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We have to wonder what kind of example the public school district thinks it set when it asked a city business owner to change his school tax support in return for continued business last year.

The practice sounds inexcusably wrong to us, and fortunately it did not escape the watchful eye of Elaine Keenan Bengts, the information and privacy commissioner for the NWT.

The business owner complained that school superintendent Metro Huculak contacted him in January 2010 to ask "that he allocate some of his school taxes to Yk1 in return for their continued business." In fact, the company was "blacklisted" by Yk1 for some time.

The business owner said the school district shouldn't have had access to his tax information. Further, the details from his tax filings were improperly used against him in a way that threatened his livelihood.

Two weeks after Huculak delivered his "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" message, an employee of the school district called the business owner to ask if he had changed his school tax designation. That Yk1 employee said she had been instructed to take the district's business elsewhere if 100 per cent of the business owner's school taxes continued going to the Catholic system. Talk about strong-arm tactics.

The school superintendent and district employees clearly stepped over the line here.

In her report on the matter, the privacy commissioner advised the school district to undertake seven actions, including an apology to the business owner and training for employees.

Obviously, the publicly funded body of educators fell far short of teaching good values here. We're hoping a lesson was learned and a sincere apology was extended.

A hospital is an expensive machine to keep running, with constant maintenance needed and new technology added to ensure the best possible health care is available to the public.

Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation has raised close to $65,000 toward the chemotherapy and intravenous treatment suite, with the goal of raising $720,000. A chemotherapy and intravenous facility will allow for increased comfort and privacy for patients. That unit saw 1,400 patient visits between 2009 and 2010, so there is a need.

The hospital foundation's last fundraising endeavour resulted in a new digital mammography machine with the price tag of $420,000.

The foundation and the Run For Our Lives committee raised enough money to purchase the machine in October 2010. Forty-seven generous corporations, organizations and individuals made the digital mammography machine a reality, which is allowing women in the North to have more accurate breast exams on a regular basis.

Kay Lewis, Stanton Territorial Hospital Authority CEO, said donations improve the quality of care for patients through new equipment such as a CT scan machine and physiotherapy tools. She said the value of the donations reaches further than the equipment. It allows staff to do their jobs to the best of their ability and improves the hospital's ability to recruit.

Once one campaign ends in success, there is no rest for those planning the next goal as they organize events and get the word out to the public to begin another fundraising cycle. The hospital foundation is again appealing to the community, and the community, through organizations, corporations and individuals, is answering.

It will be interesting to see what effect Rankin Inlet hamlet council's attempt to harness the community's dog problem eventually has.

Under its most recent bylaw, all dogs must be registered and wearing tags, and only two dogs can be owned at one time as pets.

That stipulation was grandfathered for those who already own more than two, but they won't be able to replace any above that number when a dog passes on.

While the bylaw is a step in the right direction, we also need action aimed at those who needlessly abuse our furry friends.

Now, let's make a couple of things clear right from the start.

We're not talking about people having the right to defend themselves against an aggressive dog. Everyone knows Rankin still has a problem with too many loose dogs roaming the community.

I'm a dog lover and have been around, and owned, dogs almost my entire life.

That said, I readily admit to being a tad nervous around loose dogs, especially if they're a fair size or travelling in packs, which is often the case in Rankin.

As far as Rankin has come in its treatment of dogs since I arrived in 1998, there are still far too many people in the community who go out of their way to abuse them every chance they get.

I recently witnessed a neighbour's pet - a small, gentle animal with a wonderful personality - attacked and injured on its owner's property by a band of roving dogs.

At about the same time, a youth in the community took a young puppy while leaving school for lunch break and, for reasons known only to the youth, deliberately hurled it through the air.

The poor creature was on the ground crying in pain when it was reportedly rescued by a teacher.

It had suffered a broken leg and other injuries and had to be flown to Winnipeg for treatment.

The pup was lucky, however, in that its injuries could have been worse, and a pair of local dog lovers cared enough to bear the cost of sending it to a veterinarian.

We understand the dog is now in the home of a loving owner down south.

Hopefully, the traumatic experience hasn't scarred the poor animal for life in so far as how it views and interacts with, supposedly, superior beings. Like so many transplanted southerners, when I first came North 13 years ago, I was under the impression those who owned working dogs were responsible for the animal abuse I had heard so much about here.

