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Two Yellowknife families will be handed keys to brand-new homes this year.

Sylvie Lefort, Ed Dithurbide and their two children will occupy one portion of a duplex on Moyle Drive in the Niven Lake subdivision, while Charlotte Larocque and two of her children will call the adjoined dwelling home.

This development is thanks to the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity, which is debuting its first low-cost housing projects in Yellowknife.

This gives potential homeowners another source for a hand up. The NWT Housing Corporation (NWTHC) provides forgivable loans and financial assistance based on applicants' income and family size as well as programs for first-time home buyers who are unable to secure mortgage financing at the outset. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) also provides loans and grants for affordable housing projects.

Those avenues help, but 21 per cent of Yellowknifers struggle with housing suitability, adequacy or affordability, according to a 2009 NWT community survey on housing needs.

Habitat for Humanity NWT delivers some additional help for those struggling to acquire a safe, secure and affordable home - assistance that is needed and welcomed. Families selected, after a rigorous application process, do not need to make a down payment and pay an affordable monthly, interest-free mortgage once the home is completed. The families contribute further by helping to build the home alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and business supporters.

Construction on Yellowknife's two Habitat homes is expected to start next month, and the raising of those walls will surely come as a great relief to two families that previously had little opportunity to own their own home.

The Northwest Territories is on a bit of a roll when it comes to road safety.

The Department of Transportation reports there have been no traffic accident-related deaths since December 2010 - a bit of an anomaly in a jurisdiction where vehicle accidents claim on average more than four lives every year.

A positive step toward making our roads safer was instituted on Jan. 1 when the territory joined most other Canadian jurisdictions in banning the use of cellphones and other handheld devices while driving.

Despite these positive developments, we should not be in a hurry to congratulate ourselves just yet. The information is somewhat spotty but national statistics indicate the number of traffic-related fatalities in the Northwest Territories has been above the national average for much of the past decade.

The average number of fatalities per 100,000 people between 2000 to 2004 was 9.6 annually in the NWT, according to Statistics Canada, slightly higher than the Canadian average of 9.0. In 2008 and 2009 it was 11.4.

The territory has been blessed with a welcome but unusually long lull in the death count these past 15 months, perhaps due in part to the Department of Transportation's safety campaigns, or simply an aberration.

There have been a number of close calls involving Yellowknife drivers in recent months that could have easily ended in tragedy, including a Highway 7 accident that left a man pinned inside his vehicle while awaiting help and another just last week where two passengers were ejected from their vehicle during a rollover on Highway 3.

It's great that the NWT has such a great road safety record right now but that is no reason to let our guard down. One bad accident is all that's needed to turn those statistics grim.

This is a topic that's been visited before in the pages of Deh Cho Drum but it is one that's important enough to repeat.

The importance of volunteers, especially in small communities, can't be underestimated. On May 15 Val Gendron of Fort Simpson was presented with the NWT Outstanding Volunteer Award in the individual category.

The purpose of the awards, which were created in 1991, is to recognize, "individuals and organizations who have improved the quality of life for NWT residents through significant voluntary commitment," as stated in a press release sent out by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

The important part of that sentence is "improved the quality of life," because that is really what volunteers do.

Think of something you really enjoy doing in your community. If that something is participating in an organized sport such as soccer or softball, or if it's a special event such as Mackenzie Days or the Open Sky Festival, there are undoubtedly volunteers involved.

Volunteers transform places such as Fort Simpson or Fort Providence or Trout Lake from merely a group of people into a community. Volunteers make special events and activities possible.

Without volunteers, life in Deh Cho communities would become much more boring and sedentary and possibly a bit more dangerous.

In Fort Simpson, volunteers run the Seven Spruce Golf Course, organize all of the sports teams, put on events such as Beavertail Jamboree, take youths on trips, staff the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department and do countless other things.

In the other Deh Cho communities the story is the same with only the identity of the volunteers, the participants and the names and variety of some of the events changing.

What all of this means is that volunteers should be valued.

Valuing volunteers doesn't mean having to nominate them for awards, although that's always nice. It can mean something as simple as saying thank you to that person serving you at a community barbecue or engaging your child in a sport. Valuing volunteers can also mean becoming one yourself.

