Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

There's no doubt Les Rocher and his Homes North company have played a critical role in bringing affordable housing to Yellowknife.

More than a few people over the years, including some on city council, have complained about the perceived lack of aesthetic appeal of his modular homes and his "blast and build" development methods.

What was forgotten amid all this high-mindedness was how tight the real estate market was in January 2005.

The situation was so dire council was forced to rezone Phase VI to allow Homes North to lay down its steel-framed homes on about 60 lots there. Many people in the city were angry at council for that, especially after a Supreme Court ruling the year before determined that the city's development appeal board erred in allowing changes to the development scheme without council approval. There was a feeling that the city was bending the rules while sacrificing development standards to push through Phase VI.

Despite the initial outcry, Phase VI worked out reasonably well in the end. The homes sold quickly, mainly because it gave home buyers a lower priced option in a tight real estate market. Certainly, the housing situation would have been a lot worse had Rocher and his supply of pre-fabricated homes not been around to meet the demand. Bearing this in mind, consider Homes North's latest request for a subsidy to build a new modular home subdivision near Kam Lake with 178 lots.

The city calculates Homes North's subsidy request at $3.8 million, more than triple that offered for Niven Phase VI. The request includes $700,000 for parks and trail development, $685,000 for off-site tie-ins for water infrastructure from Bourque Drive and Demelt Crescent, $650,000 to install power lines underground, and $1,850,000 for paving, curbing and sidewalks.

Homes North is required to pay for all of this under the city's new land administration bylaw, passed into law in October of last year, which states all new development in the city must proceed under a policy of full-cost recovery.

This means that every inch of asphalt, and every sewer pipe and power line installed in a development is paid for by the developer, who presumably would pass the cost on to whoever buys these properties.

It wasn't too long ago that the city did provide subsidies, and naturally Homes North would like to see a return to that arrangement. Homes North can argue with certainty that full cost recovery will lead to higher purchase prices for its modular homes, possibly putting them out of the reach of modest home buyers. The city will argue that the subsidy adds an unfair tax burden to Yellowknife ratepayers, a more than 17 per cent increase, according to the city's figures.

While there was a 12 per cent "transitional" subsidy in place for Phase VII of Niven Lake, the cat is already out of the bag on full cost recovery.

Highstreet Developments' Copper Sky Niven Heights project on School Draw Avenue and in Phase VII were built with full cost recovery, and both projects - consisting of rowhousing and condo units in the $200,000 to $330,000 range - are selling like hotcakes.

For city council to give Homes North a subsidy now would put the city in an impossible position with Highstreet Developments and any other developer who's already proceeded under full cost recovery.

This may put a wrench in Rocher's plans for Kam Lake, but council will lose all credibility if it begins fiddling with development rules it struggled long and hard to pass, despite the above-noted past contribution of our homegrown developer.

Are boys in the Deh Cho being left behind?

That questioned was posed to me over the weekend and although I'm unsure of the answer and its implications, I do know that across the NWT girls and women have more support than ever before.

There was the territory-wide Family Violence Awareness Week. There are prenatal classes, classes for new mothers and in nearly every school, girls are edging out boys academically.

We have had a Status of Women Council of the NWT since 1990, but in those 21 years its counterpart hasn't been formed. Why is that?

The reverse argument is that family violence rates in the NWT are still five times the national average. Three out of four single parents in the territory are women, according to the council, and just two out of our 19 MLAs are women – so why not give girls everything that we can give?

There are enough programs out there; men just need to take advantage of them.

What I say is this: the social problems that plague our communities are fueled by drugs and alcohol, among other things, and we need strong men and women working together to combat them.

There is a need for more shelters, and more protection for families escaping family violence, but there is also a need for a place for the boys to go.

This year's theme for Family Violence Awareness Week was "Calling all men to stand with us! Stop family violence" – but some men need help standing.

On Saturday nights is there a place to turn -- to gather and hang out and talk -- that isn't the bar, the Xbox or the bingo card? The result is that so many men, too many of them, are ending up in trouble and in jail.

After spending an hour at a judo class for students in grades 4 to 7 in Fort Simpson on Saturday morning, it was clear to me that there needs to be more programs created that are catered to boys.

