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Farmers markets are as much a part of Canada's subarctic history as gold mines and dogsleds. Some residents with green thumbs plan to replant this homegrown tradition this summer in the form of the Yellowknife Commons Co-operative farmers market.

According to co-organizer Amy Lizotte, 15 vendors have signed on to the project so far. Lizotte also surveyed 450 residents to gauge their appetite for locally-grown produce and 96 per cent responded positively to the notion of a farmers market, she said.

Members of the Territorial Farmers Association began planting seedlings in greenhouses earlier this month in preparation for the market, which will also feature locally-harvested fish, wild berries and homemade products such as jams, breads and even ice cream.

But agriculture is not a spectator sport. The organizers of the farmers market, along with members of the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective and other like-minded organizations, are encouraging residents to get involved either by growing their own food or by lending unused land to other growers.

A joint $6 million agriculture investment from the GNWT and the federal government as part of the Growing Forward 2 program offers support to local growers over the next five years, which is even more incentive for residents to dig in the dirt.

The re-emergence of a local-food-production system can help bring neighbours together in the pursuit of a healthy common goal, while saving money and the environment. Shipping costs take a toll on families' grocery bills while trucks filled with lettuce and potatoes needlessly pollute the environment.

This fertile idea has already planted roots in the community. With a bit more tender loving care, Yellowknife's food-production system can catch up to more mature growing operations in the South Slave and Inuvik.

Privacy and information commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts brings up some good points in her highly-critical report on the expanding role of digital medical records in the NWT.

For instance, is it really appropriate for the Department of Health and Social Services' director of social programs to have high-level access to people's personal medical records? Who should have access to extremely sensitive personal information which, according to Keenan Bengts, currently includes everyone from physicians to billing clerks - 150 employees in Yellowknife's two primary health care clinics.

Access to the system is controlled by a "role-based" hierarchy which limits the electronic records available depending on the employee's clearance level. But all 150 workers can access "encounter records" summarizing the nature of a patient's visits to the clinic. This can be anything from inquiries about screening for sexually transmitted diseases to psychiatric diagnoses.

Naturally, with so many employees viewing the records, the temptation to gossip about some of this information might be too much for some people, especially in a city as small as Yellowknife.

The Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority appears to have recognized this might be a problem. It has ordered all employees to sign a confidentiality agreement, and all log-ins are recorded to identify the employees accessing the files. The system is also audited once a week for inappropriate access.

People close to the electronic medical system, including Yellowknife physician Dr. Ewan Affleck, have offered impassioned defences of it. He argues the system protects patients by providing immediate up-to-date information when a patient's life depends on it.

No doubt the health authority has the public's best interest at heart. The problem will come should a breach of privacy goes public, such as when medical records were accidentally faxed to a city media outlet on numerous occasions in 2010 and then again in July 2012.

A serious breach such as that will make it extremely difficult for the gatekeepers of the electronic medical system to regain the public's confidence in this system.

When it comes to many true Kivalliq hockey fans, the NHL's trade deadline day is kind of like an official holiday in the region.

Some use sick days, some lieu time, and others bite the bullet and use an annual day to stay home, glued to the TV set, and follow the day's proceedings.

No offence to basketball fans (when they start to allow clotheslines in the key I'm there), but, the funny part is, trade day is a lot like a basketball game in that you can often catch the last few minutes and not miss much.

TV coverage on trade day has gone insane these days, beginning around 8 a.m. and going right through until a little after the deadline at 3 p.m. Eastern (can't miss any late deals caught in a fax machine).

And, you can bet your bottom dollar those hockey fans who did go to work immediately set their computer, cellphone or iPad to a website that runs up-to-the-minute tracking all day.

It really is quite impressive when you think about it, whether you're a hockey fan or not.

Many of those watching at home spent much of the previous two or three days scouring Internet rumour sites to get the lowdown from those claiming to be "connected" on what deals are being discussed by what teams.

But, the vast majority of the time, the rumours are just that - rumours.

Only on rare occasions do the names of players truly being discussed in trade talks by rival general managers (GM) get leaked to anyone.

There's nothing that will alienate a player from the team he's playing for quicker then to find out his GM has been trying to move him.

It's that whole being-made-to feel-wanted routine.

While there are a fair number of Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Senators and Jets fans in the Kivalliq, they pale significantly in comparison to the number of Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens fans.

