Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

The federal government needs to tighten its belt, but if it continues to do so around the neck of Environment Canada, it will suffocate the North.

Environment Canada announced earlier this month that 776 positions will be affected by a budget slashing exercise, and a spokesperson for the department told Yellowknifer about 300 jobs would be cut nationally, not saying how many would be cut in the NWT. Then, federal bureaucrats -- acting without permission from their superiors, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- shut down 21 of the territory's 23 water monitoring stations, which detect long-term trends in water quality, and it's from these water bodies where many Northerners get their food and drinking water.

Those monitoring stations have since been ordered reopened, thanks to an uproar from the territorial government. The stations need to stay open. Our health is at risk already, especially in Yellowknife where more monitoring is needed.

Fish from Great Slave Lake are tested annually for contaminants, but only from areas around Hay River, Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e, not near Yellowknife. Other lakes close to Yellowknife are not tested either.

Fish from three lakes in the Deh Cho contain levels of mercury -- a neurotoxin -- high enough that the NWT's chief public health officer warned people earlier this month limit what they eat from those lakes, and to only eat smaller fish.

The many people eating fish from lakes around Yellowknife don't know what is contained within their catches. It's not right.

In addition, much of our weather service for the NWT is provided from Edmonton.

Many here feel it would be more accurate if it was based in the North, but the Environment Canada jobs remain in the south.

Federal cuts can be found elsewhere, as there are bound to be redundancies in its massive bureaucracy, especially in Ottawa.

Jobs can be cut, but the health of Canadians should never be put at risk.

Territorial Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger said he wants to get in writing promises made by federal Environment Minister Peter Kent that water monitoring stations will remain open.

Get them in writing, Miltenberger, and demand more.

The NWT will start the new year off with some new and important road rules.

Residents have about four months to wean themselves off using hand-held devices while driving, thanks to legislation passed by MLAs last week.

The NWT is joining Canada's 10 provinces and the Yukon with this common sense piece of legislation, leaving only Nunavut without it.

Use of a hand-held device while driving, for those who get caught, will mean a $100 fine and three demerit points. Motorists who reach 15 or more demerit points, through any driving offences, will lose their licence for a month.

The wheels have been turning on this amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act since 2009. Just a couple of years ago, Transportation Minister Michael McLeod said driving with cellphones was primarily "an issue in Yellowknife" since more than 20 of the territory's 33 communicates did not have cellphone coverage at the time. Regardless, this view should not have held up this piece of legislation, which should act as a deterrent for drivers who attempt to dial while they should be watching the road.

Cellphone use is increasing in the NWT. As well, people from more remote communities make their way through areas with cellphone service on a daily basis and hand-held radio devices can be used almost anywhere on the roads, making the legislation a territorial issue.

Drivers talking on cellphones are four times more likely to get into a crash, according to the Canada Safety Council, while those who text while behind the wheel are 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision.

A second of distraction while driving at 50 km/h equals about 14 metres of travel. The message is clear: get in the habit of keeping your eyes on the road and your mind on the task at hand. A lot can happen in a second or two, and it can impact the rest of your life.

Nunavut's education system needs to stop hindering its students.

Offering high school students a list of elective courses and only a few academic courses isn't assisting them in gaining the basic knowledge or requirements they need to further their education. It's actually placing a barrier between them and post-secondary school. It forces graduates to take extra exams or upgrading courses just so they meet the admission requirements for degree, diploma or certificate programs down south.

This isn't news. In 2009 Nanulik MLA Johnny Ningeongan told the legislative assembly that his constituents were concerned a high school education in the territory isn't adequately preparing students for post-secondary school. At that time, he called on Nunavut's government to take immediate action.

Well, it's two years later and still students are struggling and so are their families. Parents are now either forced to send their kids south to get a proper high school education or they're paying for upgrading, since it's not covered by Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students. In other cases, parents don't know the difference and their children aren't going on to post-secondary school at all.

In June, First Canadians, Canadians First: The National Strategy on Inuit Education was unveiled in Ottawa. One of the 10 strategies outlined in the report is to increase the success of students in post-secondary school.

It's a great plan, but in order to get students to the point of even entering school, you have to provide them with courses that meet the admission requirements. After providing the academic courses needed for admission into colleges and universities, high school teachers and administrators need to encourage their students to pursue the academic route.

They shouldn't be allowed to do the bare minimum because the bare minimum isn't helping anyone.

Students that are really passionate about furthering their education will jump through the extra hoops to upgrade or do the necessary entrance exams - although they shouldn't have to, they will. But the students who are on the fence about post-secondary likely won't go that extra mile. They'll decide it's not worth their time, and that's a huge loss to the territory.

Although post-secondary school in most cases requires students to leave the territory, it also means that those youth have the opportunity to return home with new skills and knowledge they can use to better their communities.

Whether they study to become teachers, engineers, nurses, doctors or social workers, they will be able to make a meaningful contribution to the territory.

