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A high school graduation ceremony was held in Fort Liard on June 13.

Before the processional, there was no way to tell how large the graduating class was. The community hall was decorated immaculately, a long line of special guests who were going to give speeches was listed on the program and an extensive meal was waiting to be served. It was not until Karlene Isaiah walked in on her father's arm that it really became evident that Echo Dene School only had one graduate this year.

The graduation ceremony in Fort Liard has at least two important messages to impart.

The first is that the residents of the Deh Cho can't become complacent when it comes to education. Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson may have had its largest graduating class yet this year, but high school graduation hasn't become an assured thing in the region.

Echo Dene School didn't have one graduate because Isaiah was the only Grade 12 student in the school. Rather, Isaiah was the only Grade 12 student who achieved all of the requirements to graduate.

Today, more than ever, it is crucial that every student achieve at least their high school diploma. That level of education or higher is required to land even the most basic jobs.

As the Deh Cho develops and moves toward self-governance, there will be a need for people with increasingly-complex skill sets. The first preference will be to fill those positions with Deh Cho residents.

Educators in schools play a crucial role in helping students reach graduation, a foundational step toward lifelong success. Communities, however, have an equally important role to play.

If education is openly valued and prized in a community, it creates an environment where students know they are expected to attend school and to graduate. That is the second lesson of the Echo Dene School graduation ceremony.

With only one graduate, it would have been easy to hold just a small ceremony, but instead, the school held just as big a celebration as they would have for half a dozen graduates. The ceremony not only honoured Isaiah's achievements, but also showed other students and former students what is possible.

It's important to celebrate every educational success, whether it is for just one graduate or a class of 26.

High school graduation rates seem to be on the rise in the Deh Cho. This, however, is not a time to abandon the issue. Education must be made a continued priority.

My biological clock is in need of some serious repairs.

I'm talking about the effect my first brush with the midnight sun is having on me. Contrary to my expectations, I'm not totally enjoying the experience.

Let me explain. Back in the cool, damp gloomy confines of my former residence, I was prone to seasonal affective disorder symptoms three seasons of the year. It doesn't take a lot of cloudy, wet weather to dampen my mood and cause my temperament to deteriorate.

I was out at Jak Territorial Park recently walking the interpretive trail and stopped to read the plaques at the tower. I was fascinated by the one outlining Delta time. The symptoms were revealing.

Difficulty sleeping. Check. Disorientation. Check. Loss of a sense of time. Check. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Being sensitive to sunlight, it seemed like a no-brainer that I would thrive in the endless sunlight of Delta time. I was wrong about that. It turns out that being contrary must just be imbued in some fundamental part of my personality, because the eternal daylight is beginning to have some deleterious effects.

I'm inching toward insomnia, with a touch of hypomania thrown in for good measure. I've even taken up somewhat involuntary naps. If I close my eyes for a second, I'm doomed.

Most noticeably, I welcomed the cloudy weather on Sunday and Monday, something that would never have happened before. In fact, I more than welcomed it. I revelled in the simple joy of a little touch of darkness, which made sleep so much easier.

I also started to ponder some of the things I miss about having a real night, including checking for the aurora. I also wouldn't mind if the birds would stop singing ... and that's with me being a recovering bird-watcher.

I'm looking forward to the resumption of long days with short nights in late July, even though I know I'll miss the midnight sun come this winter.

The process has given me a new appreciation of, and respect for, how dependent we as human beings still are on our environment.

It's also given me an understanding of why residents here have shown such a wild swing in energy levels and moods from when I arrived last January.

I understand much better now why people hibernate in the winter here. It's to make up for the energy used up in these eternal days – and to catch up on the sleep they've missed.

Bring it on, I say. And in the meantime, if I seem a little loopier than normal, it's midnight sun madness, and this too shall pass. I hope!

Eleven years ago, Yellowknife's Dairy Queen and its companion restaurant Mary Brown's Famous Chicken and Taters closed their doors and went out of business.

