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MLAs from outside of Yellowknife may not like the strong rhetoric but Weledeh's Bob Bromley, Frame Lake's Wendy Bisaro, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins and Range Lake's Daryl Dolynny are doing their jobs by questioning more money going toward construction of an all-weather road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.

The legislative assembly's committee of the whole approved an extra $65 million for the capital project on March 11, which brings the total estimated cost to $299 million.

"It's visions of the Deh Cho Bridge kerfuffle all over again," Bromley said in a later interview, referring to the span across the Mackenzie River which ended up costing $202 million by its completion date, up from early estimates of $55 million.

Granted, there are differences. Most of the money for the bridge came from Government of the Northwest Territories coffers while the highway is being cost-shared, with the federal government contributing about 66.6 per cent, or about $200 million, while the GNWT will pay for about 33.3 per cent, or about $100 million.

Still, that's a lot of coin and all of it is funded by the taxpayer, regardless of the level of government providing the money.

And the costs are no where near set in stone. Only 85 per cent of the road design is complete, a source for gravel has not been decided, roughly 12 km of the road will travel over glacial ice, which presents its own unique challenges, and then there is the issue of the Inuvialuit wanting money because the road crosses its claim settlement lands.

MLAs outside of Yellowknife, and especially those from the Western Arctic and the Beaufort Delta in particular, see the road as a necessity and are thankful that the Harper government is supportive of a land link to the Arctic Ocean.

Yet scrutiny is essential to keep a project of this magnitude on track, both financially and to ensure a reasonable timeline is achieved. Part of that task falls to the ordinary MLAs from Yellowknife who, through their questions in the legislative assembly last week, indicated they are up to the task.

We encourage Yellowknife MLAs to keep their microscopes handy and not be afraid to be vocal if and when this ambitious project looks like it is coming off the rails.

It is clear from the humongous crowds of people who gathered for Long John Jamboree over the weekend that organizers have hit upon a winning formula.

Seemingly everybody who didn't head out of town for spring break spent at least part of their weekend at the jamboree. Undoubtedly, one of the main attractions was the Fire and Ice bonfire and the fireworks show, which had traffic backed all the way up School Draw Avenue.

There were many other great events too, old Caribou Carnival standbys such as the Ugly Truck and Dog Competition, a skijoring race, and a spectacular ice carving competition.

The public interest shows us two things: there were lots of great activities for people to see and take part in, and, after the long winter, residents are craving for something to do and will come if it's worthwhile. This year's jamboree, despite the bone-chilling cold over the weekend, definitely fit the bill. Weather is an issue, however, that must not be ignored.

In last Wednesday's editorial, we encouraged organizers to emulate Folk on the Rocks' success at maintaining enthusiasm at the board level, ensuring fresh faces are there to take over when burnout inevitably occurs. As the jamboree is also a weather-dependent event, we also encourage organizers to prepare against the cold as much as possible.

True lots of people came last weekend, but for many, particularly those with young children, they didn't stay for long. Despite organizers' best efforts, some tents - the kids' tents, beer/blow your socks off tent - were just too cold to remain in for long.

This can be chalked up as a learning experience but organizers should remember well cold weather was the nail in the coffin for some of the last few Caribou Carnivals.

There's nothing like a good old double standard when it comes to the sexes.

A certain former Nunavut premier must have shook his head in disbelief after the offcolour joke blurted out by British Columbia Premier Christy Clark at a public event earlier this month.

Clark fought with a microphone that just wouldn't stay upright for her while addressing a public gathering.

The oh-so-colourful premier couldn't resist telling the crowd she wouldn't say the limp-like microphone reminded her of her exhusband.

Now, let's be honest.

Can you imagine the public indignation had that been a male leader making a similar remark while wrestling with a pair of wellformed balloons that seemed to deflate in size after being unveiled?

Our former premier can imagine it, after one illadvised profane insult set him on the path to political destruction.

And this is certainly no oneoff for Clark, a premier who just can't seen to stay away from controversy when it comes to sexuality.

Yes, this is the same Clark who billionaire Richard Branson asked to go on a date of nude kite surfing.