They were among the most disappointed of all fans on trade day, with neither club doing much of any significance other than the Leafs picking up stay-at-home defenceman Ryan O'Byrne from the Colorado Avalanche.

In fact, more than a few probably wished they had their sick day back after Nick Kypreos cracked his 100th, and final, lame joke of the day to help fill the time.

But, rest assured, Kivalliq hockey fans are a passionate bunch and a good number of them will come down with a severe bout of the trade-day flu in 2014, once again.

It's that passion and dedication to the game that makes Kivalliq hockey so special, and why so many visiting players, coaches and officials leave here so impressed when they get to attend one of our major tournaments.

While there's a lot more to life than hockey, there's really not a heck of a lot more that can leave such a lasting impression on a group of visitors in such a short period of time.

And on a consistent basis!

That probably doesn't sit too well with those in the Kivalliq who, for whatever reason, think there's too much emphasis put on the game here, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation.

Just ask the numerous office managers who were answering their own phones this past trade day!

If a picture is truly worth 1,000 words then the Frozen Eyes Photographic Society has created enough stories to fill libraries.

Each tale is told from the perspective of our communities' youth. Few programs in the NWT can boast they have travelled to every community in the NWT but Frozen Eyes Photographic Society's workshops are nearing that landmark. In their wake are mountains of photographs depicting community life from the lens of some of our youngest citizens. More importantly, the workshops have helped to boost self-esteem and foster leadership skills with our young people by allowing them an outlet to express their creativity. They have also, to some extent, taught them a marketable skill.

Frozen Eyes members most recently travelled to the Beaufort Delta communities of Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok which were followed by exhibits of the students' work, featuring hundreds of photographs. Teachers and students alike praised the workshops and the facilitators for a top-notch experience.

A not-for-profit society, Frozen Eyes operates on the whim of government grants, community fundraising and corporate donations. A big chunk of its funding - approximately $300,000 - from Canadian Heritage went to the society's Youth Take Charge Program. Through the initiative, aspiring photographers hone their skills, develop as leaders and then offer workshops to their peers around the territory. It is a combination that truly makes Frozen Eyes a unique and valuable organization.

With its Canadian Heritage funding set to expire, the society is in the process of applying for future grants and is exploring what its direction will be in the future, according to society president Hillary Bird.

In years to come we hope to see the skills imparted by Frozen Eyes put to good use, as it helps to develop the next generation of artists, photojournalists and community documentarians, who will undoubtedly play a major role in showcasing the North and its people to the rest of the world.

Considering its past success and the contributions Frozen Eyes has made to NWT youth, we hope potential funders see the value of the organization and open their wallets to support its future endeavours.

Aboriginal languages have been steadily declining over the years, but new technology and curriculum have positioned some of our nation's oldest tongues for their best chance at revival. The number of individuals who identified an aboriginal language as their mother tongue declined by four per cent in 2011, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

However, over the past few years the number of traditional language resources - for the NWT's nine official aboriginal languages -- has soared with the advent of electronic apps for languages such Tlicho and Dene Zhatie and online dictionaries for Inuktitut, Chipewyan, Cree and more. There are also hundreds of children's books available in a variety of aboriginal languages - nearly 200 of them available on the South Slave Divisional Education Council's website.

Schools and communities are also starting to get on board with traditional language curricula and language immersion programs such as the one implemented by the Tlicho Government for kindergarten students.

Having the resources is one thing, using them to their fullest extent is another. Traditional languages will always be under constant threat from the inundation of English which is the predominant language in the media, at home and in business.

A lot of work has been done to develop language resources and now saving traditional languages is in the hands of the individual. People need to find ways to speak traditional languages at home.

A tactic for achieving this goal might be to copy a strategy used by English parents with children in French immersion. A speaker in Hay River recently described creating a place in the home referred to as the francozone - a place where French is the language of choice. Perhaps other households in the NWT should adapt the idea to create a similar zone for other languages - such as a Tlichozone or Creezone, etc.

The beautiful spring and summer seasons might not immediately jump to mind for a southerner considering an Arctic vacation, but a good marketing plan can change that.

The harsh environment of the Arctic is both a point of pride for its inhabitants and a draw for a particular type of traveller, but perhaps not tourists looking for a relaxing vacation.