An educated territory is a successful territory.

It's time the Government of Nunavut and the Department of Education take a closer look at the education being provided in Nunavut, so the territory's youth get the proper education they both deserve and need to move on to post-secondary school and a successful future.

The deaths of 12 people Aug. 20 in a 737 crash in Resolute were met with shock and grief across the North this past week.

But after grounding its planes Saturday, First Air resumed flights Sunday, because communities depend on those flights to move people and supplies where they're needed.

The reality in the North is that every one of us will be getting on a plane or know someone who will be getting on a plane in the days and weeks ahead. Here, air travel is not a choice; it's a necessity.

In July alone the Iqaluit airport logged more than 2,347 takeoffs and landings, and in May Resolute logged more than 200, making both airports very busy for the size of their respective communities.

The good news is that fatal aircraft accidents are rare, though obviously not rare enough.

From 2001 to 2009, the latest year for which annual statistics are available, there were no fatal accidents involving a Canadian passenger airline like Air Canada or WestJet.

What went wrong in Resolute is being investigated by the Transportation Safety Board. Any recommended changes that come out of the investigation should help make flying even safer.

Brad Mapes has a vision - one that would produce up to 60,000 tonnes per year of wood pellets to heat buildings across the NWT.

That may sound like fiction to some, but it's an idea worth considering. Mapes, a Hay River resident, isn't even looking for taxpayers' dollars to get this $8.5-million business venture off the ground. He says he will finance the enterprise himself, with assistance from the banks.

Cutting down trees would employ 40 to 50 people seasonally while 25 to 50 people would work at the mill throughout the year, Mapes told News/North.

Mapes isn't a novice in business circles, which is another plus.

He is the owner of Wesclean Northern Sales, a multi-faceted operation his father, John, started in Hay River in 1975. He also owns Aurora Decorating Sales in Yellowknife.

There's just a matter of permitting to overcome. That will not be easy, unless there's support from the NWT's aboriginal groups.

Mapes said his plan would involve five First Nations and he has approached them, and initial response has been positive.

"They need to play a big part in the operations," he said.

This is essential. Not only must aboriginal groups give their approval for timber to be harvested and ensure replanting doesn't leave the NWT's southern forests too depleted, they must realize the benefits of secure jobs, contracts and profit sharing.

That's the only way a forest industry is going to take root in our territory.

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association's truth commission spent nearly two years listening to the recollections of elders in the Baffin region, including the High Arctic and Sanikiluaq. The commission's report was released almost a year ago and is worth reading, especially for the oral history.

Taken as a whole, the elders' experiences reflect a common theme of families and seasonal communities coerced into leaving their homes for the questionable benefits of living in large, permanent settlements. As their camps and belongings were often burned soon after they left, and sled dogs slaughtered, they went from providing for themselves to being dependent on others and the government for food and shelter.

The QIA should be lauded for documenting these stories while the elders who lived them are still with us, and Qikiqtani schools should make use of them in teaching the 20th century history of Inuit and how the communities we live in today came to be.

The territorial government is extending a helping hand for those who want to quit smoking but don't want to pay for it.

It's the right thing to do, especially with about 36 per cent of people in the NWT being smokers, and no significant change in the quit rate over the past few years.

On Aug 12, the GNWT announced it will cover the cost of up to three months of nicotine replacement therapies or smoking cessation prescription drugs per year for residents through general health-care benefits. Up until now, these specific benefits were only available to those with extended health benefits.

Yet this government assistance for those dependent on tobacco should have been on the radar earlier. The smoking cessation platform could well have been included three years ago when the GNWT proposed a change in supplementary health-care benefits to cover those without supplementary health benefits or third-party coverage.

Cost is a factor in why such anti-smoking methods haven't been more successful, although the cost pales in comparison to $15 daily for a pack-a-day smoker.

Nicotine gum costs close to $13 a pack and it's $36 for a week's worth of the patch. Reducing those prices to nil through NWT health benefits will add an incentive for more Northerns to attempt to kick this nasty and dangerous habit.

The money invested in these therapies and prescription drugs for the masses will pay for itself in time. Illnesses related to cigarette smoking -- like lung, throat and mouth cancers, cardiovascular disease and worsened asthma and bronchitis - drive up costs for the territory's health-care system.

The GNWT is getting more serious about helping smokers quit, wanting to see a healthier population, and stop money from being thrown at illnesses and care that could be avoided.

Anyone who holds an NWT health card and wants to butt out should take full advantage of this offer from the territorial government.

Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger says his government will consider an independent watchdog to oversee the cleanup of Giant Mine.

His pronouncement comes a couple months after Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus called for the creation of an independent body to monitor the cleanup of the mine site, which is stuffed full of deadly arsenic trioxide. The cleanup is under the complete care and control of the federal government, save the GNWT's token $27 million investment toward that goal, which is estimated to require up to $300 million to complete.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley, who, like many in this city, questions the federal government's will to lay down the law should it be negligent in its clean-up of Giant Mine.