And the same Clark who also said publicly it was better to be an attractive mother who men would like to have intimate relationships with than to be a cougar.

So, it seems the rules are different and the bar set considerably higher when it comes to the commentary of those members of the fairer sex who hold political office.

Maybe, with the call of equal pay for equal work having been met in most quarters, it's time for a call of equal punishment for equal rudeness and lack of taste.

The same goes for all the attention being paid to stay-at-home dads during these ever-changing social times.

Not long ago, during the rise of feminism, stay-at-home moms were either touted as domestic heroes who put their families ahead of personal fulfilment, or portrayed as loving women being taken advantage of by their sexist husbands.

Fast forward to today and a rising number of dads are staying home to care for the kids, if their wives earn a pay cheque that keeps the family afloat or better.

But there are no male domestic heroes being lauded for putting the care of their kids ahead of personal gain.

Far from it.

Stay-at-home dads are portrayed in many circles as a bunch of losers who have put all the pressure of being the breadwinner of the family and earning a living squarely on the shoulders of their wives.

Their masculinity is brought into question, and it's a stigma that's not going to disappear anytime soon.

And, if you are a stay-at-home dad, good luck finding a support group to help you overcome the challenges you face.

For all the talk of equal opportunity, equal partners and equal standards, the pendulum certainly seems a little out of whack.

Maybe it's the price men pay for all those decades of living atop a man's world.

Or, maybe, it's simply a case of women being no more able to handle true social elevation then men.

Either way, true equality between the sexes remains a myth.

Just ask any former premier you know the next time Premier Clark comes up with another limp one-liner.

There's no question that after decades of discussion, the transfer of authority over public lands, natural resources and onshore waterways from the federal government to the GNWT is closer with the signing of the draft devolution agreement March 11.

The recent negotiations involved the federal and territorial governments, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Northwest Territories Metis Nation, the Sahtu Secretariat Inc., the Gwich'in Tribal Council and the Tlicho Government.

But as the government prepares for public "consultation" meetings, it's unclear whether changes can be made to the final agreement.

Premier Bob McLeod said in the legislative assembly that the agreement "is a take it or leave it," while the plain language summary of the deal offered online last week by the Office of Devolution states the agreement has not been formally approved and "may be subject to change before it is signed."

One issue both MLAs and residents have flagged is the federal government's continued control of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board - choosing who sits on the board and administering environmental assessments. The territory will be liable for cleanup of new development waste sites after devolution. The federal government keeps the reins for approving projects but is devolving the clean up costs of bad decisions to the GNWT. That's a giant liability for the people of the NWT.

McLeod is firm that the purpose of the information sessions and engagement strategy is to explain the content of the devolution agreement before it is approved and signed. He insists this is a done deal and it's up to the federal government, the GNWT and the aboriginal parties who have signed on to make the final decision expected during the next sitting of the legislative assembly in May and June.

McLeod seems to be taking a page from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hardline tactics. If the territory had party politics, the premier could easily tout his steadfastness to this immense transition of power. But, with the legislative assembly's consensus model, people may well get their backs up, regardless of the merits of the deal.

A motion in the legislative assembly by Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley asking for a plebiscite to decide if devolution should go to a public vote was defeated 14-2 with two MLAs absent. So it appears the majority of MLAs are backing McLeod's rigid stance - for now.

In the next couple of months, devolution and all it stands for will be brought forward and dissected.

It's up to the public to become informed and attend the upcoming information sessions. It is also the public's responsibility to tell MLAs if they don't agree with the devolution deal and pressure for changes and/or further negotiations.

The deal can only be signed if the majority of our MLAs agree. The people of the NWT must now be heard.

MLAs are duty bound to vote yes or no to the devolution deal according to the stated will of the voters.

While student success in Nunavut depends on co-operation between teacher, parents and students, it should be marks that decide whether a student will move on to the next academic grade.

In 2012, out of 565 Grade 12 students who could have graduated, only 228 did, according to the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics. We still haven't had a year in which at least 50 per cent of those enrolled in Grade 12 graduate, though we've come close.