There were girls that attended the class too, and they thrived, but it was amazing seeing how the boys reacted to the activities. They got to play, wrestle, jump around and be horrendously rowdy. There was a strong, kind, male role model there to guide them, and they were in heaven.

I don't know where the solution lies, but I can guess it starts with men. Take initiative, be a role model, volunteer in your community and, perhaps above all else, have the courage to ask for help.

The safety net we've created to support women in the territory is far from perfect, but it's come a long way. Now is the time for us to start helping men.

By the time this paper comes out, the cabinet and premier of the 17th legislative assembly should be selected.

Just prior to Inuvik Drum's press deadline, Yellowknife MLA Bob McLeod was chosen as premier and Nunakput MLA Jackie Jacobson was named Speaker.

We, the public, don't know who voted for who and their reasons why. It's not really clear why this secretive process is such a sacred tradition or why we, the public, can't choose our leader.

Some MLAs have argued that if the public trusted them enough to elect them, shouldn't they trust them enough to choose a leader from among them? That kind of misses the point, however. This is a democracy, or so we like to think. We should be able to choose our own leader.

With party politics, we know if we support this party, then that corresponding person will be the leader.

The candidate can represent territorial or national views as well as local interests.

Inuvik was lucky in the last election that Floyd Roland, from Inuvik, represented the territory. We knew he would always have a little compassion for the Beaufort Delta.

It did work in our favour, but now what? Premier Bob McLeod is not from our area. How will we know that he'll represent us up here?

That's an argument for the current system. If the vote went to the public, wouldn't Yellowknife candidates automatically win because of its population?

Who knows, but that's not really the point. The point is that something is wrong with the system. The constituents, the people, are not happy about it. According to an online poll on the Inuvik Drum website, 72 per cent of respondents want to see the premier on the ballot next to the candidates.

This next assembly should take a look at the election process and what changes they could make, although the likelihood of that happening isn't so positive.

The process worked for them. All we ask for now is to make the process more transparent. Get rid of the secret ballot and give the residents of the NWT enough respect to show us how the vote went.

When a problem is clearly communicated and nothing is done about it for years, one has to wonder whether there is any will to address it at all.

That's the situation at the upper level of Centre Square Mall where the construction of an access ramp for wheelchairs and parents with strollers has supposedly been on the agenda since 2009 but nothing has come of it.

Skepticism among many has grown to an all-time high, and for good reason.

Mall management, on behalf of Halifax-based owners Royal Host Hotels and Resorts, supposedly spent much of 2009 and part of 2010 waiting on a contractor.

Then much of the past year was spent debating finer points of the design with city hall.

The mess was dumped in the lap of fire marshal Steve Moss early last year, perhaps prematurely. He has been made to look like he wields little power. He issued an order for the mall to have the Franklin-Avenue ramp in place as of June 30, 2010 but then cut the mall some slack on the deadline.

Why hasn't Moss laid down the law? The NWT Fire Protection Act empowers him to "set requirements to ensure compliance with the National Building Code, National Fire Code and National Standards Directory." He told Yellowknifer last year that if the mall fails to comply with the order in time it could face a fine of up to $10,000 under the territorial Fire Prevention Act and possible jail time of up to one year.

Yet nothing has happened.

Let's say this issue was one in which the mall was being prevented from making money, management would be writing letters to city council. A company representative would show up at a council meeting to plead the mall's case or demand action.

It's time for the mall's owners to come clean. If they are dodging wheelchair ramp construction because the number of users is too small and the cost is considered unacceptable, then make that publicly known. At least then the public can judge the resistance for what it appears to be - a financial decision.

Small businesses come and go, facing the challenges of establishing a strong client base, keeping employees and offering products or services that are valuable to the community.

Over the past few weeks, two staple businesses in Yellowknife have celebrated milestones.

Office Compliments has been a long-standing business for 25 years, started by three women with a vision. The business offers office services, had the first public fax services in the territory, and has found temporary or permanent work for more than 1,000 people over the years.

The Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op celebrates this year as well. It started from humble beginnings as a buying club based out of a kitchen and 30 flourishing years later, the Co-op has approximately 55-thousand-square-feet at its location on Old Airport Road and about 4,200 household members.

Both of these businesses beat the odds.

According to Industry Canada, the survival rates for small businesses are daunting. About 96 per cent of small businesses that enter the marketplace survive for one full year, 85 per cent last for three years and 70 per cent still exist for five years. The survival is dependent on factors such as geography, type of industry, the state of the economy and the level of competition.

Building a business doesn't happen overnight, and both Office Compliments and Yellowknife Co-op are proof that a dream, high standards and determination are ingredients for success. Evolving with technology and the demands of customers are the ingredients for staying power.

What's wrong with the world we live in today?

It's a question asked more and more these days.

In fact, it's right up there with people wondering why more isn't done at the community level these days, especially considering how much of an average paycheque is taken in various taxes.

People also seem to wonder a lot more about why the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen, and why they should bother voting on election days.

Has some form of delusion struck the masses, or does an ever-growing segment of our population today seem only concerned with what's in it for them?

Unfortunately, the higher up the social food chain one goes, the more truthful that sentiment seems to become.

Nunavut continued its woeful record of people in power either falling from grace or using their position to try and better their own personal finances this past week.

When Human Resources Minister Fred Schell was found guilty of influence peddling by the integrity commissioner, he became but the latest in an ever-growing number of territorial leaders to find themselves in trouble for trying to use their position for personal gain.

Schell was an MLA in 2009 when he sent a threatening, ill-advised e-mail to a local Community and Government Services official concerning the Hamlet of Cape Dorset allegedly having an unpaid bill with his company.

Three other allegations against Schell were dismissed by the commissioner.

Attitude and perception, like most things in life, start at the top and make their way downhill.

And while it's true this type of behaviour is being reported in locales across the nation at an alarming rate, Nunavut seems to be trying to set some sort of record for the most violations in the shortest possible period of time.

It's almost time for communities to fundraise by holding a lottery on who will be the next person in a position of power, trust and/or authority to be caught with their nose buried in the public trough.

And, make no mistake about it, influence peddling is a far more serious assault on the public's trust than the commissioner's recommendation of a $500 fine and an apology would suggest.

That's especially true in a territory with non-party politics that functions, or becomes totally dysfunctional, with consensus government.

The time has come for a zero-tolerance approach in Nunavut when it comes to elected officials trying to feather their own nests with the power given to them by voters.

The cultural consideration of second chances aside, Nunavut has already lost too much -- and stands to lose far more in the future -- if this type of inappropriate behaviour is not eliminated.

A $500 fine and an apology. Please! These people make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in these jobs.

If they're willing to gamble that by peddling influence, misusing credit cards or using inside information to obtain an advantage for their own businesses, are they really the type of leaders you want making decisions that directly impact your life?

What human resources department in the country would keep someone with those types of violations on their work history?

OK, bad example!!

Health care costs across the country are on the rise and finding ways to rein in the spending while continuing to provide quality service has been a concern across the provinces. Here in the NWT, one-quarter of the GNWT's budget is funnelled into the health system, approximately $344 million or $8,000 per person.

Our spending represents a per capita expenditure nearly $3,000 more than the national average and approximately $1,800 per capita more than Alberta -- the highest spending province in Canada -- according to 2010 statistics put out by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Back in March, auditor general Sheila Fraser released an audit on the territory's health care system. Generally the review of our health delivery system was good but there were a number of recommendations directed at finding cost efficiencies.

Included was a recruitment and retention strategy to decrease the GNWT's reliance on locum doctors and agency nurses. In a previous editorial, we noted the health department's success on the nursing front. Although permanent staffing in the communities continues to be an issue, the department is saving money on agency fees by maintaining its own list of contract nurses and Aurora College grads are filling long-standing vacancies in Yellowknife.

However, Fraser recommended a more comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy which the GNWT, at the time, said it is working on. Fraser noted that in 2004 the GNWT identified a strong Northern-based workforce in the health sector as a major goal. Unfortunately, when the strategy expired in 2009, progress toward that goal was neither assessed for success nor was a new strategy developed. It is vital the department remain vigilant in terms of finding ways to replace temporary staff with permanent health care professionals for major cost savings.

