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The Deh Cho Bridge, as mismanaged and expensive a project as it was, opened up the season-dependent point of entry into the territory. Now we need a way through, beyond the Ingraham Trail.

As Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay said at the close of the Energy and Mine Ministers' Conference last week, "Natural resources are the foundation of our territorial economy and mining is its largest sector. But we are not even close to realizing our full potential."

That's an understatement. In terms of infrastructure, we are woefully behind.

Upgrades are laudable, but what we already have in place is inadequate.

The winter road, considered to be the longest heavy haul ice road in the world, stretches from the Ingraham Trail to the defunct Jericho Diamond Mine, more than 600 km. Known as the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, and built each year by the mining industry, it has served an integral purpose since 1982 - linking parts of the NWT that are only accessible by air for 10 months of the year.

However, one only has to recall the winter road season of 2006, when mines were unable to transport their planned loads. What was supposed to be the road's busiest season in its 30-year history proved to be its most financially disastrous.

We need to act quickly to push an all-weather road as far as we can.

Our regulatory system is criticized as slow, difficult and unwelcoming by industry spokespeople. Our road system, if it can be called that, is no less welcoming.

The television series Ice Road Truckers may be entertaining, and has certainly served to put the truckers and the road they travelled into the consciousness of viewers around the world, but it's time to get serious.

Ramsay also said at the close of last week's conference that "the GNWT is steadily putting in place the elements of a plan for Northern prosperity, working with the federal government, regional and aboriginal governments and our industry partners to do so."

Sounds good, though vague.

An all-season road to resources is more specific and accurate. Unlike the road proposed up the Mackenzie Valley, it comes with a solid business case.

Last week, Yellowknifer reported the growing numbers of tourists coming to the Northwest Territories to view the Northern lights. The aurora-viewing tourism operators have seen their numbers more than double, to 15,700 visitors in 2012 from 7,400 in 2011.

However, the same release painted a much different picture - a significant long-term downturn in the amount of tourists coming north of 60 for other outdoor delights, fishing being the most notable to be dropping in numbers, hitting 7,300 tourists in 2008 before sliding down to 4,000 in the 2012-2013 season.

The NWT has some great sites for the tourist to see, especially when one gets outside of the city. However, the current situation makes it difficult for the average tourist. A look for cabin rentals on popular tourism site Trip Advisor brings up a whopping three results, all within Yellowknife.

A further search on Google brings up outdated websites, some of which no longer even work.

Is this the type of experience we're expecting tourists to the NWT to go through to be able to experience the great outdoors here? Or are we just expecting them to stay in Yellowknife or at a lodge?

The GNWT needs to provide incentives to tourism operators to help bring their operations into the forefront. If we're looking at increasing the number of tourists coming here, the experience needs to be made simpler, rather than a daunting task of going through outdated listings and hoping for the best. If that's the experience we're expecting potential NWT tourists to have while looking to visit, it's only a matter of time before they start to look somewhere else.

Those in the Kivalliq who still blindly point to Quebec as a great example of how to protect a language may want to look a little harder at the hypocrisy that accompanies such hard-line stances in a supposedly distinct society.

Since the contentious Bill 101 passed in 1977, the most militant, separatist-orientated denizens of Quebec society have taken every opportunity to belittle English and every other language, save French.

From the ridiculousness of language police measuring store signs to the lunacy of waiters and waitresses being forced to ignore any customer ignorant enough to order their beverage of choice in English, no chance was missed to make non-French-speaking residents feel like second-class citizens.

Now comes the Quebec government's plan to restrict a public employee's right to wear religious clothing, including a turban, visible crucifix or kippa, as it seeks to get the elegantly entitled Charter of Quebec Values through its legislature this month.

Of course, indignant separatist voices rose up in outrage when, from coast-to-coast-to-coast across Canada, la belle province was chastised for wanting to enact such a measure.

The accusations of being labelled a racist and xenophobic province by a uniformed country quickly hit the table, yet even a number of Quebec's own newspapers used words such as intolerance and McCarthyism in describing the so-called minorities plan.