Obviously the system has not yet figured out how to set Nunavummiut students up for success, and the policy of social promotion, brought about in 2008, has slashed the consequences for not completing, or mastering work or not showing up.

The policy, in place for students during grades one through nine, puts the decision of whether a student will go on to the next grade in the hands of teaching staff, district education authority officials and parents.

With so many involved in this one decision, a child's long-term welfare might not be everyone's goal. In some cases, a parent might not want their child to be stigmatized by having them fail - a stigma surely made worse in a system where hardly any students fail - or they might themselves feel embarrassment, as if their child's success is a reflection of their own parenting.

District education authority officials might feel pressure from the government to adhere to the policy of social promotion to keep failure rates low. Teachers might feel pressure from their employers to do the same, as South Baffin MLA Fred Schell mentioned when he brought this topic up in the legislative assembly earlier this month. Or perhaps teachers just want a problem student out of their class.

Responding to criticism of this policy in the National Post last week, Premier Eva Aariak wrote in a guest column that preference is given to passing the students and monitoring their progress.

Without a doubt there are excellent parents and teachers in Nunavut who are savvy to the needs of the children in their care, and are striving to help those children succeed. But expecting educational success based on the opinions of a committee rather than meeting recognized academic standards is dangerous.

The place for policies that stress flexibility should only exist in the methods of education, allowing individual strategies with the sole goal of helping students meet national education standards.

When not given the tools they need to succeed, and instead being passed through the system with no real consequences ever applied to not doing work or not showing up or not meeting national standards, students are being set up to fail.

In her National Post column, Aariak wrote time will tell as to whether this policy is working. Logic suggests that with the students of today being set up to fail, positive results won't be apparent until the next generation, if ever.

Hopefully our elected leaders will have the political drive and backbone to change this policy before then.

A shocking revelation coming out of the coroner's inquest into Karen Lander's death earlier this month was that five of the 12 bullets fired struck a neighbouring home while the occupants were inside watching the evening news.

Three of those bullets penetrated the house, one of them smashing through a large bay window and into a coffee table. Another landed in a bedroom, a third flew into the kitchen and into a bookcase. Two lodged in the exterior walls.

The shots came some five hours after the standoff began. Police knew long before that Lander was possibly armed and a threat to her neighbours. Yet the homeowners say they heard not a word from the RCMP the entire time, even though they were only two doors down the street from the Glick Court home where Lander was contemplating her awful choice.

Other residents were warned of the incident by police but none were evacuated, which is what should have happened, according to Staff Sgt. Brent Secondiak of Medicine Hat Police Services, the third-party investigator brought in to study the shooting.

People may debate whether the RCMP had to shoot Lander. But there is no question that innocent people's lives were put at risk that day.

Admitting a mistake is the first requirement of preventing another. The RCMP has yet to acknowledge the serious errors made that day and steps taken, if any, to correct them.

If not for the inquest, it's quite possible the public would have never known about the errant bullets. Police said nothing about it in the days after the shooting or after the Medicine Hat Police Services cleared officers of wrong-doing, despite hints at the existence of a "substantial" but still secret report.

The fact that none of this came to light fuels the perception that police officers investigating police officers is the same as police officers protecting police officers.

In this instance, the police need no protection. They were doing their job to the best of their abilities. When such an effort puts the public in jeopardy, the flawed policies and procedure that were applied must be altered so next time the public is not put at risk. That's truly protecting police officers.

Last month, RCMP G Division Supt. Wade Blake bolstered public confidence by ordering his detachment to reopen an investigation into an assault complaint against a city bylaw officer after Yellowknifer revealed witnesses had not been interviewed by RCMP investigators. His full explanation was printed in Yellowknifer. He has so far declined to comment about this much more serious case.

He did, however, indicate in his press release dated March 7 regarding the Lander shooting, "the RCMP welcomes any opportunity to examine existing procedures and policies as they apply to front-line policing and police operations in order to ensure that the best policing services to the public are being provided. We are also committed to considering the advisability, feasibility and practicality of any recommendations that are addressed to the RCMP."

