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If anyone is looking for evidence that Yellowknife suffers a regulation deficit along its waterfront then look no further than the Giant Mine dock.

The city recently handed a $2,000 fine to a boat owner who realized his vessel wasn't seaworthy enough to launch, and was thus forced to put the watercraft on blocks on the water's edge while trying to complete repairs.

But the bigger problem is in the water. A few industrious individuals appear determined over the last couple of years to turn the area adjacent to the boat launch and nearby Baker Creek into another houseboat community.

The crushed rock spit of land at the mouth of Baker Creek is now clogged with houseboats moored to the shore of Great Slave Lake. One houseboat, the first to appear, is firmly embedded in the creek.

There are six all together right now.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans can create special fishing regulations for Arctic grayling that have miraculously returned to spawn in Baker Creek after decades of contamination from Giant Mine, but the department is seemingly helpless to prevent one person from permanently parking his home in the creek mouth.

The city is equally paralyzed when it comes to houseboaters encroaching on public docks. A houseboat has been tied to a dock at the Giant Mine boat launch all year. Hundreds of taxpaying residents load and unload their boats at Giant Mine each week, yet the city allows one houseboater to turn this dock into a personal mooring pad, preventing other boaters from parking there.

As the city pushes for control over the waterfront through a harbour commission, there has been much talk in recent months about building docks for visiting floatplane pilots or shoreline boardwalks through Old Town and Latham Island, where tourists can buy souvenir T-shirts in boutiques converted from Woodyard shacks.

We suggest the priority should be placed on sites where the city provides public services right now. Giant Mine is a nice boat launch. Too bad no level of government seems able or willing to prevent the Old Town free-for-all from migrating to other side of the bay.

Spray painted, cracked and, in places, charred by fire, the all-but-abandoned mini golf course off of Franklin Avenue looks like a crooked hideout for some Gotham City villain.

No need to shine the bat signal to rid the city of this problem, however. True North Rotary has pledged to volunteer hands-on assistance from among its membership of architects, building supply store owners, lawyers and other friendly neighbourhood superheroes.

Built in 1990 and operated by the Wade Hamer Foundation until 2004, the crumbling concrete course has since been leased to non-profit organizations by the City of Yellowknife.

Jeromy Ball, secretary for the True North Rotary, offered his organization's help after the Yellowknife Women's Society informed the city it would not renew its lease to run the course for another year due to vandalism and financial losses.

Mini golf is among those affordable classic summer pastimes that Yellowknife families deserve an opportunity to experience together. This decrepit course is worth rebuilding and improving.

The landmark was originally constructed with help from 143 volunteers. If True North Rotary members can muster some professional support, perhaps the rest of the community can pitch in with some heroic effort, as well, including fundraising and sponsorship.

If it is too late to rescue the dilapidated course, perhaps these helpful folk can focus their superpowers on building some other recreational infrastructure to give Yellowknife's children a chance for a few fun and memorable smiles each summer.

Some things are next to impossible to comprehend.

I imagine many people in Fort Simpson are having difficulty understanding the vandalism done to the Fort Simpson Judo Club and Open Doors Society in the Fort Simpson recreation centre.

The crime was notable on two accounts.

First was the extent of the vandalism. Whoever did this, whether it was one person or a group of people, went to a lot of effort. Splattering and pouring approximately 60 litres of paint is no small undertaking.

Not only was paint used to damage a lot of the society's resources, the culprit or culprits also strew craft and baking supplies across portions of the floor. The society's space was more or less trashed, to use a colloquial term. The judo club received less damage.

The crime was also notable because of the type of organizations it was perpetrated against.

The Open Doors Society uses the upper level of the recreation centre to offer Playgroup to children ages six and under. The children have a wonderful time playing with toys and books while interacting with each other.

The society also offers the Toy Lending Library from that space. The program gives youth a place to go on weekday evenings during the school year to do activities and play with the toys.

On the other side of the room, the Fort Simpson Judo Club is building the skills and confidence of young people in the village.

By vandalizing these two organizations, the perpetrators were effectively attacking the children of Fort Simpson.

The perpetrators of this crime, no matter how old they are, should be ashamed of themselves.