But the worst was yet to come when former Quebec premier Bernard Landry decided to weigh in on the matter.

Landry, many Canadians will recall (or at least darn well should), is the same tolerant and understanding individual who once compared our Canadian flag to bits of red rag.

A slap in the face to every Confederation-believing family who ever had a mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece or nephew give their life for the freedom a separatist such as Landry uses to utter such bile with no fear of reprisal from state or Crown.

It was also Landry's government, in 2002, that passed Bill 104 to deny access to English-language schools, a bill later struck down by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Landry had more pearls of wisdom this past month when he claimed the rest of Canada will, one day, deeply regret embracing multiculturalism.

The statement brought back memories of an angry and seemingly unstable then-Quebec-premier Jacques Parizeau spewing venom into the cameras after losing the 1995 sovereignty referendum.

That night, Parizeau told the country the pro-sovereignists were beaten by money and the ethnic votes.

The words still burn.

Two former premiers, one blaming the ethnic vote and the other denouncing multiculturalism almost two decades later, yet members of the Parti Quebecois can't understand the revulsion being expressed across our nation.

Hopefully, Landry's prediction on multiculturalism will be as accurate as Parizeau's in 1995, when he said it wouldn't take 15 years for another referendum to be held (the original Quebec referendum was in 1980).

That depends on acceptance. A notion that seems to exist in Canada, independent of Quebec.

He's not the most popular guy, our prime minister.

During Stephen Harper's first visit to Yellowknife as prime minister in 2006, there were protests outside of the legislative assembly.

More recently in Hay River last month, Idle No More demonstrators drummed and sang as he made his way to announce $5.8 million to teach mining skills to 400 aboriginal workers in the NWT and Nunavut.

The music that pumped through the air from a high-rise as he entered the building was The Imperial March - Darth Vader's theme song from the Star Wars movie empire.

He's just that guy a lot of Canadians distrust. Over his seven years in the driver's seat, the scorn and dissent for any move he makes has grown. People are sick of the Senate scandals, the power play of proroguing Parliament and the void of any caring personality.

Critics say Harper showing his face north of 60 is a political ploy, one big photo op. But who are we to complain? Any attention from Ottawa is welcome. The financial boosts from the feds as well as constantly being a big player in Harper's vision for this nation's future are nothing to scoff at.

Last month marked Harper's eighth consecutive Northern Tour when he visits all three of Canada's territories, touting continued investments in Arctic sovereignty, bolstering economic development, skills training and job creation. These are the principles he's been working on since his first federal election campaign. While promises of world class icebreakers and arctic military stations have gone unmet, he has gone to bat for the North.

The pending devolution deal is a big one. Over the past three years there have also been announcements concerning a marine protected area in Tuktoyaktuk, the Nahanni Park expansion, regulatory reform, funding for adult basic education and health care.

The federal government has agreed to pay for two-thirds of the $299-million Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk all-weather highway, which is creating more than 1,000 one-time and 40 long-term jobs.

Of course, the choice of an NDP member of Parliament, Dennis Bevington, reflects our Northern social conscience. We want someone in Parliament who understands the deep-rooted problems affecting the people, such as addictions, poverty, housing and education.

Though Bevington remains popular and cares deeply about the North, the training and jobs being offered by the Conservatives are allowing Northerners to break the cycle of inaction, creating a self-sustaining society, getting people off of welfare and allowing them to work in their own territory.

Now, it's not all sunshine and roses with our leader, but if we're talking about what Northerners get out of the leading government, the facts are laid out over the past few decades. The difference between Harper and his Liberal predecessors is action.

From 1993 to 2006, there were many promises made, but much was left unaccomplished. Harper has an economic vision for the North and has a proven track record for making it happen.

It is evident from what K'atlodeeche First Nation Chief Roy Fabien said after Harper's visit to Hay River. "I'm not (Harper's) greatest fan, but I enjoyed listening to him."

Many people don't want to admit it but they are embarrassed to give the prime minister a break, to deconstruct the wall they've built shielding themselves from Harper, the rigid reformist.

What is certain is that one day a new party will be in control. Harper's Northern record will be held up as the standard to be met if not surpassed.