The owner, former Yellowknife MLA Seamus Henry, took a $1 million bath by doing that. His problem wasn't a lack of sales or crushing debt. Far from it, the restaurants had been going gangbusters since opening three years earlier. The problem was a lack of staff. Unable to find workers to serve his chicken dinners and ice cream treats, and run ragged trying to do it himself, Henry decided to pack it in.

It's not clear whether Henry tried to access Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program but it's quite evident from the list in last Wednesday's Yellowknifer many employers do. Some 65 local businesses made requests to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to hire foreign workers from Jan. 1, 2009 to April 30, 2012. At least 18 were from the service industry.

Not much has changed since Henry shuttered his businesses' doors in 2002. The unemployment rate is hovering around six per cent, population growth is stagnate. The economy has still not fully recovered from the global recession of 2008 but people aren't tripping over themselves trying to land a job at McDonald's either.

And, as Marion Lavigne, president of Outcrop Communications, points out, it's not just low-skilled jobs employers are having a hard time filling. There are many job ads for technical positions that go unanswered in the Northwest Territories. Yellowknifer can speak from experience on that one.

Six years ago, the newspaper turned to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program after coming up empty trying to fill a graphic designer position that required particular newspaper skills. It was no walk in the park. Employers are required to prove the job couldn't be filled by a Canadian resident, the job must be advertised extensively and there are fees to pay and expenses to cover.

Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the Northern Federation of Labour, points out a number of very troubling problems with the program. Some of the problems existed before the controversy erupted over the Royal Bank of Canada's attempt to replace employees with temporary foreign workers, after which the federal government was forced to institute a number of changes.

It was an outrage to allow employers to offer foreign workers 15 per cent less for skilled positions and five per cent less for low-skill jobs. This breaks the spirit and intent of the program, which is to fill jobs that cannot be filled by Canadian workers, not displace them with cheap foreign hires or create second-class citizens.

The danger now is that the new restrictions and higher fees imposed by the Conservative government in Ottawa in the wake of the Royal Bank controversy will make it even more difficult for employers to fill jobs that were already difficult to fill, and a new generation of Seamus Henrys will close their doors for want of staff.

An appropriate goal for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program should not only be to fill jobs that can't be filled but make new Canadians.

Around the time the Dairy Queen was closing its doors for good, a number of diamond-polishing specialists were arriving in Yellowknife from Armenia to outfit and train the city's burgeoning diamond-cutting sector. In the same Yellowknifer edition the temporary foreign worker story appeared, some of the surnames listed among the Hay River Track and Field Championship winners suggest that some of them stayed and are raising their families here.

Yellowknifer's Temporary Foreign Worker Program hire, although no longer with the company, is still in Canada too. Now a landed immigrant, as far as we know he has been every bit the model citizen. He's getting married to a Canadian he met in Yellowknife this summer.

How can a success story like that be any more Canadian or desirable for a government program?

By the time you're reading this, I will be on my annual respite in Cape Breton, N.S.

As it has been for the past few years, my time away will be equal parts rest, relaxation and the continuation of my personal episode of This Old House.

Add in a couple of weeks with my daughter, Lindsey, and grandson, Logan, and I should return to the Kivalliq with my batteries fully charged in anticipation of my 16th year at the helm of Kivalliq News.

And, on a personal note, I plan to also be amped-up for one more season of officiating some of the finest hockey I've had the pleasure of being associated with.

The truth of the matter is, it could well be my last as an active official and, if so, I plan to drink as much of it in as I possibly can.

I have a wonderful summer ahead of me, both in Cape Breton and at home in Rankin upon my return.

Yet, as much as I plan to enjoy each and every minute of the next few months, I'm also eagerly anticipating what should be a banner season of Kivalliq hockey in 2013-14.

By the time the Sakku First Aviation Avataq Cup rolls around, it will have been three years since a team from the host, Rankin, laid claim to the title.

In addition to a few hungry Rankin squads, Arviat will be keen to successfully defend its title and Repulse Bay will be eager to recapture its glory of the previous tournament.

With 2014 being an Arctic Winter Games (AWG) year, chances are better than average for the AWG Team Nunavut midget squad to compete at the Polar Bear Plate once again, raising the bar even higher at an event that has become one of Nunavut's finest.