Not everyone can spend as much time and energy volunteering as Gendron does, but it's easy enough to put aside a few hours a month to get involved with something that you enjoy and that will have a positive impact on your community.

Volunteers help make Deh Cho communities the great places that they are and additional volunteers will only strengthen communities they support.

The number of tourists travelling to Inuvik seems to be dwindling.

When pondering what might be a cause for this problem, it's easy to blame external circumstances beyond the control of the people who live here.

The price of gas is spiking, which may deter road-trippers from driving all the way up here. The global economy is slumping, which might mean people who want to visit simply can't afford to right now. The bugs are bad in the summer, enough said. The list goes on.

While these statements are true and could very well be contributing to the lack of tourists in recent years, there is one relatively simple step Inuvik can take if it wants to attract more visitors: give them more to do.

Upon running into a couple of tourists in Inuvik this past weekend, I was at a loss when they asked me the ever-popular tourist question: "What should we see while we're here?"

After telling them about the Igloo Church, the Boot Lake trail, the river and the art store in the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation building, I was out of ideas.

As a community, Inuvik has a lot to offer a potential tourist. Its main attractions are not in its businesses or its industry, however, but in the people who live here and the unique and beautiful land and sky that surround it.

Many people are fascinated with the idea of the Canadian Arctic. Mass media has shaped their opinion of the place as unspoiled landscapes sparsely populated while still full of history and rich cultural traditions.

Market research shows travellers to the North are coming less and less for hunting and fishing, and more for cultural and ecological tours. So, where are the training programs to train guides who will give this demographic the product and experience they are looking for?

Newton Grey, president of the Inuvik Chamber of Commerce, said the people of Inuvik are the key to its success as a tourist destination. This is true.

The key to successful tourism in Inuvik is to get Gwich'in and Inuvialuit people on board with the idea of cultural and ecological tourism.

If these people want to tell the story of their culture, their history, and the way it was here before Europeans arrived, there will be an audience – and that audience will pay.

The idea of the land and people in Inuvik being the building blocks for a sustainable tourist industry seems almost too good to be true. One of the best features of this plan is that all of the necessary pieces to realize a world-class ethno-tourism program are already here.

As Grey also said, "Not everything has to cost millions, sometimes you just get up and do it."

The arrangement between the City of Yellowknife and local artist Francois "T-Bo" Thibault for the centrepiece sculpture in Somba K'e Civic Plaza is just plain confusing.

The commissioned art in question, a trio of six-metre-tall drum dancers titled United in Celebration, decorates the Frame Lake waterfront near city hall. T-Bo erected the sculpture in August 2009, and he has plans for a second phase to complete his vision.

The artist addressed councillors during a municipal services committee meeting last week to appeal for payment for his labour. It seems there is a discrepancy between what the artist feels he is presently owed and what the city feels it is obligated to pay and when.

United in Celebration is arguably the most prominent artwork in Yellowknife, and there is no doubt city hall understands its value.

The city's 2012 tourist guide features a photo of the steel sculpture with a caption touting the area as the "perfect spot" for a picnic. Clearly, the city considers the massive sculpture an asset that contributes to this idyllic site for tourists.

The city also showcased the sculpture as a backdrop for the 2009 Olympic torch relay and last year's royal visit by Prince William and Duchess Catherine Middleton. During these historic spectacles, United in Celebration was chosen from among all Yellowknife's majestic vistas to represent the city to international audiences.

Artists, like any other professionals contracted by the city, are expected to deliver quality work. The city, on behalf of its residents, is expected to pay them according to clearly defined contracts. In this case the artist seems to have done the work, and the city has derived substantial benefit, but observers can't yet be sure whether the city met its obligation to compensate him.

Public art enhances life in the capital, and the city should take it seriously enough to properly design contracts when it asks artists to share their creativity.

You ever dream of playing hockey in the NHL? If you do, you are far from being the only one.

Canada ranks number one in the world with 572,411 registered hockey players, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation. That's 1.68 per cent of the population.

China, the most populous country on Earth with 1.3 billion people, has only 613 registered players. No wonder Canada is considered the best hockey nation in the world, and the primary contributor of talent to the NHL. Our passion for the game also means competition to crack the roster of a professional team is extremely fierce.