Boats crashing into the shoreline during a storm, causing destruction and putting lives at risk is not a new story to seafaring Nunavummiut.

Case in point was the impact of a storm which brought high winds to the shoreline of Pond Inlet on Aug 14 and 15. Some of the boats sunk while others drifted away after breaking free from their moorings. Some people battled the waves to salvage one vessel.

The incident renewed calls for a breakwater to provide shelter for the boats fishers use to make their livelihood and feed their families.

Man cannot stop nature in its tracks. However, steps can be taken to provide shelter from storms.

That is precisely why, over a decade ago, the government of Nunavut asked the federal government to build harbour facilities in Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq, Pond Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay and Kugaaruk.

Ottawa responded by having a study done by Fisheries and Oceans. The resulting report, the Nunavut Small Craft Harbours Report, was completed in 2004 and revised in 2006. It supported the territory's call for action and recommended one harbour be built every year for seven years or, alternatively, build seven harbours over four years.

What happened? The issue was referred to the Senate, the equivalent of putting a message in a bottle to float out to sea in hopes of being rescued some distant day.

The standing senate committee on Fisheries and Oceans began work in December 2007 with public hearings in Ottawa and, in June 2008, committee members travelled to Nunavut and interviewed numerous people with knowledge of the state of the harbours, including hunters and trappers organizations, politicians, government employees, biologists, experts and people who make a living from the fishery.

The result was an exhaustive report titled Nunavut Marine Fisheries: Quotas and Harbours, released in June 2009. Among its recommendations, yet again, was for the federal government to move forward on Fisheries and Oceans previous recommendations to build harbours in Nunavut's coastal communities.

The Senate committee observed that Nunavummiut are a maritime people dependent on the sea and its resources. Yet, out of 1,000 fishing harbours built and maintained across Canada, Nunavut is the only jurisdiction without any.

That will change to one out of 1,000 when Pangnirtung's $42-million small craft harbour project, which began in June 2010, is completed this month.

Is it any wonder the people of Pond Inlet are at the end of their rope? MLA Joe Enook, whose uncle died several years ago trying to save a boat, is frustrated by the lack of action and wonders whether more people have to die before something is done. We share his concern.

Ottawa, are you listening?

It has been a long time since resident, non-aboriginal hunters in Yellowknife had something to cheer about.

The Bathurst caribou herd was declared off-limits in 2010, and last year an anthrax outbreak wiped out half the Mackenzie bison herd. This led to the cancellation of the ballot draw hunt for the foreseeable future. But a recent proposal by the territorial government to re-open a limited bull-only hunt to resident hunters from three other caribou herds - the Bluenose-East, Ahiak and Beverly -- means caribou may be on the menu once again.

Of these three herds, the Bluenose-East is the most accessible to Yellowknife hunters, wintering near the winter roads linking Tlicho communities south of Great Bear Lake.

Last year, Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley accused Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger of "not sticking up" for resident hunters after a 2010 population estimate of the Bluenose-East herd put its number at 100,000 animals - up from 67,000 in 2006. It was unfathomable that more than two years would go by without any discussion on allowing non-aboriginal hunters to harvest the herd, said Bromley.

"Finally the minister is talking about it for the 2013-14 hunting season, which is four years after they recovered to above normal levels," he said. "Obviously, the resident hunter is being very mistreated here."

However, now that the government is pondering easing restrictions the Tlicho government and Wildlife Management Advisory Council of the NWT - and Inuvialuit-based organization - are expressing opposition to the proposal.

Tlicho Grand Chief Edward Erasmus argued in a letter to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board that opening the hunt to non-aboriginal hunters would be premature. He cited increased pressure on the Bluenose-East herd since the closure of the Bathurst hunt, and expressed fears that an influx of new hunters in the area would make future hunts unsafe. Aboriginal hunters, meanwhile, face no restrictions.

Surely all can agree that caribou numbers must be closely monitored, but there must also be some accommodation of non-aboriginal residents living in the Northwest Territories, many of whom no doubt work for the Tlicho government and aboriginal-owned companies. It doesn't make sense to allow aboriginal hunters to embark on a free-for-all, while leaving non-aboriginal hunters on the sidelines.

