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Good first impressions NWT News/North - Monday, June 13, 2011
Over the past year or so, that entryway into our territory has been given a complete overhaul. More than $1 million - including $150,000 for a new welcome sign -- has been spent to spruce up the first attraction tourists see on their way to the North. Last week, MLAs, park staff, community leaders, residents and passing tourists attended a grand opening for the new facility. Those who News/North spoke to gave glowing praise to the new centre, which replaced one built back in the 1960s. Considering tourism in the NWT rakes in $111 million per year, according to Bob McLeod, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, $1 million is well spent. Regardless of the amount the NWT pumps into tourism advertising, the industry relies heavily on word of mouth. A few good words on a website such as Lonely Planet can attract droves of people to our treasure trove of outdoor wonders. Obviously, a clean and new place to freshen up after hours of driving isn't going to compel thousands of new road trippers to pile into their cars and start the long haul to our borders. But, in the words of McLeod, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. Once through the door into the NWT, our visitors' second and third impressions are of wide-open wilderness, abundant wildlife, and a vast network of streams, rivers and lakes. For any level of outdoors lover, the NWT is vacation paradise. However, our great home is not without its problems. Perhaps the greatest deterrent to RVers and other road warriors is the state of the territory's roads. Fortunately, the NWT has begun work to improve the worst of them, such as Highway 7 - known as the Liard trail. This year, more than $6 million is being spent to upgrade and repair roads in the Deh Cho region, helping to create a stable and easy-to-drive road link to the region. While these road improvements will benefit territorial residents by making travel easier and improving the supply link that brings much needed cargo to communities such as Fort Liard, attracting more tourist traffic does benefit our communities. Tourists bring money for gas, food, supplies and souvenirs. Those are dollars that boost local economies, add bulk to the wallets of small business owners and bring much needed income to our community artists. What's in a price? Nunavut News/North - Monday, June 13, 2011 Grocery retailers North West Company and Arctic Co-operatives along with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), got an earful from Iqaluit residents and Nunavut's MLAs two weeks ago. One of the 60 Iqalummiut who attended the public meeting May 31 brought along two boxes of raspberries. One was bought in Ottawa for $1.67, the other in Iqaluit for $4.99. He asked why he was paying $3 per box of berries for freight. MLAs grilled the retailers in the legislative assembly June 1, looking for an explanation of why the prices for food in Northern grocery stores are so high. Many people think retailers use their monopolies in remote communities to charge unreasonable markups. Nunavummiut want to know what that $3 difference in price between Ottawa and Iqaluit is paying for. They want a breakdown spelling out the cost of the item wholesale, the cost of shipping, the shipping subsidy, the cost of overhead (staff, electricity, rent, maintenance, vehicles, gas) and profit. Nunavut News/North has asked for this in the past, and retailers have refused to provide it, saying it was competitive information. We understand the costs of operating grocery stores in the Arctic are high. There are warehouses to maintain and massive sealift orders to co-ordinate. Labour is not cheap. Electricity rates are skyrocketing in Nunavut. Shipping is expensive. The cost of food itself is rising globally. According to the World Bank, the price of wheat and corn, for example, has risen about 70 per cent since last year. Rising oil prices are pushing food prices even higher. When Nutrition North was being rolled out, transparency was promised. Poster boards informing shoppers what the price was on an item prior to April 1 and what it is now (tomatoes now $12.29 per kilogram in Arctic Bay instead of $12.89), is not showing us what the subsidy is and how it's being applied. It's just a joint public relations campaign on behalf of the retailers and INAC. Nunavummiut want real answers. INAC has promised periodic audits of the new program. These audits need to be done sooner rather than later, and the reports be made public. Public money is being spent to make food affordable for Northerners, and the public has a right to know how much is being spent, where it's being spent and whether it's been effective at bringing prices down. However, is INAC's in-house auditing and evaluation department the best fit for the job? In the past, it hasn't kept up with its monitoring of third parties tasked with delivery of its programs. A 2008 INAC report on the food mail program found it had last audited Canada Post's food mail books in 1994. Considering that dismal record, the responsibility of monitoring the practices of retailers and the overall effectiveness of the Nutrition North program should be removed from INAC and added to the auditor general's list of tasks.
