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Questions raised by Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny about a fatal truck accident on Highway 3 last month expose some serious holes in the government's capacity to rescue people involved in highway traffic collisions.

There are 1,758 km of all-season highway in the territory. Not a lot when compared to other jurisdictions down south but interspersing the infrequent number of communities along this highway system is a whole lot of nothing, not to mention often treacherous and unpaved roads.

Get into an accident on the Yellowhead Highway in Alberta and the response is bound to be nearly instantaneous. Few areas are without cellphone coverage, the traffic volume is much higher and emergency medical resources are more numerous and better equipped.

Yellowknife likes to view itself as a modern, cosmopolitan city with all the amenities to be found down south. But what we learned from the terrible head-on tractor-trailer collision on Highway 3 that killed two men and left another badly injured Feb. 19 is that all those conveniences quickly disappear when one leaves the city limits.

Passersby had to flag down a snowplow driver, who called ahead to Fort Providence for help - some 84 km away. Dolynny says MLAs were told that an air ambulance helicopter in Yellowknife was inexplicably told to stand down. Instead, a van from the health centre in Fort Providence - with unknown emergency service capabilities - was sent to retrieve the injured driver on this lonely stretch of highway west of Behchoko. He was taken back to Fort Providence and then flown to Yellowknife and then medevaced to Edmonton - several hours after the accident. That travel time could have been significantly reduced had he been flown directly to Yellowknife.

The Good Samaritans who stopped to help the man described him as being "pretty banged up." He was coughing up blood, leading them to believe he had suffered internal injuries. Considering the remoteness of the accident location, the extent of his injuries, and the time it took to reach him and get him to hospital, he should count himself lucky to be alive.

The Department of Health and Social Services has so far refused to comment on the emergency response to the accident, stating that it is awaiting the outcome of an RCMP investigation.

Health Minister Tom Beaulieu, meanwhile, admits "there is a gap in the system." One of the problems he alluded to was a lack of protocols between various departments and agencies, including the RCMP and community governments, about how to activate resources such helicopters and floatplanes when an emergency arises. In Alberta the decision is made by a physician.

Residents can accept that our Northern isolation means an immediate rescue on our highway system may not always be possible. But there is no excuse for not executing a speedy response with a helicopter or an airplane in the event of a serious accident.

This is a remedy that should not be left wanting just because accidents in the territory are few - 697 in 2011 - compared to southern jurisdictions. Northerners deserve the peace of mind that when the call goes out for help, they, or their loved ones, will receive an immediate response - even if help is hours away.

In late February, the Heritage Centre Society in Fort Simpson looked not into the past, but into the future.

The society held a series of meetings in order to make plans. What emerged was an idea for a society that would develop and co-ordinate projects related to heritage and culture throughout the region.

A society or organization of this sort is something that the Deh Cho needs. This is a region rich in history both before and after colonization.

This history, however, is at risk. The history in the most peril is that of the Dene people.

With each elder that dies, a little more history about the way things used to be and how people are connected are lost. Some work has already been done in this area.

Many First Nations in the Deh Cho have conducted traditional knowledge studies to map areas of importance and record traditional names of features surrounding their communities. Some First Nations have also recorded interviews with elders.

In Fort Liard, the hamlet undertook the Acho Dene Koe Elders Community Connection. That project traced as far back as possible the genealogy of all the families in the community and their connections to one another.

All of these projects are a start, but there is more work to be done. The Deh Cho needs a society or organization that can dedicate itself solely to the protection and promotion of heritage and culture. Individual First Nations are too busy and have too few resources to take on all the projects that they may like to see done.

In the future, if the Dehcho Process is settled, the regional government may dedicate a department or resources to this area. But in the meanwhile, steps have to be taken to gather and record the history that is slipping away. Even taking stock of what has been done in order to determine what areas are most in need of research would be a start.

What it will all come down to in the end, as so many things do, is desire and determination. If Deh Cho residents value their history and the history of the region, they will work to support initiatives that are undertaken to promote and preserve those things.

The Heritage Centre Society, or the society that may be created from it, will be a beginning. The region has a lot of history to celebrate and be proud of and it would be a shame if any of it was needlessly lost.

I had what might be one of my first real "Northern" moments on the weekend.

I was chatting on Skype with my youngest sister and her husband when it happened. They mentioned their youngest boy was working on a project about exploring the North, and I perked my ears up.

What I heard next both irritated me and made me despair a little for our educational system.

My nephew's teacher – in geography, of all things – didn't believe he had an uncle working in Inuvik. The reasoning for the disbelief was even more appalling.

"Well, no one goes to Inuvik in the winter," the teacher apparently said.

Later, after my blood pressure calmed down a little, I could see some of the humour in the conversation. However, it's mostly a sad commentary on how Canadians in general view the North.