I was soon to learn nothing could be further from the truth and the majority of them were, in fact, among the most responsible dog owners in the North. It's the everyday person, young and old, who doesn't seem to understand (or want to understand) owning a pet is a big responsibility.

You are 'paid' for honouring that responsibility by the love, loyalty and happiness the pet brings into your life.

Then there are others, perhaps cruel by nature, who know there are rarely any consequences in the North for brutalizing an animal.

Council should continue its efforts and pass another bylaw, or two, with enough teeth to take a serious bite out of the real problems.

If so, they'll be aimed at the mammals among us of the two-legged variety.

When it was announced Richard Van Camp's novel The Lesser Blessed was to be adapted for the big screen and filmed in the NWT, it created a lot of excitement and opened the doors of opportunity for those with an interest in the film industry.

More than 100 students from schools across the territory auditioned for the film -- one teen from Fort Smith secured a final audition for a lead role -- and a couple aspiring youth filmmakers will shadow the production crews.

Now imagine how many more might have benefited had the film actually been shot in the NWT, where the story is based, instead of moved to Ontario due to budgetary decisions. Unfortunately, despite raising more than $2 million, the production fell $250,000 short of the needed cash to allow filming to take place in Fort Smith.

The missed opportunity once again points to the territory's poor management of the arts as an industry in the NWT. In name, the NWT does have a film commission, but a recent study paid for by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment shows a systemic failure to support the industry.

"The NWT film, video and digital media industry is currently fragmented and there is no co-ordinating body to promote co-operation between members and champion this sector," an excerpt from the 84-page report reads.

According to the report, the industry contributes about $9 million to the NWT economy on an annual basis. Of that, approximately $5 million is in wages.

Of the three Northern territories, the NWT spends the least in terms of program funding to its film commission -- previously a paltry $50,000, now $100,000. Compare that to Nunavut and the Yukon which spent $800,000 and $710,000 respectively. The Yukon Film Commission also has a $560,000 operation and maintenance budget.

Filmmakers in the NWT theoretically have access to substantial funds through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's Arts Council and Industry, Tourism and Investment's SEED grant; in all, more than $3.5 million.

However, SEED money is designed to support commercial ventures and is notoriously difficult for artists to access. In 2010-11, of the more than $3 million handed out through SEED grants, only $32,000 was available for the film industry. The most significant barrier is that film projects must be the producer's full-time job to qualify.

As for the $500,000 available through the arts council, projects looking to make a profit aren't eligible. Neither of these funding sources would have helped the Lesser Blessed either since it was not being produced by a Northern company, even though many consider it a project that belongs to the North.

Unlike the Yukon and Nunavut, the NWT Film Commission has no stated mandate, is not a stand alone entity and its priorities are clouded by the fact it includes arts and crafts as part of the media it supports.

The GNWT needs to take a serious look at how it supports the arts in the NWT.

A good first step would be to develop a comprehensive arts strategy that would guide program funding to support everything from hobby artists to fledgling filmmakers to promoting large commercial ventures. As it stands, the last arts strategy developed by ITI was done in 2004 and is in serious need of updating.

Aside from creating opportunities in film and television, developing a system to promote such visual arts would also have spinoff benefits in terms of tourism. Each year, countless people visit locations where their favourite movies were filmed, not to mention the possible market for souvenirs.

Interestingly, the Government of the Northwest Territories spent $332,446 on video/film production in 2009-2010, in part developing materials for showing at Northern House during the Vancouver Olympics. This represents a four-fold increase over GNWT expenditures the previous year.

The expenditure proves our government understands the value of film in promoting our economy. Now it's time to show the same level of support for territorial filmmakers and film projects that showcase the NWT.

Two Iglulik hunters are alive after a harrowing night on the water in the ominous sounding Fury and Hecla Strait, northwest of Iglulik.

Tragically, a 34-year-old Canadian Forces airman did not survive an attempt to rescue them on Oct. 27. He died after a parachute jump from a Hercules airplane. The location of the hunters was known because they used an electronic locator device, although weather did complicate the rescue effort - Mother Nature always holds the trump card. Just a few days earlier, five hunters were found safe at a camp southeast of Iqaluit. Spotters in helicopters, flying from two coast guard icebreakers, located the hunters. The men had taken shelter to avoid bad weather. The problem is they did not communicate they were safe and did not require assistance.