If the Tlicho government is so concerned about the caribou numbers and keeping hunters safe, perhaps it should be the one issuing the tags.

That way, it controls how the herd is being harvested, and how many tags are being given to their non-aboriginal neighbours. The Tlicho Government would then benefit from the additional income and goodwill.

The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a case in point. For a number of years, a handful of Fort Simpson residents have been participating in the cleanup, which is part of the larger nationwide initiative.

With their hands protected by rubber gloves, the volunteers scour the local beach and the riverbank beside the island for any garbage that has been left behind or washed up. There is often quite a haul.

The people who participate in the cleanup probably aren't the ones who created the litter in the first place. They certainly don't have to spend part of their weekend picking up other people's garbage and they aren't getting paid either. Yet, they still come.

Some of the volunteers might be motivated by the idea of being part of something larger than just Fort Simpson. Since the cleanup went nationwide in 2002, there have been cleanups in every province and territory every year. Last year, 315 people in the NWT alone participated.

Other volunteers may come out because they care about the land and water in the Deh Cho.

As Martina Norwegian, who has organized the recent cleanups in Fort Simpson asked, if the people here don't look after the

Mackenzie River, who else will?

The garbage on the river's shoreline near Fort Simpson didn't necessarily originate here, but efforts to keep the river clean have to start somewhere. By cleaning up along the section of the riverbank here, volunteers are not only making things better for Fort Simpson residents, but also for those people who live further along the Mackenzie River and even the Beaufort Sea, which the river empties into.

Volunteers may even come out because it is a good community event. For an afternoon, a variety of Fort Simpson residents mingle as they work toward a common goal.

In today's society, there is a lot of focus on getting ahead and doing things that benefit ourselves and not necessarily anyone else. That is why it is nice to see community support for initiatives such as the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

The cleanup is relevant to the Deh Cho, where water stewardship is important. It also gives residents an opportunity to help the wider world in a small way. Hopefully the 20th anniversary of the initiative will inspire even more people to get involved.

It's good to see some additional curriculum being added to regional schools. It's even better to see that new curriculum is something totally applicable to students living in the area.

That's why I applaud the introduction of the new Gwich'in study module to schools such as East Three Secondary School.

I'm a big fan of studying history, and more perspectives on history are better than standard mainstream fare – providing, of course, they don't descend to the level of propaganda.

This new curriculum is something, that given a chance, I'd dive right into if I was still a student.

Even better, the courses and study material are going to be available to all students in the system. That's a stroke of genius on the part of its developers. Now any student can learn something about their neighbours, as well as people of Gwich'in descent learning about their particular history.

Of course, you could argue the developers of the curriculum with the Gwich'in Tribal Council had no choice since there isn't a separate school system available to them.

That's true, and to my mind that's a good thing. I'm likely to champion inclusivity over insularity any time.

I grew up in an educational system that featured two public school alternatives, one secular and one Catholic, and a plethora of private ones. I've never been able to fathom how it can be logically explained that a religious-based system gets public funds, except that it's enshrined in Canada's constitution.

Moreover, I've always considered segregation in any form, much less officially-sanctioned forms, to be a philosophical mistake. If people are going to learn to get along, they'll do it by mingling with each other, opening themselves to new ideas and perspectives and hopefully learning a little tolerance along the way. That's far less likely to happen in systems where separation occurs.

Inuvik Chief Herbert Blake, though, is ambivalent about the idea. He likes the new curriculum, but says it doesn't go far enough. He has a vision of a time when Gwich'in people will have their own schools.

I respect Blake as a leader and as a politician. I also like him as a person. But I don't think a separate Gwich'in school system is a good idea, particularly for the Inuvik area.

As a designed or manufactured community, Inuvik was intended to be – and is – a multicultural town where Gwich'in, Inuvialuit, Metis and European-descended Canadians mingle freely. Today we can add a burgeoning Muslim population, and others, to that mix.

The great thing, though, is that there are no silos of separation in this town. Its polyglot nature is one of its attractive points.

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