That conversation came on the heels of me attending a tourism meeting earlier in the week where Jackie Challis, the town's economic development and tourism manager, touched on the same general theme.

She said she's often contacted by people who are curious about Inuvik and the North but have some serious misconceptions. Challis talked about some conversations she had with people while attending the recent NWT Days in Ottawa.

"It's so hard to get to Inuvik," she had one person tell her.

Her answer was priceless.

"No it's not, you just get on a plane, and then another plane."

Someone else asked how one survives the cold weather in the North. Considering that Ottawa is one of the world's coldest capital cities, I'm not sure the person asking that question had an understanding of irony.

Challis also had a witty answer to that question

"Well, in Ottawa, don't you put on a big, heavy coat in the winter? Well, in Inuvik, we just wear bigger, heavier coats."

Those answers made me laugh out loud because they are so true. Yet if this is the way places in the Arctic such as Inuvik really are viewed, it is kind of sad and silly – and very much an indictment of either our educational system or how much attention people pay to what they learn in class.

So in response to my nephew's dilemma, I e-mailed him some photos that will hopefully stomp on his teacher's disbelief.

You never know, though. I had one person on Facebook suggest – jokingly, I hope – that I was manipulating my photos while hiding out in seclusion in Ontario.

Sigh. I think we have a lot of work to do.

An option to protect the health of female students in Yellowknife Catholic schools may finally get the consideration it deserves.

A largely brand new slate of trustees elected last October decided Feb. 21 to re-open the debate on the school district providing a vaccine to prevent the spread of the sexually-transmitted human papilloma-virus (HPV).

Nothing has been decided yet. However, trustee Steven Voytilla should be commended for revisiting the issue after it came up at a parent advisory committee meeting.

Only one trustee from the previous school board, which decided in September 2009 not to have the vaccine administered, remains. Amy Simpson voted in favour of the defeated motion last time it was debated.

Trustee John Dalton rightly said Feb. 21 that this is not an issue which the board must decide by itself. Instead, interest groups and parents are invited to make presentations at a board meeting April 17.

In 2009, trustees avoided debating the merits of a vaccine for a virus spread through sexual contact, when the Catholic faith preaches abstinence. Instead they focused on the science and laboratory testing of the vaccine, with some saying that the pharmaceutical company producing the Gardasil vaccine had fast-tracked trials while ignoring serious side-effects. However, the scientific community now backs the drug.

There are two important points to consider. First, even if the school board decides to make the vaccine available to female students, initially from Grade 4 to Grade 12 and in following years for Grade 4 students only, parents must give final approval.

Second, the public health unit of the Department of Health and Social Services is recommending the vaccine be administered because of a high-risk population in Yellowknife.

We encourage parents and other interested parties to let their views be known at the upcoming meeting.

All school children in Yellowknife deserve to have the same access to vaccinations.

With Nunavut's legislative assembly back in session, there's no shortage of grist for the public mill emanating from the capital these days.

Unlike in party politics, election years don't necessarily bring with them a windfall of spending sprees from our elected MLAs.

So it was really no big surprise to hear Finance Minister Keith Peterson announce a projected surplus of $21.9 million in his budget address this past week, although two budgets in a row with a projected surplus borders on the miraculous in our territory.

And, it seems even a few taboos are starting to be broken by our elected representatives these days.

Peterson went so far as to credit the latest tax raise on tobacco products for bringing an additional $2.3 million into Nunavut's coffers.

Oddly enough, that works out to the same amount earmarked for the Country Food Assistance Program ($900,000) and the Internal Sustainable Development Committee ($1.4 million), to aid the Nunavut Impact Review Board's assessments of mining projects.

Most politicians don't like to publicly spout about all the good things that come from the outrageous taxation placed on legal tobacco products, for fear it destroys the myth of higher taxes leading to more people quitting.

Governments don't like it because they have to fall back on the same myth to justify the next sin tax hike.

It's the same reason they get so mad at rogue doctors who have the audacity to point out the costs associated with obesity far outweigh those associated with tobacco products in this country.

It simply isn't in vogue to ostracize those among us who can't say no to super-sizing every meal - yet!

A read of the Government of Nunavut's (GN) procurement activity report shows it remains busy phasing out the little guy in the Kivalliq.

M&T Enterprises in Rankin Inlet is the only company remaining in the region with a GN fuel-delivery-services contract other than the Co-op chain.

Hopefully, the North West Co. won't notice the Co-op's gains and decide to get involved with expediting or contracting to secure its own cash cow give it a huge advantage over smaller competitors, or our regional businessmen are doomed.

Of course, there's the whole Nutrition North thing brought upon us by our own airlines not wanting to deal with individual food orders.

Call it a hunch, but that program should keep North West shareholders happy for the foreseeable future.

The next few months should prove even more revealing as our territorial election draws ever closer.

Should she be re-elected, and should she decide she'd like to be premier for another few years, Eva Aariak will face some stiff competition from the Kivalliq.