A few years ago, the Government of Nunavut distributed 100 emergency beacons to communities across the territory. They are available to be signed out by those making trips out on the land. Are you using them?

The first priority on any trip is safety. We all want our loved ones to return in good condition from their hunts or snowmobile trips.

Modern SPOT locator devices will inform others of your location and can relay messages of whether you are in distress or need supplies.

These $170 gadgets can prevent large-scale ground and aerial searches, which can cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars if aircraft and personnel have to be scrambled from Ontario, Manitoba or Nova Scotia. These electronic marvels can literally be the difference between life and death - your own or that of a family member or a soldier who courageously goes looking for you in perilous conditions. Don't allow it to be a needless search, or needless loss of life.

What some call a racial slur for Inuit was recently in national headlines - the word "Eskimo" popped up on a Saskatchewan Conservative politician David Anderson's website, prompting a backlash from some regarding the use of the word, but after the video was taken down the question still remains: Is it OK to say Eskimo?

Some Alaskan Inuit call themselves Eskimos, and the term is still in common use in the U.S. and among many southern Canadians. The Eskimo Inn still stands in Inuvik and many football fans cheer on the Edmonton Eskimos CFL team each year.

Despite its position in the common lexicon, many Inuit in Nunavut consider the term Eskimo a racial slur and its use a sign of ignorance. The video on Anderson's website was decried by Mary Simon of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

A few years ago, a viral music video, "Don't Call Me Eskimo" by Arctic Bay rappers Northerners With Attitude, offered thought-provoking views on modern Inuit life and dismissed the term Eskimo along with other archaic stereotypes about the North.

Though Inuit is generally acknowledged as the politically correct term in the North, the GN, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq were silent as the video linked by Anderson permeated national news. It's time for Nunavut's leaders to take a stance on this divisive issue.

Premier Bob McLeod has mixed his cabinet with rookies and experienced hands heading into the next four years of territorial government.

Few are surprised Michael Miltenberger is returning as finance minister, although McLeod's choice to keep him at Environment and Natural Resources is bound to raise a few eyebrows, especially here in Yellowknife.

Miltenberger confidentially handled the finance portfolio during the 16th assembly but ruffled many feathers during his tenure as environment minister. First, he angered aboriginal groups by decreeing an end to the Bathurst herd caribou hunt while he was off in Denmark hobnobbing with world elites at a climate change conference, and then he tried to ram through a revamped Wildlife Act that rankled both aboriginal and non-aboriginal residents alike. He was unable to get this bill -more than 10 years in the making -- passed, which leads us to wonder how effective he will be this time around.

Two other returning cabinet ministers, Jackson Lafferty and Robert C. McLeod, are also carrying on with assignments they held during the last assembly: Education, Culture, and Employment for Lafferty; and Municipal and Community Affairs and the Housing Corporation for McLeod.

It's Lafferty's task once again to wrestle with the NWT's pitiful graduation rate. Only 55 per cent of the territory's adult population hold a high school diploma, according the NWT Bureau of Statistics. The territory will have to do much better if it aims to be self-reliant in a post-devolution world.

Robert C. McLeod was well-liked as a cabinet minister in the last assembly but his decision not to fund a 911 emergency phone system until tiny communities like Colville Lake and Paulatuk had cellphone service was viewed by some as an attack on Yellowknife. A moratorium on cabin development on the Ingraham Trail during McLeod's tenure at MACA was another sore point.

Hopefully, this veteran minister realizes that trying to create an equal playing field for all 33 of the NWT's communities is not always possible or desirable, especially if 70 per cent of the NWT's population can benefit from 911 right now.

Cabinet newcomer Tom Beaulieu is an interesting choice for the Health and Social Services file, in that he's an experienced former senior bureaucrat but also an MLA representing two small communities, Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e. It remains to been seen how he responds to Yellowknife's varied and continuously escalating health and social services needs.

For the Yellowknife delegation on cabinet, Premier McLeod has taken two of the previous government's most effective critics and handed them some very tough assignments, although for different reasons. Glen Abernethy will struggle to maintain a profile in Justice and the Department of Human Resources. Dave Ramsay, on the other hand, after eight years lobbing grenades from the opposition benches has been put in charge of completing work on the Deh Cho Bridge - one of the most controversial projects undertaken during the 16th assembly and an issue Ramsay feasted on more than any other opposition member.

