NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Along with being a time to reflect on the past 12 months, the arrival of a new year is also a great opportunity to look ahead.

Brendalynn Trennert, a caribou hair tufter in Hay River, puts up a 2011 calendar on her wall. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Now that it's 2011, residents of the NWT have a variety of hopes and predictions for the upcoming 12 months.

In Fort Smith, Mayor Janie Hobart's hopes for her community in 2011 sound a bit like a New Year's resolution.

"One of the goals that we have is a healthy, active community," she said, noting the town has a new director of community services - Tommy Phillips, who started work in November.

"So I foresee that there will be more programs out there for the community," Hobart said, adding that will include activities for all ages, everything from soccer camps to crib tournaments for people who just want to socialize.

The mayor noted the town will also be doing more work on its parks and playgrounds during the summer.

Hobart said the community will also have a new event this summer - an arts festival just prior to the South Slave Friendship Festival, which focuses on music. The new event will highlight performing arts, such as drama, and visual arts, such as painting, photography and video.

More than 1,000 kilometres to the north, leaders in the Beaufort Delta region have a monumental reason to expect economic gains and positive change in their communities in 2011: the National Energy Board's recent approval of the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline project. Much of the pipeline preparations have focused on Inuvik as the starting point of the project, but Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Merven Gruben is also particularly optimistic. The coastal community is already seeing more activity since the NEB announcement in mid-December and is awaiting similar approval of its long-awaited all-weather highway to Inuvik.

"There's a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built before that gets done - we've been talking about that for awhile - and I think this is the calm before the storm. This is the year to get started," he said. "I really see a lot of positive things happening in this coming year. Everybody should get ready because it's going to get crazy after this."

East of Tuk along the coastline, recently re-elected Paulatuk Mayor Ray Ruben said the community's infrastructure is on his mind - namely shelter. After a series of complaints from residents about lack of sufficient housing and issues with the local Housing Corporation, the community met with Robert McLeod, minister responsible for housing, in August. Ruben says another meeting with the minister is slated for early in the new year.

Despite the "never ending" housing struggle, Ruben emphasized that Paulatuk has come a long way in 2010, with exploration activities through Darnley Bay Resources allowing for more local jobs. The end of 2010 also marked the end of an inaugural year for Paulatuk's first youth centre, which Ruben said has sparked noticeably positive changes in the community's young people.

He said in recent years the community has been working together like never before.

"We've had, more than ever, a fairly active Interagency Committee, with representatives from all the different organizations in town coming together and addressing and discussing local issues," he said. "So that's one of the things we want to keep working at, bringing the community together."

Community togetherness is on Priscilla Haogak's new year's wish list as well.

"I'd like to see a lot more community get-togethers," the newly elected mayor of Sachs Harbour said. "To celebrate and entertain ourselves."

Aside from the celebrations, Haogak said she hopes 2011 will be the year the community can work out a solution with educators to provide more support - ideally a boarding home - to Sachs Harbour students attending high school away from home.

"We live in the 21st century and should not have to be faced with failing students who are intelligent and want an education," she added.

Back in the south, Tom Unka pointed to the upcoming Deninu Ku'e First Nation election in Fort Resolution in February as a major event in the community for 2011.

In addition, he is concerned about a number of environmental issues, such as an old and unused diesel pipeline underneath the community, in his work as environment manager with the Fort Resolution Metis Council.

On a territorial level, Unka noted a number of prominent issues from 2010 will continue on into this year, including the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, devolution and expansion of the Taltson River hydro facility.

In Hay River, Brendalynn Trennert, a caribou hair tufter who creates art under the professional name Inuk, would like the new year to continue the momentum for NWT artists created by the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

"It's going to be pretty hard to beat the 2010 year," said Trennert, who was a featured artist during the very successful cultural part of both the Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver.

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