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You are worth $27,000
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Everyone who was a resident of the Northwest Territories in 2001 knows that year's census was a disaster.

Some 4,800 residents - more than 10 per cent of the population -- remained off the census list after Statistics Canada reported the territory's population at 37,600. The mistake was attributed mainly to inexperienced census takers hired from down south who were unfamiliar with NWT communities, where streets and addresses are not always clearly defined.

Indeed, there are dozens of homes on side roads and bush trails along the Ingraham Trail and Highway 3 that would be difficult to find if one didn't know about them.

A proper census count is crucial to the territorial government's ability to fund programs and services. Every person counted in 2001 represented $17,500 in federal grant money; that amount has now climbed to $27,000.

Stats Canada appeared to have done a much better job with the census in 2006, but at least one reader has already complained her home address is missing from the bureau's data base, and can't complete her form.

The importance of an accurate count to the GNWT's budget means it's critical residents make sure they've been counted.

If 10 people shrug off their duty, it costs the rest of us $270,000. Make sure your neighbour gets counted. Make doubly sure you and your family get counted.


Essential service or frill?
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The recently-suspended midwifery program was popular in Yellowknife, and those protesting its suspension have reason to do so.

But with a health budget consistently in the red and a fully-staffed hospital, is it something Yellowknife absolutely needs right now?

Yellowknife's lone midwife saw 36 patients in 2009. The position cost the GNWT $116,000 per year or just over $3,000 per mother. For a position that monitors the health of expectant mothers, provides counselling, offers prescriptions and help care for the newborn, this seems like good value for those dollars.

However, with the health budget already stretched thin over the department, and a hospital staffed with nurse practitioners, obstetricians, and physicians, midwifery staff could be seen more as a frill than an essential service.

Two midwives remain in Fort Smith, a community far from a facility like Stanton Territorial Hospital. This is where the midwife is most valuable, and perhaps the outlying communities is where the program should have its focus, if it does continue.

A study to determine the exact health and economic benefits of the program is necessary to warrant its existence in a health care system struggling to climb out of debt.

Though the study currently being taken by the GNWT costs nearly as much as funding for the position, its results should be valuable to the next legislative assembly.

If there is a sound benefit, both in maintaining health standards and creating efficiencies, to having the program in Yellowknife, and across the NWT, by all means it should be kept alive.

However, if it is not saving the government money and is not proving itself absolutely necessary, it may not make sense to offer it as a government service in every region.


Time for less thumping and more signing
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, May 25, 2011

When it comes to replacing words with action in the Arctic, WikiLeaks helped confirm what many of us have felt for a very long time.

Most of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's talk about Canadian Arctic sovereignty is little more than chestthumping to win votes.

The observation, from the American Embassy in Ottawa, was contained in a diplomatic cable sent under the signature of Ambassador David Jacobson this past year.

It concluded the Tories have made successful political use of promises to beef up Canada's presence in the Arctic, but the Harper government has done scant implementation on pledges like increasing surveillance over the Northwest Passage.

It's hard to argue with the ambassador's contention promises of armed icebreakers and Arctic Ocean sensors made in 2006 have long since been forgotten.

The cable also claims Harper did not bring up the topic of the Arctic once during several hours of meetings with Jacobson in 2010.

If true, that's hardly the behaviour one would expect from a prime minister who regales himself with useitorloseit rhetoric when it comes to Canada's North.

Knowing the number of countries drooling over the prospect of an open-to-all Northwest Passage (Uncle Sam included) -- and/or gathering 'evidence' to stake a claim to Arctic property - this is not the type of approach that instills confidence in those who happen to call the North home.

Throw in the fact the opening of the longpromised Nanisivik Naval Facility on Baffin Island has been pushed back to at least 2016, and there's nary a new fixedwing searchandrescue plane to be seen overhead, and one gets the impression our government isn't exactly chomping at the bit to heighten its presence up here, military or otherwise.

Now that the Tories have a majority government, we should find out in short order if Arctic sovereignty truly is important to the country, or just to the Conservatives when they need to garner enough votes from the naive among us to retain power.

There's no arguing the fact any number of issues can delay a construction project in the North.

And, there's no denying the search-and-rescue treaty being signed by the Arctic Council should help strengthen Canada's sovereignty claims in the North and help in the event of a major Arctic disaster.