We hope that he follows through on his commitment, since he also indicated in the same press release that "public confidence in the police is essential to the RCMP's ability to serve the public."

We agree. The public ought to feel assured that when the police are called into action, it's not them that people should be afraid of.

It would be a special and educational experience to be able to look at the world through the eyes and with the experiences of Pauline Bonnetrouge.

Pauline celebrated her 100th birthday with members of her family in Fort Simpson on March 10. Leon Bonnetrouge, one of her sons, said he thinks about all of the things his mother has seen during her life.

Pauline's experiences are an example of just how much can change in the course of a life, particularly a long one. Her century of living is also a cautionary tale of how hard it is to predict what will happen in the future.

Pauline has lived through and seen revolutions in methods of transportation, technology, medicine and culture, among other things. When Pauline was born around 1913, dog sleds, walking and boats were the primary methods of transportation in the Deh Cho. She saw highways roll across the territory and the spreading use of trucks and cars.

Food supply and variety has also changed greatly. When she was young, Pauline and her family would have been primarily self-sufficient when it came to food, relying on things they could hunt and gather from the land with the addition of some store-bought goods such as flour or sugar.

Fast forward to the present when almost the opposite is true with most Deh Cho residents relying on grocery stores and supplementing their purchases with hunting or fishing. Processed, prepared food has become the norm.

Almost every aspect of life has changed during Pauline's 100 years. It's astounding to think of the adaptations she's made and new skills she would have learned throughout her life.

The lesson for us is that there's no real way to know what lies ahead in our lifetimes, let alone those of the children who are born today. When Pauline was a child, who could have foreseen iPods, iPads and iPhones and the way devices such as those are changing our lives and the way we interact with each other.

Pauline has seen drastic changes sweep through the Deh Cho and undoubtedly there will be many more changes to come. The Deh Cho in 100 years may barely be recognizable to its current residents.

There's a brave new world ahead and it will only be with concerted effort that we will be able to shape it in a way that will benefit the coming generations who will call the Deh Cho home.

Like most people last week, I was greatly saddened by the sudden passing of Stompin' Tom Connors.

I don't know whether he played in or visited around Inuvik. I do know the Mukluk Shoe song though, and its references to Tuktoyaktuk.

Now let me make myself clear. As I grew up, the music of Stompin' Tom didn't exactly run to my taste. Like many Canadians, I found his repertoire almost embarrassing, even as it took root at some elusive, almost fundamental level.

It's only been in the last decade or two, largely because Stompin' Tom is a favourite of my wife Charlene, that I've gotten over that aversion to his music and can enthusiastically indulge in it. If I had to be honest, though, my conversion started on the long ride from Moosonee to Cochrane in Ontario, on the legendary Polar Bear Express back in the late 1990s.

A piano player was in the entertainment coach, and he knew a wide variety of the man's songs. A rollicking ride through the endless miles of black spruce forest seemed the perfect backdrop to that evening, and it's one I've never forgotten.

Since then I've travelled a fair bit across Canada, seeing many of the sights mentioned in his songs. That's given me new appreciation for the music I now find poignant.

Yet even in those years where I avoided his music I had a huge and abiding respect for the man for a few simple reasons: the sheer ferocity of his individualism, his refusal to compromise his intrinsic non-conformity, his scorn of walking any company or mainstream line, and his rousing passion for all things Canadian. These things poke to me at some elemental depth.

Here was a man who didn't let self-doubt and concerns about what others thought of him cloud his judgment or alter his behaviour. I cheered back in 1978, when I was barely aware of the Juno awards, as he handed back his trophies instead of shutting up and compromising his principles.

Stompin' Tom might well have been, to use the now-overworked phrase, the most "authentic" person we will ever see in Canadian public life.

We may never see another like him, and that's the real tragedy in his passing. To quote another, albeit much-scorned, Canadian musical success story, Nickelback: "against the grain should be a way of life."

While I'm not a particularly religious person, I take delight in picturing him haranguing God and the apostles in the middle of stomping some heavenly plywood. And if he's gone to the other place, I can picture the devil playing in his backup band and enjoying every minute of it.

Farewell, Tom. Now you've been everywhere.

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