And, with the East Coast teams promising to finally come North in 2015 and allow Nunavut to host the Maritime-Hockey North Junior Championship for the very first time, I expect the 2014 Challenge Cup to be the most hotly contested to date.

Whether the Kitikmeot returns to the fold or not, the showdown between teams Baffin and Kivalliq should be intense when both regions try to show they deserve to host the 2015 junior championship.

Personally, I plan to soak up every minute of the action, and enjoy the atmosphere in the old Rankin barn to its absolute fullest.

At the risk of upsetting any other community, I regard Rankin hockey fans as among the most knowledgable and passionate in the country.

And, to anyone who may be thinking I'm just writing that because I live here, you simply haven't been paying attention.

But, alas, such moments remain months distant in the future.

In the meantime, I leave Kivalliq News in the hands of Miranda Scotland until the end of July.

She is a talented young journalist who, I'm sure, will keep Kivalliq readers more than satisfied and up to date with what's happening in our wonderful region during my absence.

I look forward to serving the people of the Kivalliq for another year upon my return, as we embark on yet another chapter of the amazing journey that is Nunavut.

And, I look forward to seeing thousands of you, in person, in our arenas during the upcoming hockey season.

Enjoy your summer!

The recent commitment by the GNWT to the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line is welcome news.

Construction of the 1,255-kilometre link between Checkpoint Junction south of Fort Simpson and Tuktoyaktuk is to begin late next year with completion by 2016.

The fibre optic technology should create a stronger, more reliable and expandable Internet connection throughout the NWT, improving health services and enhancing education programs with online access to distant physicians, teachers and other experts .

While the line comes with a hefty price tag of $60 to $70 million, the benefit to the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility is significant. The centre is getting noticed internationally due to its location above the Arctic Circle which allows for tracking satellites in a polar orbit and acquiring data.

There are currently two antennae at the site; one owned by the German Space Agency and the other by the Swedish Space Corporation. The Canadian government is to develop its own station this summer.

Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger, NWT aboriginal business representatives, as well as Town of Inuvik staff recently journeyed to Munich, Germany, and Kiruna, Sweden. The delegates wanted to show the territory means business and to see with their own eyes the far-reaching benefits of investing in a fast, reliable satellite ground station.

If the line is developed in the time frame presented by the GNWT, there could be five antennae by 2016 and 10 by 2020.

Right now, resource development dominates the Northern economy.

Diversifying into advanced technology can act as a buffer to the boom and bust Northerners know so well, and bring the tangible benefits of state of the art Internet connectivity.

For an event that ranks as one of the biggest in the country, a strong foundation of organizers, volunteers and participating communities are essential ingredients for success.

The recipe was just right during the 23rd-annual NWT Track and Field Championships in Hay River earlier this month. More than 1,100 athletes participated, making up 33 teams from 16 communities.

While the spotlight is on the ground in Hay River, the event wouldn't be nearly as impressive without the participation of the athletes from across the territory. Behind the scenes, this is only possible due to supportive families and committed coaches. It all starts with the dedication of the athletes.

With more than 400 Hay Riverites offering up hours of their time, it is obvious the town and other NWT communities take this three-day meet seriously.

Hay River mayor Andrew Cassia said the work doesn't stop. The organizing committee was already looking toward the 2014 meet immediately after this year's event came to an end.

We hope the championships maintains its growth and continues to highlight the strong athletic competition this territory has to offer.

Cape Dorset has a lot to be proud of. Surrounded by the majestic scenery Baffin Island is renowned for, the community of approximately 1,200 people is famed for its art.

Situated only a stone's throw from Mallikjuaq Territorial Park, which is rich with archeological evidence of the ancient Thule and Dorset people, Cape Dorset also offers would-be adventurers an opportunity to explore the Arctic landscape while learning about the region's ancient past.

Last week the community did two things to recognize important features of Cape Dorset. One will live on in the community as a symbol residents can take pride in while the other will hopefully draw more attention to the amazing features the hamlet has to offer to the outside world.