If it turns out that young people were the vandals, they should be doubly ashamed of themselves for doing something that would negatively affect their peers.

While surveying the damage, staff and volunteers with the society suggested if the perpetrators are caught, they should have to clean the mess they created as a type of restorative justice. This is an excellent idea.

The person or people who committed this crime clearly need to take a lot of time considering what they did and why.

Having to clean up multiple litres of paint might be just the thing to help them understand the implications of their actions and deter them from similar vandalism in the future.

Editorials usually provide comment and opinions on a timely news story, but inspiration for this particular editorial came from a lack of news on an important issue – the fact that Inuvik's natural gas well is still running out and as of yet, no viable long-term solutions have surfaced to public ears.

The news that the Ikhil well's supply of natural gas is quickly running out originally came out more than nine months ago. Since that time, the only concrete solution that has been presented to residents is a temporary mixture of propane and air – dubbed synthetic natural gas – that will be delivered to the community by truck and will cost roughly twice as much as natural gas did when the Ikhil well was running at full capacity.

The one public meeting that has been held on the subject was on April 10, when roughly 200 people filled the community hall in the Midnight Sun Complex to listen and pose questions to a panel of town officials, GNWT employees, along with members of the Ikhil Joint Venture, Inuvik Gas and ATCO Midstream Ltd.

Granted, that was not an easy meeting and tempers ran high. However, this does not excuse the lack of community consultation or even community outreach since that time.

Granted, town officials, especially Inuvik Mayor Denny Rodgers, have been open to discussing the issue. The problem is, very little new information has come out since that time. Sure, few various options have been presented, but absolutely no actual long-term plan has been offered and presented to the public from any level of government.

It has become abundantly clear there are no plans for real public consultation to come up with solutions to this mess, and so it's about time that those involved in the process of switching Inuvik to the synthetic natural gas, or looking for a natural gas long-term solution down the line, come up with some concrete plans.

After all, any long-term solution will take time to get in place. Even if a fully-funded natural gas project was announced tomorrow, it could take two to three years to bring fuel to the community.

On the other side of the energy spectrum, replacing natural gas with wood pellets or some other alternative would mean switching out furnaces and developing a new supply chain. These things take time, and that is exactly what the people of Inuvik are running out of – that and natural gas.

The next heating season is currently about two months away and people need to be able to budget and plan for how they will pay their energy bills come the fall.

Mike Kalnay, NWT area commissioner for Scouts Canada, said illegal settlers are becoming a problem in the Ingraham Trail area, where he's seen the number of buildings go to 10 or 20 from one or two about 10 years ago.

We've heard eyewitness accounts of dozens of shacks, huts and small buildings that have been constructed on Crown land that has not been made available for leases in areas around Yellowknife and beyond.

It's a growing problem with no easy solution. Some might call it out of control already.

The Scouts Canada situation is just a microcosm of the greater issue. An aboriginal person put up a building on the organization's leased property last year after getting permission from the Yellowknives Dene. The squatter's cabin recently burned down in a fire and the Scouts are unsure whether he will rebuild.

The response from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's regional manager of land administration, Karen Polakoff, didn't offer official intervention. Instead, the Scouts were told to either give the cabin owner rights to the land and allow the cabin owner to apply for a lease, or take legal action in civil court.

Permission to put up a structure by the Yellowknives Dene does not apply because they do not have "any authority legislatively or otherwise to authorize any activity on federal public land," Polakoff said.

That essentially leaves Scouts Canada on its own to solve the problem - either with meaningful discussion, costly court action if another building is erected, or by doing nothing. The person who had put up the building is likely hoping nothing will happen, which seems to be the case for the owners of dozens of other structures that have been put up in the bush over the last few years.

At least the Government of the Northwest Territories is trying to curb the incidence of squatters through the trespass enforcement strategy by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Following a 2006 survey which found more than 60 illegal cabins, a crackdown in 2008 resulted in some people leaving voluntarily, said Bev Chamberlain, former director of lands administration.

"We think we are doing all we can at this point, given our resources," she said.

