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Using politics to get a better economic deal is a long-standing practice in the North.

It's happening again as the Tlicho Government, the Lutsel K'e Dene Band and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation try to send what is, hopefully, our next NWT diamond mine project back to the drawing board.

De Beers' Gahcho Kue diamond mine was approved by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board in July and now it's in the hands of the federal government for approval.

These First Nation groups are asking for further study, arguing the environmental impact review doesn't alleviate concerns surrounding water quality and the management of Kennady Lake, caribou, the impact to subsistence fishery, air quality and cultural impacts.

Experience has shown that emphasis on the environmental and cultural issues diminish as financial benefits increase.

The First Nation groups are trying to get as much as they can out of this development, while ensuring their land and water are kept safe.

There may be serious environmental concerns, but the Tlicho are also in the process of negotiating an impact benefits agreement with De Beers.

Nor can the Tlicho government be labelled anti-business as they recently approved Fortune Minerals' NICO project, which was the first time an aboriginal government could approve a project alongside the feds.

So the attempt to throw a political wrench in De Beers' plans for Gahcho is business as usual in the North.

A good deal for the aboriginal governments is a good deal for all of the NWT.

It is mind-boggling what transpired in Yellowknife late last month as the Crown prosecutor stayed charges against former Inuvik school teacher Hugues Latour.

Apparently, new information moved prosecutor Marc Lecorre to request the Supreme Court stay all charges related to sexual touching of a minor, invitation to sexual touching of a minor, possession and making of child pornography, and trafficking marijuana.

Lecorre said the revelations were significant enough to remove any reasonable hope for conviction.

This is not the first time the Crown has failed to make a case against the teacher. On Dec. 9, 2010, he was charged with parental abduction - that charge was stayed on Dec. 18, 2012. He was then charged with assault, forcible confinement and failure to comply with court orders on Aug. 1, 2011. Those charges were withdrawn on Jan. 31, 2012, with the assault and forcible confinement charges being dismissed May 10, 2012.

In the absence of any coherent explanation, we are left to conclude one of two things took place - either the teacher was unfairly targeted by the justice system and the Crown failed to put him in jail due to lack of a legitimate case, or the charges, evidence and legal proceedings were grievously mishandled.

There was also the problem of the crown failing to accommodate the need for a French trial and jury as Latour had requested.

Aside from the enormous court costs, everyone involved has been put through the ringer these past three years, while the lawyers walk away unaccountable to the public who pays their salaries.

This person taught students in the Beaufort Delta. Without a clear picture of what transpired behind the scenes of the courtroom, parents are left in the dark, their confidence in the justice system badly shaken, if not their school system.

This may not be a case of justice denied, but case could be made that it was justice badly botched.

At first consideration, the notion of rewarding students for attending school with prizes seems a bit over the top. After all, students are required to attend school. A person could argue that the establishment of a reward system will condition youngsters into thinking that the provision of material possessions such as bicycles, iPods and iPads will make them shirk from their responsibilities later in life if there is no tangible reward.

On second thought, an observer could conclude that a prize awarded by the school to students who have the best attendance is a tangible reward for hard work and provides an incentive for other students. Seeing a youth with a new bicycle, iPod or iPad probably results in other students wishing they had one, too. That, in turn, might cause them to think about boosting their attendance record in an effort to receive a similar reward.

Others may suggest that the practice of attending school on a regular basis brings its own reward. The results to the individual are the value of having an education, increased knowledge, the ability to read, write, solve mathematical problems and understand complex information.

Despite significant attention to the matter, low attendance rates at the 43 schools in Nunavut is an ongoing issue. Fortunately, there has been progress in some communities such as Rankin Inlet where schools achieved an 82 per cent attendance rate in the 2010-2011 school year. Not so much in Hall Beach at 54.8 per cent, Qikiqtarjuaq at 60 per cent, Sanikiluaq at 60.7 per cent and Clyde River at 62.6 per cent.

A new electronic monitoring system, called Maplewood, will help officials track daily attendance, truancy, late arrivals and other absences in all Nunavut schools.

In contrast with the latest in technology is the overwhelming feelings of distrust and despair in some households as a result of a sad time in Canada's not-so-distant history. The negative memories of the residential school experience linger in many Nunavut households. It was a time when Nunavut youth were ripped out of their comfort zone and transported to a strange place where they were unhappy, uneducated and left fearful of outside influences.

That is why it is so important in the multifaceted effort to encourage youth to attend school not to forget one of the most important areas of focus -- the home.

Parents, grandparents and elders have to be encouraged to understand, and shown, that schools today offer a positive learning environment for their children. They need to get involved in their child's education, by becoming involved in the homework and lessons that are taught in classrooms and brought home in book bags.

Parents and relatives of pupils need to attend events they are invited to at the schools, meet the teachers, walk the hallways and see the work that students have completed. They also have to be there in the morning to get children off to school, to prepare meals, look after clothing needs and prepare the children for a day of learning.

All together, prizes, positive reinforcement and parental involvement can go a long way to not only boost attendance rates but also produce confident and capable graduates who are prepared to contribute to the future success of Nunavut and its people.

In the spring of 2008, before dynamite blasted the stillness of Tin Can Hill to carve a path to the new water treatment plant, workers were laying the foundation for an expansion of the city's water reservoir at Pumphouse No.1 on 48 Street.

The city's growing drinking water needs justified the $3.4-million price tag. A water treatment plant was described as a "potential" need.