Feds police themselves but fine us Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, June 10, 2011
Erasmus's scepticism was aroused by an order issued by Michael Martin, a water resource officer with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada after an ice dam caused Baker Creek to breach its banks and flow into an old tailings pond at Giant Mine last month. The contaminated water then re-entered the creek channel and flowed into Great Slave Lake. Water samples taken afterwards showed arsenic levels at 10 times the acceptable level for drinking water and 20 times the acceptable level for the protection of aquatic life. The intent of the water resource officer - whose criticism of the breach was unusually harsh to the ears of reporters unaccustomed to such forceful statements coming from a federal bureaucrat - is undoubtedly sincere. But it's hard to ignore that he works for the federal department managing the cleanup of Giant Mine, the same department facing fines of up to $100,000 and a one-year jail sentence per each day of non-compliance should his orders not be followed. Indeed, department communication staff set up Martin's interviews so he could lambaste the department's poor response to the overflowing creek. Martin says it's up to a different department, the Department of Justice, to actually prosecute non-compliance of his orders, but if former owners of the abandoned Giant mine, who left taxpayers on the hook for around $300 million in cleanup costs, can escape prosecution, people should be forgiven for doubting any order from one bureaucrat to another has any real teeth. And what if fines were handed out? Does anybody believe bureaucrats involved in the Giant Mine cleanup will be hauled to jail and forced to pay $100,000 fines? The reality is, much like the $450,000 fine handed to the NWT Power Corporation earlier this year for allowing a dike to breach and destroy fish habitat, it's the public paying the fines when governments get in trouble with the law. Fines aside, Erasmus says a more independent body is needed to monitor the cleanup of Giant Mine. This is a reasonable demand considering the long-lasting impacts this mine site will have on the Yellowknives Dene and residents of this city, even after the cleanup is complete. In 2003, a committee called the Giant Mine Community Alliance was formed to act as a liaison between the cleanup project team and the public. The group has been fairly silent lately and there are three vacancies on it according to the department's website, including two positions set aside for the public-at-large. It seems an opportune time to revive the committee and have the water resource officer working directly for them with all the same powers and authority he has now. That way Yellowknifers can be assured local people are involved in monitoring the Giant Mine cleanup, the federal department can be relieved of the responsibility of policing itself, and the decision to levy fines and penalties will be in the hands of people more mindful of the taxpayers who pay the penalties at the end of the day.
The new guard Editorial Comment Roxanna Thompson Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, June 9, 2011
During the Thomas Simpson School graduation ceremonies, guest speakers, with words of congratulations, urged students to look toward the future. The Deh Cho needs new leaders, was the call. The region needs young people to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and especially leaders to guide the Deh Cho into the future. That message is spoken yearly and with good reason. A glimpse at the band and Metis councils around the Deh Cho quickly reveals that the average age of leaders isn't getting any lower. Many chiefs and presidents are nearing or at the stage where they could be termed elders and the majority of their council members aren't far behind. The age range, in itself, isn't a bad thing. With age comes experience and, in theory, a greater ability to lead. Where things become problematic is that there seem to be few young adults waiting in the wings to be mentored and eventually take over the leadership positions. It's a situation that is readily apparent to the group that is working on the Berger project. Members of the group were either part of the Berger Inquiry staff or the reporters who covered it 36 years ago. Returning to the Deh Cho, they are speaking with some of the residents who spoke before the inquiry and are gathering material to be used in an interactive educational website. The years surrounding the inquiry were a heady time in the territory. In 1969, the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories was formed. Young First Nations people became activists and fought to establish Dene rights and self-rule over lands in the territory they had lived