The Giant Mine cleanup and the monitoring of that cleanup are both being handled by the same department: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AAND).

The absurdity of this situation came to a head in May after Baker Creek, which flows through the mine site, overflowed into a tailings pond.

A cross-looking water resource officer with AAND insisted he'd press charges if it were to happen again. But does anyone really expect a bureaucrat to throw other bureaucrats in jail?

The only people who get punished in these situations are taxpayers after the department hands itself a six-figure fine.

Miltenberger told the legislative assembly that, as minor as its role in the cleanup may be, the GNWT may also be in a conflict of interest. All the more reason why the federal and territorial government departments involved should leave monitoring to someone else - a body that will be less concerned about making a show of affixing blame after something bad happens, and more worried about preventing it before it does.

We previously suggested revamping the somewhat defunct Giant Mine Community Alliance, and having the water resource officer work for it.

An election is coming up so it's doubtful much will come before then. But Yellowknife MLA candidates should be front and centre with this issue so they can hit the ground running once the campaigning is over and the governing begins.

Pehdzeh Ki First Nation recently organized an event that should set an example for other Deh Cho communities.

This year, the Wrigley band combined a culture camp with an early fall hunt. The event was something new. While the band has organized both culture camps and fall hunts in the past, this is the first time the two have been combined. It was really a perfect pairing with multiple benefits.

Culture camps, as anyone who has attended one knows, always involve a lot of teachings about traditional foods and their preparation.

By combining a camp and a hunt, the band created a supply of fresh traditional food.

Even better for the hunters was the fact that the camp participants wanted to help clean and prepare the meat from the five young bull moose that were shot. This sharing of labour freed the hunters from some of the work that they would normally have to do themselves during a hunt.

As a combination of a camp and a hunt, the event was the perfect medium for cultural practices and traditional teachings to be passed through. Both hunters and elders were able to share traditional teachings about the lake, which has long been a favoured area for harvesting, with younger members of the band.

Youth also had the chance to watch and participate in a number of activities including dry fish- and dry meat-making, berry-picking and moose hide preparation. It was an all-inclusive learning experience.

While the dissemination of traditional knowledge was an incredibly important part of the event, so too was the social aspect.

The event brought together the whole spectrum of Wrigley residents, from elders to young parents to children. A total of 36 people participated in the event, a considerable number given the size of the community. The isolated location of the camp, Blackwater Lake, meant that once participants arrived by floatplane or helicopter, they were committed to staying there for at least nine days. This made the event stronger because people were fully involved in the activities during the camp and in sharing them with others.

All of the communities in the Deh Cho have fall hunts but many aren't formalized. In most cases, hunters and sometimes their families go out to their own cabins and do their own things. There is merit to that approach but the fall hunt can become so much more when community members are brought together like in the case of Pehdzeh Ki's event.

Moving the focus of the hunt away from bagging moose and toward sharing traditional knowledge and strengthening community ties will benefit individuals, communities and the region.

If you ever had the pleasure of being outside the Mad Trapper past 2 a.m. this summer, or any other summer for that matter, you will know that a few things are almost guaranteed to happen.

There would be, without a doubt, hoards of patrons at varying stages of intoxication wolfing down smokies and cheeseburgers at Ready Red's. Some would lose ketchup to their shirts, pants and the sidewalk in the process.

There would be, at the very least, a dozen lit cigarettes (plus some other things) filling the air with smoke. Those without cigarettes might be trying in vain to bum one off of someone else.

There would be a fleet of taxis jockeying for prime real estate to nab tipsy clients and, last but not least, there would be, without fail, drunk people heading to their cars with keys in their hands.

Lucky for us, the RCMP has been catching some of them.

In July they laid 13 impaired driving charges. In June they laid another 13 and in May they laid 12. Their total for 2011, not counting August, is 62.

These numbers leave something to be desired, though.

I'm sure everyone, not just the one Inuvik resident who spoke up in this week's paper, has a story about a friend, an acquaintance or stranger who got behind the wheel while intoxicated.

It's common practice here and almost, I would venture to say, an accepted practice.

It's not uncommon to hear the words, "It's not that far of a drive" or "I don't want to have to go back to pick my truck up in the morning," and it's not uncommon for a designated driver to have had one too many.

The question is, will the next story to come out be on what's being done to stop it, or will it be about the tragic death of someone struck and killed by a drunk driver?

It's not fair to just blame the drivers who chose to get behind the wheel drunk, or just the cops whose job it is to catch them once they're on the road. Friends have to start giving their friends grief for driving impaired so the community doesn't have to face the consequences.

It's one thing to indulge in your vices on a Saturday night, and another thing to put the lives of other people in danger just because you don't want to pay for a cab or walk the 15 minutes it takes to get home safely.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.