Tourism operators Nunavut News/North spoke with late last month are finding the late-spring, early-summer is a perfect time for visitors looking to comfortably enjoy the midnight sun and the North's flora and fauna and beautiful landscapes - and they can still snowmobile onto the Arctic sea ice ("Floe edge tourism tip of iceberg," April 1). At the edge of the sea ice lay other attractions. Visitors might catch glimpses of narwhals, seals and polar bears.

This is a great example of tourism operators, in this case Arctic Kingdom and Polar Sea/Black Feather, honing in on the most marketable aspects of the North. What should be paired with this, under the leadership of Nunavut Tourism, is a TV advertising campaign, like Newfoundland's beautiful, sweeping and award-winning 30-second spots.

It wouldn't hurt either to make sure its online marketing is up to snuff too. The Nunavut Parks website has been partially disabled by a technical issue for weeks - not the kind of thing potential tourists want to see.

The Arctic landscape is like no other. The mountains, the rolling tundra, the sea ice and the ocean, the animals - all this beauty can't just be left to the tourist's imagination. It should be on their TVs, their newspapers, and on the Internet as a constant, beckoning reminder.

A strong marketing campaign, paired with creative tourism packages and excellent customer service, can draw a national and international crowd. It should incorporate the wintery mystique - that's a huge part of the region's character - but it should also show people the summer side of the North.

Although Baffinland's scaling down and re-entering the regulatory review phase, and Shear Diamonds Ltd. has fled the scene, things are still looking good for Nunavut's resource development industry.

As highlighted in the Nunavut Mining supplement, tucked into last week's newspaper, close to $427 million was spent on exploration in the territory last year.

This is the groundwork for a strong industry in the future.

Projects like Baffinland in the Qikiqtani, once it finally starts up, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.'s Meadowbank and proposed Meliadine projects in the Kivalliq, and the Lupin gold project in the Kitikmeot region, which owner Elgin Mining Ltd. hopes to start back up in 2015, could give Nunavummiut the experience necessary to take hold of the territorial industry in the future.

Use these opportunities for training with ambition and foresight. Multinational companies are bringing their mining experience, personnel, and cash backing to the North to conduct these operations. The more Nunavummiut that climb the ranks in these companies, the more likely mining will be conducted responsibly in the territory with maximized benefits to Inuit.

If the federal government had hoped it was winning the public relations battle over its handling of the Giant Mine file it better think again.

It's bad enough that its past policies on mining appear to have amounted to nothing more than an effort to rake in royalties. But if its clean-up plan for Giant Mine didn't cause alarm before, it should now that it seems to involve a bottomless pit of taxpayers' money. This is what's become apparent following an Alternatives North access-to-information request of a Giant Mine remediation report dated Sept. 1 that shows the projected clean-up costs at $903 million - twice as much as previously reported.

The clean-up price tag for Giant Mine has been catapulting upward like a puck in a carnival strongman game ever since the government took over the abandoned mine site in 1999.

But most assumed it would eventually strike the bell like the territorial government did with the Deh Cho Bridge, which finally rang in at $202 million after an estimated cost of $55 million the previous decade.

However, as the progress report reveals, taxpayers may have to shell out a lot more money on Giant Mine, including annual maintenance costs that presumably will carry on forever as 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide remains frozen underground. The costs have turned the Giant Mine project into a money pit for taxpayers. Canada made only $454 million from the operation - in 2002 dollars - not counting the costs of forever maintaining the site.

Unfortunately, the revised $903 million wasn't revealed during public hearings into the federal government's clean-up plans in September, even though the government has known about the true cost estimates since as early as last March.

This is nothing less than a black eye for the federal government. Despite having a small army of information people on staff, supposedly there to answer people's questions on this project, the government chose to keep a lid on this embarrassing figure. What's the point if it's only going to be dredged up by people who are already skeptical of the government's clean-up plans? Meanwhile, it has yet to explain why it has withheld the revamped figures from this newspaper and the House of Commons when asked by Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington.

The Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs can point all it wants to its information kiosks and the soft-pedalled columns it submits to this newspaper as evidence of keeping the public informed.

But when Alternatives North digs up this kind of dirt while the department is trying to strong-arm the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board and other levels of government into accepting a supposedly urgent surface cleanup this summer, it does so without an ounce of credibility.