But four Twin Otters in Yellowknife and Buffalo or Hercules aircraft sitting in Winnipeg or Trenton, Ont., are still not adequate in responding to the needs of a growing Arctic population, especially in Nunavut.

There's been a lot of talk about a lot of improvement in the North for a decade, but talk still remains a cheap commodity on this planet.

Harper spokesperson Andrew MacDougall can claim the Tories have backed up their talk with action all he wants.

And maybe he thinks stating Northern operations can be challenging is telling us something we don't know.

But, at the end of the day, we need less chest-thumping and more cheque-signing to see tangible improvements in the North.

Harper should be quite familiar with the problem of hoarding cheques.

No matter how much you try to protect them, if you don't use them, you often lose them.


Send money soon
NWT News/North - Monday, May 23, 2011

Costs are piling up in Norman Wells as the town fights to keep natural gas flowing in the community.

Cut off from its gas supply the town has had to fly in propane and a new system to help keep the heat on. Financially, the situation is far more than the community of 800 can handle.

With a 2011 balanced budget of a little more than $5 million, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, to manage the situation is well beyond the community's means.

Although exact costs have yet to be announced, Mayor Dudley Johnson told News/North earlier this month the bill for supplying propane to Norman Wells for 21 days during regular maintenance periods at the oilfield in past years has cost the town almost $370,000.

As of Friday, the shutdown reached its 21st day and Johnson initially told News/North the community's reserves of natural gas would only last a maximum of eight days.

It was only quick thinking and a lucky break - primarily pressing old, unused fuel storage tanks into service that fortunately held up to standards -- that has prevented the situation from becoming much worse.

Just the same, the town itself is at the mercy of third parties. Norman Wells can claim no fault in the break of the Rainbow Pipeline, owned by Plains Midstream Canada. The rupture in that pipeline allowed more than 4.4 million litres of oil to spill in northern Alberta and caused the closure of the line, which halted the supply of fuel from Norman Wells. Now, concerns with other portions of the Rainbow Pipeline and the Slave Lake, Alta., fire have delayed repair and cleanup efforts, which means it is uncertain when the gas will be turned back on.

For the time being, Norman Wells will be forced to pick up the bill until compensation from other levels of government comes through. In the past that has proven frustrating for other NWT communities.

Hay River knows first-hand what it is like to endure a lengthy wait for emergency compensation. Following the 2008 flood, which caused widespread damage on Vale Island and the Hay River Reserve, victims were still waiting for compensation a year later. Similarly, Fort Good Hope had difficulties following a 2005 flood which caused $1 million worth of damages.

Johnson told News/North last week it could take up to two years for the community to receive compensation. Mayor Dudley Johnson said the situation is costing the town $15,000 per day - plus the cost of fuel . That means after nine weeks the town will have spent more than one-fifth of its total budget. Using up $1 million from any community budget so early in the fiscal year is a devastating blow.

That is money taken away from routine services and funds, and the town will be in a terrible position when unexpected events happen in the future.

Members of the community are in a state of panic according to Jim Ulch, manager of the Heritage Hotel. It's a reaction that is to be expected; it's obvious to everyone there is only so much financial burden the town can manage before it runs out of resources.

We expect our territorial government to step in to ensure the gas stays on in Norman Wells but it must take that step soon.

Two years is too long to make the people of Norman Wells wait for reimbursement for this emergency. A relief package must be in place in months, if not weeks. If not, when the current state of emergency is resolved, the community may not have the finances to cover the cost of doing business.

That would be a second disaster for the town, and one it should not have to face.


Piqqusilirivvik a valuable teaching tool
Nunavut News/North - Monday, May 23, 2011

The official opening of the Piqqusilirivvik learning facility in Clyde River may mark a turning point in cultural pride. Its establishment acknowledges traditional knowledge and traditional ways of learning are as important as conventional schooling in the lives of Inuit.

Culture is passed on not only through what you learn, but how you learn it. Piqqusilirivvik is not a conventional school, with classrooms and desks and chalkboards. Elders and students will live together in the same building for a substantial length of time, away from distractions. Elders will teach by example and students will learn through observation and practice. Language, philosophy and customs will be passed on through demonstrating traditional skills. This adds up to a thorough grounding in what it means to be Inuit.

At the centre's opening celebrations, Miriam Aglukkaq of Gjoa Haven described it as "a place for Inuit who have forgotten their Inuit ways."