on for thousands of years. In 1973, NWT Supreme Court Justice William Morrow ruled that the Dene had aboriginal rights and hadn't abolished their land rights when signing the treaties. The ruling paved the way for land claim negotiations. Many of the young people who were involved in the Brotherhood became politicians and leaders and many who were part of the leadership in the Deh Cho at the time still are. The same rights, such as control over the land, are still being fought for by the aboriginal groups that need younger, up-and-coming leaders. It seems, however, that the same level of energy and excitement no longer surrounds the issues as it did around the time of the Berger Inquiry. In the end, it might take a loss or infringement of some rights that were passionately fought for to make younger generations pay attention and look to how they can get involved and help lead the Deh Cho towards new goals. Why choose North? Editorial Comment Samantha Stokell Inuvik Drum - Thursday, June 9, 2011
If there ever were a godforsaken community, this would likely be it. You hear the complaints of snow on June 1 and -50 C temperatures. That the bugs will be bad and the night scene worse. It's hard not to fall into the complaining trap. But no one has forced anybody to move thousands of kilometres from family or to stay more than 1,200 kilometres from the nearest Tim Hortons. Joe Clark, the former prime minister of Canada, had an interesting insight about Inuvik's residents. He described Inuvik as an isolated place, but noted the residents don't live as if they're isolated. For the most part, people living here choose to live here and make the most of it. So it snowed on June 1? Awesome, you can fit in one more cross-country skiing trip. Minus 50 C temperatures? Sweet, you can stay warm and huddle inside with a loved one. And who needs Tim Hortons when there's an amazing bakery with freshly made goods just waiting for you every morning? For those that are born here and those that come from away, the job opportunities also prove to be enticing. The advancement, the pay and the unique experiences make even regular jobs an adventure. Whether it's teaching and having an opportunity to visit one of the most remote national parks in Canada, or travelling to all the communities to fix whatever needs fixing; it's practically guaranteed your colleagues in the south won't have the same stories to tell as you. The great thing about the North is that it's not done yet. It's still a work in progress and because of the small size of communities, people actually have a chance to make an impact, no matter how large or small. So you want a bike rack outside of your apartment building? Feel free to e-mail the landlord! You've got a beef with the policy being discussed in the legislative assembly? Type a quick note detailing your qualms to your MLA. He or she will likely discuss it the next day in the assembly. The small population lends itself to a real democracy. Your voice will be heard and your opinion will be taken into consideration. That's what it comes down to. Shouldn't you embrace those little annoying things like bugs, snow and too much sunlight and instead use your complaining voice for positive change? There are fewer bugs, snow and sunlight in more southern locales, so if you can't handle it here, move. No one's making you stay and there's likely someone looking for adventure willing to take your place.
A doggone shame Yellowknifer - Wednesday, June 8, 2011
For alas, no amount of red carpet will be enough to cover the prodigious piles of dog feces accumulating on them since the start of last winter. One would think it to be common sense: owner takes his or her dog out for a walk, watches it do its business, and then swiftly picks up the poop and disposes of it. Unfortunately, as several residents commented in Yellowknifer last week, far too much of the stuff is staying on the ground, and that's bad because it makes some otherwise nice places to go for a walk unbearable to tread. Some owners will remain incorrigible, but many others might be coaxed to pick up after their pets if there were a few more incentives. The city provides bags and disposal bins at several sites around town, including the Range Lake Trail, Tin Can Hill and the dog park behind the curling rink. Yet people still don't pick up after their dogs in these locations. Owners should face steeper fines for dog feces infractions. The maximum fine in Yellowknife is currently $2,000, and only one fine was handed out in the past year, according to Mayor Gord Van Tighem. Higher fines would encourage the city to enforce the bylaw. Amounts should also be posted on trails. Ultimately, doggy etiquette is the responsibility of dog owners. Unfortunately, too many are seeing the forest and not the feces below the trees.