All but one Kivalliq minister, present and resigned, have been less than enamoured with Aariak's performance, and tents are already being pitched in at least one camp of change, should both current minister and premier be re-elected and seek our territory's top position.

It will be interesting to see if either camp has pitched its tents on a field of mud the other side can reveal before votes are cast and hands raised in support.

BP's Deep Horizon's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 has become the tar-laden poster child for the danger's of offshore drilling. Recent consultations in Inuvik about potential drilling in the Beaufort Sea forces us to ask: What if a similar disaster happened in an Arctic environment?

Imperial Oil has stated in the past that a blow-out similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico could take as long as a year to fix. The reason for such a delay is the short drilling season in the region.

Over the three months the BP well was gushing oil, it spilled 795 million litres. The result was extensive damage to marine life, wildlife and human health. Simple scale math would amplify an Arctic spill by fourfold. Such a disaster would have long-lasting, if not permanently-damaging, effects on the marine and shore life in the Beaufort Delta.

If the ecological damage isn't enough of a concern, there is also the fact that companies operating in Canada are capped at $40 million liability in the North - unless negligence is proven. Considering the BP spill cost 1,000 times that figure in only three months, the liability could leave Canadian taxpayers on the hook for more than a trillion dollars, not to mention dealing with the costs of the environmental effects for years to follow.

Oil companies are exploring around the NWT for new reserves. The Sahtu region is getting the bulk of exploration money and there is the expectation of a major oil play in the region. A 2008 report published by Drummond Consulting stated that the Sahtu Settlement Region harbours approximately 301.6 million barrels of recoverable oil and 832.4 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

It is there the GNWT should focus its efforts.

As it stands, offshore drilling is too risky in the NWT. Environmental conditions combined with a lack of infrastructure, most notably year-round road access, create too much uncertainty in the event of a major incident.

Simply put, offshore drilling in the Beaufort Sea should not be a priority for the NWT until the safety, liability and technological issues are addressed.

It was great to see the community of Ulukhaktok send a team to the NWT Power Corporation Junior Cager basketball championships in Yellowknife last month. This was the first time the hamlet has sent a team to the event and it always bodes well for the future of sport in the NWT when smaller communities develop competitive teams.

It is also valuable for youth to experience a major tournament where they can test their skills, but more than that, meet peers from other parts of the NWT. Keeping children in the NWT active is vital to help prevent obesity and diabetes but also to encourage healthy lifestyles into their adult years. Competitive sports are one way to motivate youth to participate. Participation also encourages them to take the reins as coaches later in life, which will pass skills down to next generations. Continued development means higher calibre play and the chance some of these athletes will also get to experience more high-profile events such as the Arctic Winter Games or Western Canadian Games.

We hope to see Ulukhaktok athletes back next year to compete in the Cager and hopefully other territorial championships.

Keeping language alive begins and ends inside one's home.

The language children use at home often becomes the one they are most comfortable with, and the one they are most likely to use raising their own children.

We applaud Pond Inlet hamlet receptionist Jeannie Maktar, featured in last week's edition of Nunavut News/North ("Languages on the line," Feb. 25) for encouraging Inuktitut use at home and in her community, which is especially effective in her position on the front line of the hamlet office.

We also recognize and applaud the many mothers and fathers who are keeping Inuit languages alive in their homes and communities. This is a cycle that must continue.

According to census data, there were 21,230 Inuktitut speakers and 285 Inuinnaqtun speakers in Nunavut in 2011 - 68 per cent of the territory's 31,765 residents. In the 2006 census, 20,185 of the territory's 29,325 residents spoke Inuktitut as their mother tongue, and 290 spoke Inuinnaqtun.

Whether Inuktitut is thriving is arguable - it's certainly widely present in Nunavut communities, but it's not the main language of business in the GN and it's not present in much of the entertainment youth enjoy. Until Inuktitut has a use outside the home and beyond one's circle of friends, it is still at risk.

Inuinnaqtun's fate is more dire. With only 285 speakers - down five from 2006 - the language, used mostly in the Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk area, is obviously in danger. Inuit and non-Inuit alike must be vigilant and use these languages whenever possible, whether it be an Inuk mother using it at home or a non-Inuit government worker slipping the word or two they've learned into their daily conversations.

There is much to be proud of within the education system in Nunavut, such as the programs highlighted in last week's Degrees of Success newspaper insert, but graduation rates still need to climb.

Nunavut is still struggling to achieve a 50 per cent high school graduation rate. In 2011, 228 of the territory's 565 students graduated.

While those who did graduate deserve to feel pride in their achievement, we must not forget those who have been left behind.

Surely the territory's educators are striving to improve graduation rates, but the onus must be put on the parents who have a responsibility to help their children succeed.

The government also can't rest on its laurels until the graduation rate exceeds the rest of Canada.

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