That is the crux of the problem. Many of the areas where squatters have put up structures are very remote, only accessible by air or a long hike from shore during the summer, or by snowmobile in the winter. Just the logistics of examining a structure, determining it is unauthorized and posting a notice to remove the building is challenging. There is a 30-day period from the notice of trespass and another 30 days from a notice to vacate. If the final notice is ignored, the matter goes to court, where it can be tied up for months.

The logistics and the history are making the situation unmanageable. Some cabin owners realize that, because it is difficult to kick them out, the authorities just end up granting them a lease. As a result, squatters are seen as people who have no respect for the law while they play out their options.

Meanwhile, legitimate leaseholders are feeling frustrated after observing that squatters have it easy. Leaseholders make a significant investment, must pay taxes, must obey environmental regulations for waste disposal and must make their lease payments. Squatters make a small investment, don't pay taxes, thumb their noses at environmental regulations and don't have to pay a penny to any level of government.

Until there is a change in responsibility for the lands in question - either through devolution or establishment of aboriginal self-government so that First Nations can manage the land and collect lease payments - it is up to the existing regulatory authorities to take meaningful steps to address the issue.

Cracking down on squatters and forcing them off the property they illegally inhabit is the only option to prevent the practice from becoming even more widespread.

It's time a strongly-worded message be sent to those who feel immune from the long arm of the law and methods must be developed to have them removed forthwith.

For one brief moment earlier this month, most of the hockey talk around the Kivalliq was on the game itself and what may come to pass, thanks to Rankin Inlet's Jordin Tootoo signing with the Red Wings.

Lost in the excitement of Tootoo signing with Detroit was the brain-numbing chatter on the insane amount of money being thrown at hockey players these days.

The biggest free-agent bucks this year were thrown at New Jersey forward Zach Parise and Nashville Predators defenceman Ryan Suter by the Minnesota Wild.

The two received 13-year, $98-million contracts to take their considerable hockey skills to the North Star State or, if you prefer, the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

And considerable skills are, indeed, what both possess. But $98 million worth?

While both are star players in the NHL, neither are of the superstar level one would historically equate top dollars to.

And, even then, $98 million, really?

The problem with the amount of money being thrown around by NHL owners - who continually figure out ways to circumvent the very rules they staged a lockout over to get in place - is that it can actually ruin the game for you if you dwell on it too much.

That's especially true when it comes to players who have no-trade or no-movement clauses in their contracts.

If you've signed on the dotted line for whatever amount (you put your number here: $10 million? $40 million? $98 million? $104 million?), at least have the inner-fortitude to play for whatever team wants your services bad enough to dole out that kind of cash.

In fact, with rumours swirling around another work stoppage during the current negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA, it's hard to fathom just what else the players may feel they deserve.

A small city perhaps? Their own planet?

But, to cut the NHL players some slack, it's all a matter of perspective.

If you have an annual salary of about $90,000, you probably feel pretty good about the amount of bacon you earn.

That is until you realize a number of Canada's top executives bring that home in one single day at work.

Suddenly your bacon tastes a little sour.

Which is why, if you're a hockey fan, you're far better off to focus on how Tootoo now has a legitimate chance to bring Lord Stanley's mug to visit Rankin one day.

Or, how Minnesota's signing of Parise and Suter will affect the balance of power in the Western Conference. In fact, nothing will turn you off the game faster than paying too much attention to a group of billionaire owners arguing over revenues with a group of multi-millionaire players.

Unless it's a story about two European players wanting to win the Stanley Cup so bad, they're willing to pay the price and party until the wee hours of the morning, in the middle of the playoffs, to obtain their goal.

Such a tale of devotion to the sport we Canadians place above all others just warms your heart, doesn't it?

It's not as easy to be a hockey fanatic as it once was, and, if we here in the Kivalliq are to remain the hotbed of hockey lovers in Nunavut, the challenge is to keep our eyes on the pucks, not the bucks.

Let's go Red Wings!

The Dehcho First Nations' quest for a land claims agreement has been a long-running exercise in frustration.

In that vein, although it's understandable that some groups might feel it's time to approach the negotiations in a new way, setting out on their own is not the way to do it.

Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Wrigley is not putting itself on stronger ground by breaking away from the Dehcho Process and attempting to negotiate its own land claim, a decision its chief announced at the Dehcho Annual Assembly in June. In fact, not only has it weakened its own position, it has also weakened the position of the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) as a whole.

Dehcho leaders have often accused the federal government of divide-and-conquer tactics, and by allowing Ottawa to drive a wedge between DFN communities, it will only benefit Canada's negotiators.

By Chief Tim Lennie's own admission, Pehdzeh Ki First Nation has not had the resources in the past to effectively participate in Dehcho negotiations, which has caused some confusion and added to frustrations.

It's hard to believe that by flying solo, Lennie thinks he will improve either financial or human resources, especially considering the federal government has been consistently chipping away at the negotiating budget over the years - now at $700,000 from $2.5 million.

It's good that the Pehdzeh Ki chief took the issue to his constituents and we recognize his move represents the wishes of the majority. However, the majority has voted to become a minority, just as Fort Liard has done by leaving the regional group to go it alone.

The fractured nature of the region won't speed things up. More negotiations will only take more time, cost more money and result in more frustration.

DFN must focus on the goal of achieving self-determination for its people and to that end, the region would be best served by standing united.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) made moves to improve its election turnout this year by opening polls in Edmonton, Whitehorse and Yellowknife. The move came from a recommendation adopted following the 2008 election when hundreds of votes were mailed in after the deadline and could not be counted, said Barb Crawford, GTC returning officer.

This year, 205 votes were collected by the new polls. However, there were nearly 500 votes that were received late from various communities and could not be counted. Had those votes been on time, the voter turnout would have surged to 70 per cent from the record 50 per cent reported this year.

Considering new president Robert Alexie Jr. received 697 votes - 338 more than his closest challenger - those votes had the potential to change the outcome of the election.

Crawford said changes for the next election, such as additional polls in Edmonton, are being considered.

It's unrealistic to expect polls in small communities where only a few voters might live, but measures must be taken to ensure ballots are not being sent in for naught, especially when they account for such a large number of votes.

At just 13 years old, Nunavut, like most teens, just can't wait to be seen as an adult and treated as such by its peers.

Premier Eva Aariak is pushing hard for devolution, and when control of the territory's resources is realized it will bring new sources of money, a new level of independence and new responsibilities.

There's still some self-discovery and introspection the territory must experience as it grows.

In the Nunavut Day special report tucked into last week's Nunavut News/North, the territory's leaders, past and present, as well as the residents we profiled, offered slightly differing views on Nunavut's progress to date and its challenges still unconquered.

English is still largely the language of business, as former MP and MLA Jack Anawak pointed out. Though Inuit languages are not on the verge of dying, they're not as ingrained in the system as, say, French is in Quebec. Language is the vehicle of culture, and without it playing a larger role in the territory's governance, the influence of Inuit culture in the GN will remain secondary.

Former Iqaluit mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik pointed out the growing need for buildings and a port in a capital city that underestimated how much it would grow.

Aariak made reference to the housing crisis, a problem at the root of larger social issues, such as education. As the premier points out, it's hard to study for school in a one-family home occupied by three or hour families. These are problems that can by solved by the almighty dollar, but with the federal government as its main benefactor, it's hard for our sparsely-populated territory to get everything it needs, especially when we need so much.

Access to food has been pushed to the forefront of discussion among Nunavummiut, spurred by protests and social media fervor - it's an issue that's tied in with nutrition and obesity problems in the North. Junk food remains, in many cases, cheaper than nutritious food - why not boost the prices of chips, pop and candy to offset the costs of unprocessed meats, vegetables and fruit?

The big, often-related issues of addictions, mental health and violence may take generations to overcome, but an increase in economic activity and more money being brought into the territory will help alleviate this.

The territory must foster the aspirations of Nunavummiut. To that end, helping them achieve success in whatever field they pursue. Be it arts or engineering, mining or fishing, politics or plumbing, the opportunities must be here, not elsewhere.

Nunavut has a long journey ahead of it, and there are still hurdles to clear. While we steel ourselves for the continued expedition, we must also take stock of how far we've come, not forgetting that some of our accomplishments once looked like insurmountable obstacles.

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