Settlement, relocation, church missionaries, residential schools and satellite TV are among some of the factors that have played a part in eroding traditional Inuit culture. Piqqusilirivvik is a step towards shoring up its banks.

The 2,200-square-metre building contains sewing rooms, a gathering hall, a library, and a food preparation room which doubles as a skin preparation room, complete with a walk-in freezer and stainless steel surfaces. Elders will serve as instructors, advisers and student counsellors.

Its first group of 26 students from various communities will arrive in late August or early September. They will live and work with 14 staff.

The Knud Rasmussen folk school in Sisimut, Greenland, established in 1962, was used as a model, and the principal of that school as well as other Greenlandic dignitaries, attended Piqqusilirivvik's opening.

During the breaks between semesters in summer and winter, the Knud Rasmussen school opens its dormitory to tourists and offers short cultural programs. An arrangement like that at Piqqusilirivvik may help offset some of the operating costs associated with the facility.

Becky Kilabuk, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association's youth representative, said at the opening ceremony she has met many youths who feel they are on the outside looking in at their culture and "do not have a strong sense of who they are."

While this centre is a valuable tool in the fight against this kind of cultural disconnect, youth don't have to travel to the $23 million facility in Clyde River to spend time with elders and observe how they do things. Elders are in every community and they are the territory's most valuable repository of knowledge. It just takes a willingness to turn off your iPod and brush up on your Inuktitut.


Seize the advantage
Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 20, 2011

The GNWT's new ownership of two diamond processing plants needs to go hand in hand with a firm strategy on re-opening these plants; specifically, ensuring these plants have an adequate supply of rough diamonds.

Since the diamond industry sprouted from NWT kimberlite, the GNWT has been operating on seemingly nothing more than a handshake to ensure that 10 per cent of rough diamonds are set aside for Yk polishing plants by the three mining companies - BHP Billiton, De Beers and Rio Tinto.

Though these multi-national corporations have given back to the North in many ways -- through generous charitable donations, sponsorships, taxes and jobs -- they have paid little heed to the non-legally binding agreement to supply the NWT with 10 per cent of rough diamonds.

Last fall, Yellowknife city councillors and some MLAs heaped a considerable amount of blame on the GNWT for not doing enough to provide an environment for diamond plants to thrive, and losing its steam on marketing Northern diamonds to the world.

With the recent creation of an advisory board for Northern diamond manufacturers to feed ideas to the government on marketing strategies, it is possible more headway will be made on promoting Northern gems.

The GNWT's revised diamond strategy also places, as its first clause, a requirement of future mines to only be approved when agreements are in place to guarantee a portion of rough diamonds are set aside for NWT diamond manufacturers. This needs to be strictly enforced by offering a Northern advantage, especially with the possible future opening of the Gahcho Kue mine.

Industry Minister Bob McLeod said the newly-acquired plants will be available to all bidders. HRA Investments Ltd., the parent company of Crossworks, the only plant left standing after four other plants on Diamond Row shut down, has already expressed some interest in the facilities.

The GNWT cannot back down in making sure a plentiful supply of diamonds is available to Northern manufacturers at affordable prices so the secondary diamond industry can kick back into full gear.


Niven 'cash grab' a good plan
Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 20, 2011

Two years ago city council approved a 12 per cent subsidy on 31 lots in Phase VII of the Niven Lake subdivision out of fear the lots couldn't be sold at their full base price.

Until now, multiple bidders pursuing the same property paid the base price set by the city after having their name drawn from a hat. Now the city wants to sell the remaining 11 high-end lots to the highest bidder, subsidy still intact. The base price for these lots range from $116,800 to $193,000.

But the good news here, as Mayor Gord Van Tighem has explained to Yellowknifer, is that the city intends to put any extra cash made from bids higher than the base price toward paying down the subsidy on Phase VII - thereby relieving at least some of the burden borne by the taxpayer.

The projected revenue for Phase VII is expected to come in at just under $11 million but construction costs are expected to total $12.4 million, which means the subsidy is covering nearly $1.5 million - a substantial sum. We can only hope these lots collect a good profit, considering the city's lack of confidence when the subsidy was adopted.