Dedicating the art room at Peter Pitseolak High School to Kenojuak Ashevak, likely the world's best known Inuit artist and the jewel of Cape Dorset, does more than recognize the achievements and talents of this amazing woman. Immortalizing Ashevak, who died earlier this year, will allow her memory to act as a muse for future artists in the community. Her example of what hard work, dedication and passion can achieve will also inspire students to reach for their dreams.

Aside from recognizing Ashevak's achievements - which include being named as an Officer of the Order of Canada; her art was featured on a Canada Post stamp; and a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts from the Canada Council of the Arts - she is also a role model and a symbol the community can be proud of.

Cape Dorset's newly-built Dorset Suites is a new development in the community that will hopefully draw more tourists to the community and also help build on the Government of Nunavut's tourism strategy, which identifies the hamlet as a possible future location for a heritage or interpretation centre.

Attracting more tourists to Cape Dorset would create a much-needed boost to the local economy. More tours would mean more jobs for guides and outfitters. It would also mean more money for the many people who sell art, supplies and other services.

With the level of artistic talent in Cape Dorset, its proximity to one of Canada's most remote national parks and ancient archeological sites, and access to a variety of Arctic wildlife, the community, with a little work, can be a world class eco- and adventure-tourism destination.

Although, Cape Dorset is not without its problems - many similar to other remote communities across the territory - it has a lot to be proud of. By focusing on the good and the potential it offers, we hope community members create an atmosphere where people can thrive and one that attracts visitors.

Dry eyes were likely few among those reading Michele LeTourneau's article in last Friday's Yellowknifer, reliving the horrors of watching her child suffer the ravages of chemotherapy to treat her leukemia.

A mother's personal story will drive the point home more than a government or NGO's news release ever can, and LeTourneau's, a well-seasoned journalist, is particularly galvanizing. Her admitted reluctance to take part in the annual Relay for Life is probably something many people can relate to, and not because they don't care or feel they don't have time.

As LeTourneau explains, dealing with such personal crisis and the potential loss of a loved one is not something most people want to relive. Even if the cancer is beaten, it might be easier to pretend its occurrence was a one-off and put it out of mind, rather than participate in cancer fundraisers and yield to the possibility that illness can strike again.

But cancer is not something that can be ignored. According to the 2013 cancer statistics from Statistics Canada, men have a one and 3.6 chance of dying from cancer in their lifetime; for women it's a one in 4.2 chance.

Some 75,500 people are expected to die from cancer this year. The leading cause of death among men and women - 27.2 and 26.3 per cent respectively -is lung cancer. The death rate has been declining - thanks mainly to a reduction in the number of smokers - but cancer rates overall are climbing as our population ages. The cancer rate for females has risen 0.3 per cent per year from 1998 to 2007.

Relay for Life not only raises money for cancer research, healthy lifestyle promotion and support services for cancer patients, it reminds all of us of the need to remain vigilant in this fight.

Considering the number of lives cancer effects, perhaps it's not all that remarkable Relay teams in Yellowknife raise in excess of $200,000 every year. What is remarkable is the dedication of those who take part. As LeTourneau states in her article, cancer is not a war for cowards.

Det'on Cho Corporation ranked 276 on PROFIT magazine's 25th annual list of Canada's top 500 fastest growing companies last week.

While the distinction is a feather in the cap for directors and employees of the economic arm of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the success of the corporation and its fast-growing stable of subsidiaries, four of which it wholly-owns, comes as no surprise to observers.

Since launching with a $15,000 grant in 1988, Det'on Cho has expanded to achieve annual earnings of $40 million. In the past five years, the company's revenues have quadrupled.

Having begun at the end of the gold-mining era and adapted to the diamond era, the corporation has demonstrated forward vision and hard work by successfully straddling the latest recession. Now the corporation is poised to lead the way for other Northern companies as it looks ahead to more economic opportunities in the oil and gas sector and other mineral sectors. When it comes time to search for subcontractors from beyond its own holdings, Det'on Cho will hopefully hire locally to provide other emerging companies with a chance for the kind of prosperity and long-term success the Yellowknives Dene's business leaders enjoy today.

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