Meanwhile, as a devolution agreement with Ottawa approaches final approval, the GNWT is insisting it can do a better job ensuring future mine sites under its watch will be cleaned up properly.

Part of the GNWT's strategy for better oversight includes enhanced site inspections and ensuring companies post the necessary bonds to cover future reclamation efforts.

"We're certainly a more accessible and transparent government," Martin Goldney, the GNWT's chief devolution negotiator, told Yellowknifer last week.

Well time will tell, won't it?

The first day of spring has come and gone and what does the Deh Cho have to show for it? Even more inches of powder as a snowstorm from northwestern Alberta empties its contents on us.

At this point there are probably a few Deh Cho residents who'd be willing to take the joking criminal indictment filed against groundhog Punxsutawney Phil last month for incorrectly predicting an early spring and make it a bit more serious. The furry creature got people's hopes up. After about six months of snow, promises of warm weather and green grass are not something that should be toyed with lightly.

While people are gazing out their windows at the falling deluge of white flakes and seriously considering moving to New Mexico, there are a few mitigating factors that they should keep in mind. This snow, after all, is practically a blessing.

Consider that obesity is a rapidly growing problem in Canada. Exercise, we are told, is one of the things that people need more of to help combat this trend.

Exercise equipment can be expensive, but snow isn't. This late snowstorm is a ready-made workout for people who are looking to shed a bit of their winter padding. Instead of grumbling, people should be grabbing a shovel and wielding it with gusto.

Along the same lines, if the snow keeps falling and temperatures stay low the hockey season in the Deh Cho could go on indefinitely. Hockey, after all, has got to be more exciting and burn more calories than summer sports that people are desperately waiting for like, for instance, golf.

For people who are fond of clean floors, but not necessarily mopping, this snow should also be celebrated. Spring is not known as one of the Deh Cho's cleanest seasons.

Just think how much easier it is to clean a puddle of melted snow off of the floor in your front entrance compared to thick, goopy mud. Just remember what happens to dirt roads as snow begins to melt and rain begins to fall.

Finally, if the weather holds the three ice crossings in the Deh Cho will continue operating and no one will be inconvenienced as they wait for the ice to break and ferries to be put in the water.

In theory, spring sounds like something that can't come soon enough. After a bit of consideration, snow, snow and more snow coupled with frigid below-zero temperatures are what we need most of all.

The way people usually discuss nutrition and healthy eating has the potential to give people intellectual – if not physical – indigestion.

This is why it was good to see some government types in Inuvik last week taking positive and sensible steps to address the issue and talk about these important topics in a meaningful way.

Too often, I've seen discussions about eating habits degenerate into health professionals offering somewhat impractical pronouncements while their audience tunes them out.

I've often wondered when interviewing nutritionists and similar professionals whether they've ever studied any of the social sciences, particularly psychology and sociology. That's because they just don't seem to "get" what motivates people to eat well.

The only reason I can think of for health professionals' propensity to sermonize, rather than actually talk to their clients, is that many professionals are blissfully unaware that talking down to people rarely works.

On to the good news. Last week, during a community feast, some of the healthier traditional food choices were presented to people in an atmosphere that was mostly free of hectoring and judgment. In fact, the addition of a Zumba demonstration added some fun to the event while also encouraging people to be more active. When "dancercize" looks fun to me, you're on the right track.

Also, organizers of the event, including Kevin Floyd, demonstrated a good grasp of human nature when they spoke about a general lack of cooking knowledge and skill.

The various conveniences of modern life could be the scourge of our time. I firmly believe one of the over-riding cores of human behaviour is a high capacity for, well, laziness. Most of our technological advancements are geared toward making things easier so we have less work to do.

Laziness is why restaurants and processed foods are so seductive. No longer do people have to master the arts of cleaning, cutting and otherwise preparing raw foods. Just open a package or a can. The ease of it is irresistibly appealing. Not only do people not know how to cook from raw ingredients, they don't want to spend the time or the effort.

It's going to require a great deal of education, collaborative discussions and events like last week's community feast to make the idea of cooking from scratch more palatable.

Still, we have to start somewhere, and a grassroots campaign is better than talking down from a tower. So thanks, Kevin and your compatriots, and I wish you all the luck in pursuing this. At times it's going to look like Sisyphus and his rock, but it's a noble fight.

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