Yellowknife's Tye Hand is well aware of that after playing a full season with the Drumheller Dragons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League where he notched one point in 25 games. The 16-year-old defenceman managed a feat few minor league hockey players are able to accomplish: he got drafted to a team in the Western Hockey League - just one step below the NHL.

It's even more remarkable considering how difficult it is for young men like Hand to travel hundreds of kilometres down south just to get a chance to play professionally.

Alas, Hand has yet to play a game for the WHL's Everett Silvertips of Washington since being drafted in 2010. This says less about his talent and more about how hard it is to break into professional hockey.

He isn't the only Yellowknifer, past or present, with his sights on an NHL career. At least two Yellowknife-raised players - Vic Mercredi and Greg Vaydik - actually made it to the NHL, if only briefly. Mercredi, a centre/left winger, played two games with the Atlanta Flames; Vaydik, a centre, lasted five with the Chicago Black Hawks.

It's a world of hard knocks out there. We hope opportunities continue to knock for Hand and other would-be Yellowknife hockey greats.

In my capacity as a branch referee-in-chief for Hockey North - and a guy who's worn the stripes for a good many years - many people have asked me about what they perceive to be a lower standard of officiating in this year's NHL playoffs.

NHL officials, in my humble opinion, are the best in the world.

And I'm more than a little uncomfortable criticizing the way guys I look up to - almost in awe for the level they've achieved - have been calling the game this spring.

It's like taking one of our best local hockey players and asking him to critique the play of Sidney Crosby.

As good as our guy may be, Crosby is at a whole different level and then some.

But hockey is hockey and there are comparisons to be made between the NHL game and what we enjoy watching in our local arenas every year.

One area you will never hear me criticize an official, or any given crew of officials, is when a high-stick infraction is missed.

Today's game is played at an incredible pace and, with so many large bodies moving at such high speeds, a high stick can happen in the blink of an eye among an often tangled mass of humanity.

There are few worse feelings as an official than when blood is dripping down a player's face and you didn't see what happened.

It gets even worse seconds afterwards when you call your crew together and none can attest to seeing it. It's also difficult to criticize refs on marginal calls.

So many factors come into play, not the least of which is how many players try to 'sell' a call in today's game.

It's almost like soccer in that some players are dealt a glancing blow and then go down as if they've been shot.

Then they stare at the ref, and turn their gloves upwards in the universal hockey sign language of where's the call?

Having said all that, there are two areas I feel NHL refs have been lacking in during these playoffs.

The first is consistency with their calls.

Almost nothing infuriates players or coaches more than refs letting almost everything go for more than two periods and then making a chintzy call late in the game.

Almost as maddening for them is when what wasn't a penalty the previous game suddenly becomes one now, and both have unfolded often during these playoffs.

Finally, there's the phantom call, the best example of which was retired NHL ref Mick McGeough emphatically waving off a game-tying goal in Edmonton because of a hand pass that never occurred.

The hand-pass-that-never-happened call has been made three times during these playoffs, minus McGeough's over-the-top theatrics.

Just like not awarding a supposed goal when no member of the crew actually saw the puck enter the net, such calls should never be made unless the official is 110 per cent sure of what he saw, especially at the NHL level.

I agree the standard of officiating has been lower than usual during these playoffs, but the game gets tougher to call every year.

At the risk of leaning on a cliche to end my thoughts, no matter how good they are, officials are human beings and human beings sometimes make mistakes.

In hockey, one can only hope that mistake doesn't come at the worst possible time.

A valuable education program is closing its doors after 12 years.

Since 1990, the Western Arctic Leadership Program in Fort Smith has been providing high school students from many of the NWT's remote communities a chance to obtain a high school diploma and access classes not available in their local schools.

Since the program's inception, between 17 and 19 students from outside Fort Smith enrol each year and take classes at PWK High School. Not only does that demonstrate a commitment to education by the students choosing to leave home, but it also boosts PWK's financial ability to offer additional resources.

Over the past 12 years, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's funding for the program has remained constant at approximately $275,000 annually. Jay Macdonald, a house parent with the leadership program, says because the funding has not kept up with inflation it was becoming more difficult to meet its financial needs.