On with the show Yellowknifer - Wednesday, June 8, 2011 Artists in Yellowknife often complain they're overlooked and underfunded when eyeing the money and attention doled out to sports groups in the city. The formation of a board of directors for the Artist Run Community Centre goes a long way to ensuring artists and musicians are seen and heard. ARCC, as its catchy acronym implies, has served as a life vessel for art shows and musical performances ever since opening its doors in the old Pentecostal Church venue on 49 Street in March. In a city where complaints about a lack of suitable venue space are many, the centre's creation is a welcome one, and bound to compliment other local arts and culture groups such as the Aurora Arts Society and Music NWT. That such a large board to ARCC has been elected - 12 directors - is likely good news. It could be argued that having so many people involved in a voting capacity could make the organization difficult to govern, but others with experience in non-profit groups in Yellowknife would likely say it doesn't hurt to have a board with a large and ready body of volunteers to draw upon. Just ask past members of Caribou Carnival, which died this year from a lack of interest. And interest is key. The NorthWords Writers Festival held this weekend for the sixth straight year, and featuring numerous writers from the North and far beyond, was well-received once again. It goes to show that there is room and a desire in this city for art- and culture-related events. People just have to make them happen, as the ARCC board of directors is resolving to do now.
Enjoy the flight while you can Darrell Greer Kivalliq News - Wednesday, June 8, 2011 The Kivalliq region was abuzz with the news of an NHL franchise returning to Winnipeg this past week. Unless the NHL's board of governors drop the mother of all bombshells later this month and refuse to rubber stamp the sale to True North Sports and Entertainment, the 'Peg is back in the game. Of course, that's taking for granted the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers is renamed the Jets. To hardcore fans, to call the team anything but the Jets would be sanctimonious. But, like everything else in modern society, it all comes down to cold, hard cash. If True North decides there's more money to be made in merchandising with a new moniker, that's what will happen and fans be damned. In fact, Winnipeg is an interesting case study in terms of fans. While there's no denying the euphoria surrounding the announcement, hockey fans outside of the city are, really, in a tizzy over having the NHL so close. Most are excited over the chance to see their favourite team, superstars such as Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, or Rankin Inlet's own Jordin Tootoo when Nashville comes to town. They have little interest in Winnipeg, itself, and they're not alone. A good number of today's coddled players have no interest in playing in Winnipeg and that's the truth of the matter. As much as we admire them, we can't forget the majority of players have more money in their bank accounts by their mid-20s than most of us, and our children, will see in a lifetime. And, with the ever-lowering age of free agency, they no longer have to play anywhere they don't want to unless they're traded. A growing number of players are disconnected from the very source of their wealth - the fans. They'd rather play in Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Anaheim and, yes, Nashville, where they face far less media scrutiny and can live their lives in relative anonymity. Playing in a Canadian city means the goldfish-bowl syndrome, with players approached for autographs, photos and chit-chat about the game no matter where they go. Throw in Winnipeg's climate and the perceived lack of high-end amenities and, well, you get the picture. It's not the destination of choice for many of these athletes and, as any Edmonton fan can tell you, their wives or girlfriends. It also remains to be seen if Winnipeg can financially support an NHL franchise. Some reports suggest the team will need every fan at every home game to spend about $102 just to break even. Yes, our loonie is a lot stronger now than the just over 60 cents (US) it was at when Winnipeg lost the Jets. But there's no guarantee it will stay at its present level, and the NHL's salary cap floor is far above what the Jets spent back in the days of free spending. Having the NHL back in Winnipeg is a wonderful thing, but it's not a foregone conclusion it will survive there. The NHL really didn't have any other choice. So go cheer for your team, see the stars, whistle loudly for the Tootoo Train and enjoy it while you can. The Jets have been cleared for a safe landing in Winnipeg, but whether they can truly take off from there remains to be seen.
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