City councillor Cory Vanthuyne calls the latest sales scheme a "cash grab," which it would be if the city was spending the extra cash somewhere else, such as buying more computers for city hall or hiring more staff. Or, if the sales method was being applied to land designated for affordable housing, since a higher purchase price would counter council's goal of making sure people who can't buy a monster home can at least purchase a reasonably affordable one.

It's therefore critical that city council holds Van Tighem to his word that the money paid above the base price goes to paying off the subsidy and not to increasing the cost of living.


Progress, at least
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, May 19, 2011

In Fort Providence the announcement the Deh Cho Bridge's completion will likely be delayed wasn't ground breaking news.

According to Deh Cho leaders, it wasn't hard to see it coming. Sure the trusses on the north side of the bridge were placed across the piers during the winter but that was the only visible sign of progress. There were no signs of the trusses for the south side or the pylons and cables that were supposed to be on both ends before break-up. The structure looks a bit more like a bridge and less like a giant abstract art instalment but just barely.

News of the potential delays that could push construction into the spring and possibly summer of 2012 shouldn't surprise residents of the wider territory either. The project hasn't exactly been going smoothly up to this point.

The bridge has been rife with controversy and accusations of mismanagement from the beginning of construction. There was the required re-design in 2009 that caused a delay followed by the removal of ATCON as the general contractor at the end of that year. The territorial government took over the project in April 2010, and the $182 million bill.

Further warning about the project came this March when Sheila Fraser, Canada's auditor general, tabled a full audit of the bridge in which she stated that she wouldn't be surprised if the bridge exceeded its budget. The Department of Transportation, she noted, had not addressed what would happen if the bridge opened late.

So where does the delayed completion leave the unsurprised residents of the territory?

As Mayor Raymond Bonnetrouge of Fort Providence pointed out there isn't much that can be done. Residents and community governments can't affect the course of work.

Residents, therefore, are more or less left to sit back and watch the unfolding drama and shelve any plans for driving across the bridge this November.

While residents can't make the bridge go up any faster, they can take a close look at who they think is responsible for the delays. This is a valid question given the upcoming territorial election.

The choices include voting for a change in elected officials on the grounds that the territorial government hasn't done a great job in managing the bridge nor keeping the project on track.

Conversely, voters could take the opinion that the responsibilities for the delays lay elsewhere, with the steel manufacturers and that it was out of the government's hands. In that case, it may be better to keep MLAs in place who are familiar with the project.

Either way, progress is still being made on the largest public infrastructure project undertaken in the NWT although the completion date is anyone's guess.


Loving the green
Editorial Comment
Samantha Stokell
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, May 19, 2011

In just a few weeks, Inuvik's greenhouse will be a truly magical place, a paradise, an Eden if you will, full of greenery, blooms and fresh vegetables.

Its harvest will feed families, decorate homes and provide an escape for the gardeners, who have already started turning over the soil and even planting in their plots.

With the commercial greenhouse selling 'edibles and bedibles' to the wider community and workshops ready to teach those wanting to know a bit more, the greenhouse is for more than just the existing members.

But before it was a greenhouse, it was a hockey arena and part of the Grollier Hall residential school system. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's national event in Inuvik at the end of June, greenhouse board members plan to make the greenhouse available to residential school survivors.

Through set times or tours, the survivors can view the facility and see the way it has been transformed, as the building could otherwise hold horrible memories for them.

Hopefully the garden will give them a quiet place away from all the other events, where they can sit and contemplate, calm themselves or simply enjoy the beauty and healing powers that nature provides.

For all the beauty Inuvik may hold once the snow melts, there's something to be said for greenery and nature. Studies have shown that even landscape photos have a way to calm people, de-stress them.

If you're feeling the stress yourself, what with the big puddles, melting snow and mud, take yourself over to the greenhouse. Visit the commercial greenhouse upstairs and enjoy the blossoms already in bloom. After months and months (and months) of snow, it's a joy and a shock to see so much green in one place.

Enjoy it, and reap the benefits of having such a fantastic facility right in your own community.

The future is yours, grads

Congratulations to all the Aurora College Grads.

You've worked hard and it really is an accomplishment that you completed your studies. You had the strength, courage and energy to choose a step towards your future and you are now on your way.

In a sense, the real commencement was when you applied to Aurora College. That was when you started choosing where you would go next.

Chances are you learned lessons in school that were not included in your textbooks.

Keep learning every day and take advantage of all the opportunities that come along. You never know what adventures will come your way or where they will take you.

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