Health authorities are another area where cost savings might be found. Fraser's report determined the funding formula to the eight health authorities was outdated and failed to consider performance and patient flow, which in turn caused regional deficits. Such deficits were the cause of the dissolution of the Beaufort Delta District Health Authority and part of the catalyst for a proposal to re-organize the board structure, effectively eliminating regional health boards.

That proposal met with protest from most of the regions - mainly because education, housing and social service boards were thrown into the mix - as people fought to maintain their regional representation. Maintaining a regional voice is essential in the NWT but a necessary compromise may be a single territorial health board with strong regional representation. In health, the larger the population, the more expensive services can be offered.

By using Stanton Territorial Hospital as the administrative hub, savings realized by centralization can be put into recruiting specialists and developing medical services now only available in Edmonton.

This is especially critical because medical travel and medevacs are a horrendous drain on health funding. Currently, the GNWT is evaluating its medical travel policies and part of its newest health strategy identifies ways to support community health centres with remote diagnostic services to help reduce the number of people flown out for treatment.

As vital as it is for the department to find cost savings, there are many future priorities that will need investment to ensure we improve the quality of health in a region where diabetes, obesity and addictions continue to plague our people at alarming rates.

The department has identified a territorial midwifery program as a goal in its latest strategic plan and Fraser recommended improving the territory's delivery of diabetes education and treatment programs.

Our next health minister will begin the 17th legislative assembly with a full plate. We will need a strong leader who can balance investment with cost savings and one who understands that spending money for effective education and programming will lead to cost savings down the road.

Our next health minister will also need to be conscious of the fact that regional decisions can't be dictated from Yellowknife and major changes will need to come after consultation at the local level.

The last assembly under Sandy Lee was marred by protest after protest. Ill-proposed board mergers and a supplementary health benefit package that failed to gain the support of the public overshadowed many of the successes the department achieved.

Sometimes figures do tell the story: $4,460 is what the federal government spends for every francophone in Canada while a measly $53.71 is set aside for each Inuit language speaker.

That's a huge disparity, one that Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Cathy Towtongie pointed out following the release of the land claim organization's annual report on the state of the Inuit culture and society earlier this month.

Recommendations from the document include the perennial directive to "use the language at home." There's a reason this keeps arising: it would truly make a difference and it's cost-free. It's up to parents and grandparents to make it happen.

Another recommendation is to make the language interesting for children. That is most likely to be accomplished through high-tech gizmos and gadgets, video games and CDs, although books will always be a mainstay. This, however, will take money.

The figures Towtongie mentioned show Ottawa should be pumping more money into Inuit language. One other way increased funding could be put to good use is to make the Inuit language free for businesses. If we want to see Inuktitut - which should be standardized for consistency - in more places, the government should subsidize it so businesses will adopt it without hesitation. Then it would appear in signage, pamphlets and contracts much more often.

This is not to suggest translators should be paid less. On the contrary, they should be richly rewarded for providing a valuable service.

We hope more translators will emerge from Nunavut Arctic College to help another generation of Nunavummiut grasp the language. While 91 per cent of territorial residents are able to speak an Inuit tongue, that number will slide unless we follow these critical steps.

While Nunavut politicians and cultural leaders are calling for greater measures to preserve Inuit language and culture, the federal government has at least made a small step in the right direction - it's given money to an organization with a proven track record and a mandate to keep culture and language alive.

The Inuit Broadcasting Corp. received $1.38 million - 50 per cent of its operating budget - from the feds two weeks ago, and it's about time.

The corporation has been airing Inuit programming since 1982, mostly on a shoestring budget, and has persevered.

One program in particular, Takuginai - a show for children that mixes cultural values and Inuktitut lessons with entertainment - is an example of the type of programming vital to keeping culture alive. The channel has five programs entirely in Inuktitut.

In addition, the corporation has offered workshops and courses to teach youth about filmmaking and broadcasting.

After close to 30 years of existence, here's to at least 30 more.

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