skits and warm all hearts in a conspiracy - for one evening they pretend there are more than three boys and they all still live in a busy little harbour where swarms of children jig rock and outnumber the gulls.
It's not true and most return home to remember their children are in Alberta and the proud traditions and culture formed over a century in their little corner have little place in the modern world.
But the play and a few moments of wonderful make believe, crammed shoulder to shoulder in a little hall, is as great a Christmas gift as any.
During final deliberations on the 2011 budget last week, Wind lamented council's apparent inability to influence the budget outcome.
"I can't recall one item that we were successful in shepherding a reduction for," said Wind, who added they have done little better in past years.
Mark Heyck, who's been a city councillor three years longer than Wind and can recall years when there wasn't a tax increase, took aim at Wind and two other dissenting councillors, Paul Falvo and Cory Vanthuyne, for not taking a stand earlier in the year on items such as the new Fieldhouse and Curling Club maintenance costs.
Regardless, no matter how much some councillors argue that budgeting is a year-long process, it's hard to ignore that after three weeks of deliberations, council couldn't find one cent to cut, not from next year's budget nor from the raft of user fee hikes coming into effect Jan. 1.
Coun. Bob Brooks somehow managed to define next year's tax increase as some sort of victory - that we should be happy it's only 3.99 per cent and not 4.2 after council voted in favour of a $50 increase to business licences and a nine per cent hike to tipping fees at the dump.
All councillors applauded administration for presenting them with the aforementioned 3.99 tax increase and not the truly outrageous 7.2 per cent hike predicted during last year's budget deliberations, seemingly forgetting all together that 3.99 per cent is still the second highest property tax increase foisted upon ratepayers since 2005.
Since then, taxes have gone up by a combined 24.57 per cent; spending at city hall has more than doubled to $61 million from $30 million 10 years ago, even though the city's population - at 19,700 - has been at a virtual standstill for the last seven years.
Residents have, by and large, supported most of the building projects in recent years, including the Fieldhouse, the Multiplex, and Somba K'e Plaza, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to rationalize spending that's often two per cent higher than the inflation rate, and with municipal wage hikes that far outstrip those even in the territorial government. At some point city council must say no, if just to safeguard the investments already made.
Was there nowhere council could find savings in next year's budget? Does the city need to spend $35,000 to replace three-year-old cameras in bylaw patrol cars, or hire four more employees? Is there really no other way to fund repairs to the historic Wildcat Cafe, which the city says will cost $500,000 to complete?
If city councillors bristle at the suggestion that they're merely rubber stamping administration's yearly wish list, they ought to do more than rubber stamping budgets and fee increases.
This perception isn't helped when administration goes ahead and announces hikes to garbage and tipping fees before council even has a chance to vote on them. Or, as Brooks did, make preposterous arguments that to do so was necessary so people had "as much notice as possible."
There's a wide void to fill if council colleagues want to prove Wind wrong. Right now council appears as helpless as a babe alone in the woods when it comes to controlling costs and reducing expenses at city hall.
First, valued readers, since this is the final edition of Kivalliq News for 2010, let me wish everyone a very merry Christmas, and peace and prosperity for the new year.
It's hard to believe I'm now starting my 13th year as editor of this newspaper.
It's been my pleasure to serve you since 1998 and, hopefully, there's a few more years remaining in the tank.
I'll see you in 2011.
On another note the excitement was rekindled in Rankin Inlet earlier this month, when members of the consultant group, FSC Architectures and Engineers, leading the feasibility study on an indoor sports and recreation facility, were in the community from Nov. 29 until Dec. 1.
The study will look at a host of issues for the new facility, including the wants and needs of everyone in the community who would use it.
Once completed, the study will also attempt to identify groups interested in partnering with the Nunavut government to develop the facility and a host of other issues, such as site selection, conceptual designs and of course costs, among others.
Representatives from numerous sports and organizations had a chance to meet with the reps to discuss what the complex could house to help support and develop their particular interests.
All in all the experience was very positive, but Rankin residents are reminded of that one key word in all of this - feasibility.
There are few, if any, residents walking around who do not realize the community desperately needs this facility.
And that could be truthfully said under current conditions, let alone taking into consideration the projected growth of the community during the next decade.
But, as we in Nunavut know all too well, need does not always translate into acquisition.
A number of things have to happen for the recreation complex to progress from study to reality, not the least of which are viable partnerships and the hamlet itself taking a lead role.
We've identified the need as a community, and we must pull together as a community to make it happen.
If we wait for others to go the extra mile in making this facility a reality, we'll be waiting a very, very long time.
And that's where the hamlet must play an integral role in leading the quest.
From continued lobbying, to co-ordinating, planning and providing as much capital and in-kind labour as it possibly can, mayor-elect Pujjuut Kusugak, hamlet council and staff members must be front and centre in continually trumpeting the need for, and benefits of, the facility, and identifying sources of revenue it can generate once constructed.
We've seen this project progress from the dream of former administrations to the point where an actual feasibility study is being conducted.
But we can't afford to rest on our laurels.
The community must continue to pound away at the necessity of having such a facility, and be prepared to do anything and everything within its power to make it a reality.
Just as applies to many of those who will eventually use it,
only a real team effort will lead to success.
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