Unfortunately ECE is trying to put a positive spin on the program's closure. In a written statement, the department indicated that grade extensions in most communities now allow students to graduate in their community, implying the educational climate in the NWT as evolved beyond its need for programs such as the Western Arctic Leadership Program.

Unfortunately that is hardly the case.

Although the option to attend school through to graduation is available in most NWT communities, the quality of that education has been frequently called into question.

Students in the NWT's smaller communities have consistently scored below their peers in the capital and regional hubs on annual achievement tests. Students and parents also often complain that considerable academic upgrading is required for NWT graduates wishing to pursue post-secondary education in the south.

Providing students with more options to achieve an education is worth the money. Had the GNWT chosen to at the least keep up with inflation in providing funding to the Western Arctic Leadership Program, we'd still have this valuable program to help produce future territorial leaders and role models, resources with immeasurable value.

Spending money to send our minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment to Houston, Texas, to push the NWT as the next destination for offshore oil development is ultimately a waste of the finances our government continuously states it lacks.

That's not to say the territory wouldn't benefit from offshore oil -- if done with the most stringent checks and balances -- but Minister David Ramsay has no power over whether companies choose to develop in the North.

The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is a lesson for Ramsay. His predecessors, Bob McLeod and Brendan Bell, travelled frequently to push the value of the pipeline, but companies don't pay the bills with chatter from politicians. In the end, the economics, based on the price of natural gas, will decide if that project moves forward.

Ramsay can talk until he is blue in the face and never convince a corporate giant to invest in a money-losing project.

The best we can do is improve our regulatory system and infrastructure so when the climate is favourable, companies will be enticed to work in the NWT; bringing all the associated benefits to the people who live here.

We're not saying Ramsay should not promote business in the NWT but he can do so from closer to home and choose to spend money on travel to push sectors government has more control over. Ramsay's trip to Saint John, N.B., to attend a meeting of Canadian Council of Tourism Ministers earlier this month is an example of business travel that could add value to our tourism industry.

The anger at Nutrition North is continuing to rise in some circles, and the system needs to quickly fine-tune how these subsidies work.

The protest in Coral Harbour earlier this month illustrates that people in some communities are still seeing little benefit from the program. However, there have been some benefits that can't be ignored.

North West Company vice-president Michael McMullen said items such as milk, potatoes and tomatoes have dropped in price and those products are actually selling better than they used to as a result. This is good news.

Last fall, customers in Clyde River noticed milk go down to around $4 from $10. However, milk prices have not plummeted in all communities and, as protesters noted, on some healthy foods the price drop has been less than a dollar - that's too little to a consumer. Price drops need to be in multiple dollars on healthy foods in Nunavut.

Besides pumping more money into subsidizing healthy food and country food into the program, there are a few other things that can make the system work better.

McMullen said auditors are welcome in any of his company's stores, and Ottawa should be dispatching those auditors at least annually while this program is getting on its feet. The Co-ops ought to be audited just the same. If the subsidies are not being fully passed on to the consumer it's not necessarily deliberate. Just the same, an auditor can close the gaps. These audits must be made public, or else there is no point in doing them. Once public money is involved, the public must be able to see how it's being used.

The Co-ops and North West Co. stores should be able to reduce prices as they become better versed in Nutrition North, and as the program is improved.

Education is important as well. The GN's initiative to have its nutritionist work on several recipes using affordable, healthy food is an excellent idea and it should be built upon.

Meanwhile, the Coral Harbour protesters have demonstrated that some people are unhappy with Nutrition North as it exists now, and that food is still too expensive. These demonstrators deserve kudos and thanks for doing something about it and having their voices heard. Hopefully Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq got the message and concentrates on streamlining this program. Despite her comments in the House of Commons last week - in the face of an embarrassing United Nations investigation into food insecurity in Canada - about environmentalists who protest hunting being the source of the problem instead of families being unable to afford food, food insecurity is a huge issue in Northern Canada and change is not happening fast enough.

She was obviously just following party-line rhetoric, which is much easier to do than recognize the problem and say something needs to change. Yes, hunting and fishing play a big roles in Inuit lives, but obviously people are also relying on milk, eggs and bacon - grocery stores wouldn't be in business otherwise.

The system can be better, and change can occur faster. Let's take steps to make it happen.

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