In his other portfolio, Industry, Tourism, and Investment, Ramsay will be expected to revive the city's flagging secondary diamond industry, convincing mineral exploration companies to reinvest and developing a thriving tourism industry. These are just some of the problems the Kam Lake MLA will face over the next four years.

On the face of it, with Premier McLeod, Ramsay and Abernethy at the cabinet table, it would seem Yellowknife is well represented in this 17th legislative assembly. Surely, time will tell.

A project that is underway is making Fort Simpson a little bit greener.

The Department of Public Works and Services is installing a wood pellet boiler as part of its central heating plant in the village. The system supplies heat for the two schools and the recreation centre. There are a number of benefits to this addition.

Firstly, because the boiler will limit the use of the oil burner to the coldest winter days, the plant will use approximately 90 per cent less heating fuel. Heating fuel is a non-renewable resource while biomass matter, such as wood pellets, is renewable.

Secondly, by reducing the amount of heating fuel that is burned, the new wood pellet boiler will result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 947 tonnes per year, according to the department. Greenhouse gases are undesirable because they are linked to global warming.

The third benefit is less immediate. The changes to the plant signal an opportunity not just for Fort Simpson, but for the whole of the Deh Cho.

There are currently no made-in-the-NWT sources for wood pellets. To keep the plant supplied, the government will award a tender to a company, of which there are some in the NWT, that transport wood pellets in from Alberta or B.C.

It seems ridiculous that a region as rich in forests as the Deh Cho would have to rely on wood pellets from elsewhere, and that's where the opportunity lies. A wood pellet production plant would be an ideal industry for the Deh Cho.

This avenue is already being explored as an article in last week's edition outlined.

A wood pellet production demonstration project has been running at Checkpoint for the past year. The plant created wood pellets made from NWT-sourced material. Those pellets are being tested for their viability as a heating fuel.

If the results are favourable, it will be a green light for first nation business entities and entrepreneurs to look into the possibility of opening a plant. This is not to say, however, the path will be an easy one.

Government officials pointed out that a wood pellet manufacturing industry has to be supported by a forestry industry, and the cost of doing business in the North would put business at a disadvantage compared to their southern competitors. People in the Deh Cho, however, aren't strangers to facing and overcoming adversity in order to make a project work.

The installation of the wood pellet boiler in the Fort Simpson central heating plant could be just the beginning for the Deh Cho.

With some hard work, determination and innovation, the boiler could one day be burning pellets produced in the Deh Cho; an industry that would benefit the local economy as well as the environment.

There's a battle that's rumbling through the streets of Inuvik.

It's been bubbling for a few months now as the "have" organizations prepare to protect their right to money against the "have-not" organizations when it comes to bingo profits.

The various organizations, associations, charities and societies of Inuvik always need money it seems. You've seen it on street signs, at bake sales and in newsletters stuffed into your children's backpacks – the asking for money for trips, uniforms, new equipment.

The one constant source of funds are the bingos run through New North. When they're good, they're really, really good and when they're bad, some of those groups end up having to pay New North to run the bingo.

Proposed changes by the lottery licensing committee will have the profits evenly distributed by all groups. At first glance, it seems this could be a bad idea – what about those groups that work hard for their money? So hard for their money?

But then, things sort of start to make sense. Maybe it's not the advertising or number of supporters playing your bingo. Maybe it's the reason everyone argues in the first place – the dates for the bingos. Saturdays in the winter, Friday- government paydays, any day with cheques, days when there are many people in town or cold days will always generate more income for those groups lucky enough to get those dates. The groups that end up with a Monday in July will in no way generate as much money, no matter how much energy they put into their bingo.

It's either feast or famine right now, but with the proposed changes the groups that work the most bingos will receive the most money. Groups will be able to plan for the future knowing they will make a certain amount. Want to go on a trip and need $10,000? Work five bingos and you're there!

Already, groups are being divided between winners and losers, different factions in town trying to protect their territory. Why can't we all just get along? Work together? Share the wealth? Steal from the rich to pay the poor? Communism over capitalism?

Inuvik is a small community. There's only so much money to go around and most people participate in multiple groups and organizations. Why not share the wealth? Why bother pitting groups against one another, feeding jealousy in the community?

There are certainly other issues related to how bingos are run, but, surely, making a fair distribution among all the groups can only benefit the community.

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