Somewhere between then and now, costs have grown from a modest puddle to an ocean of expenses and add-on projects.

Both city hall and the territorial government insist the drinking water we get from the Yellowknife River is safe. Yet, water filtration became a requirement in 2009 with the adoption of the GNWT's Public Health Act, which took federal "guidelines" and turned them into regulated standards to be met when a community's water facilities were upgraded.

Present city administrator Dennis Kefalas, the public works director in 2010, at the time called the Yellowknife River, "one of the best in the world ... it's perfectly safe, perfectly clean."

Even Dr. Andrew Corriveau, the NWT chief public health officer, while insisting water filtration is necessary in his guest column on the page opposite to this editorial, admits "residents currently enjoy high-quality, safe water." He had to go all the way back to June 2004 to point to the last brief, boiled water advisory alert.

No one argues against clean water, but considering the cost of a new water treatment plant has ballooned from $18 million to $22 million to $30 million today, the disinterest over the years shown by city politicians - both on council and in the legislative assembly - is puzzling.

How much safer can water be than perfectly safe? Corriveau writes pregnant women are at risk of water-borne diseases if the city continues to chlorinate water and not filter it but this doesn't trouble fellow physician Dr. Andrew Kotaska, clinical director of obstetrics at Stanton Territorial Hospital. Last Wednesday in a guest column, Kotaska argued that the money spent on filtration might be better spent on other needs, such as medical travel.

We have to agree, for as Kotaska points out, Yellowknife doesn't face the same risks as southern communities. Industrial impact is low, and there is no agricultural run-off from farms - only hundreds of kilometres of pristine Arctic wilderness through which our water source flows.

The good news is the city has set aside $11.3 million to replace the eight-kilometre underwater line connecting Pumphouse No. 1 to the Yellowknife River. It would seem likely that Yellowknifers will continue to enjoy this water supply for many years to come.

The question remains: How can the GNWT take guidelines and turn them into law without a whimper from the city? Indeed, city administration seemed to view it as an opportunity to spend even more money.

Last year, city council was convinced to forgo a referendum on borrowing $23 million after declaring the water treatment plant a "public safety issue." The $17 million the city had already saved for the water treatment plant was then spent on other capital projects. The loan request was subsequently rubber-stamped by Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Robert C. McLeod.

This project has been ongoing since 2005 when the city put $85,000 toward reservoir expansion. As of 2011, some $6.8 million has been spent. City council, at the very least, should have demanded the project be grandfathered. Instead, taxpayers are on the hook for escalating costs on filtration that will make perfectly safe water more perfectly safe.

Yellowknife MLAs too failed to understand the GNWT's legislative changes meant only tax-based communities have to pay for costly upgrades while other NWT communities would have their water treatment plants paid for out of territorial coffers.

Unfortunately, the $30-million plant is a done deal, having been awarded to an Ontario-based firm last summer.

City councillors and MLAs need to be more vigilant when bureaucrats start playing fast and loose with regulations that hit the public purse. That is their job. If they're not asking questions, who will?

They are places where young people can hang out after school or during the summer and to participate in a variety of activities. The facilities provide opportunities for youth to socialize, stay engaged, as well as give them a place to hang out where they can feel safe and secure.

The Deh Cho Friendship Centre is an example of one of these facilities. Although the centre is available for all community members to use, its primary focus is on aboriginal youth.

On any week night during the school year, there are often a handful of youth at the centre participating in activities, using the gym facilities or computers or playing video games.

The centre also provides summer employment for six students every year. These students spend most of their time planning and implementing summer activities for youth.

The centre was recognized this summer for its work in Fort Simpson when the National Association of Friendship Centres presented it with an outstanding friendship centre award. The centre, which was incorporated as a society in 1979, has provided 34 years of service to the community and will hopefully provide another 34 and more.

Community pools are another important youth facility in three Deh Cho communities. This summer, the new pool in Fort Simpson was filled with young swimmers almost every day.

Swimming lessons and public swim sessions provided activities that kept youth busy and distracted them from finding less productive ways to spend their time. The pool was a great place for youth to visit with their friends and, at the same time, stay physically active.

The importance of community swimming pools both for youth and other community members has been recognized by the Hamlet of Fort Providence. The hamlet council made every effort to have its pool renovated and reopened before the end of the summer.

Delays prevented the pool from opening, but undoubtedly it will be filled with children as soon as weather permits next summer.

Facilities such as the Deh Cho Friendship Centre and community pools often don't receive much attention. They do, however, play important roles in fostering the growth and development of the region's youth.

I know we've heard it before here in Inuvik, but it's good to see some concrete action being taken with the derelict buildings on Kugmallit Road.

Like everyone else, I'm a little skeptical this latest initiative will be able to resolve the long-running soap opera of the eyesore properties that are officially registered to a numbered corporation.

However, full praise goes to Rick Lindsay of the Fire Marshal's office and to Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins for closing down the townhouses.

Even more credit goes to Lindsay, who, when asked what he could say on the record about the eviction and closure notices, threw caution and government muzzling to the wind to state bluntly it was time for concrete action on the properties.

Sawkins, no shrinking flower of his own, echoed those sentiments, but deferred to Lindsay for the most part.

Last May, Lindsay was the sole member of the Fire Marshal's office to publicly admit there had been an order issued on the buildings. After that, the office used a lot of bureaucratic bafflegab about privacy policies and confidentiality about the situation while basically telling Lindsay to shut up.

As he and Sawkins put up the public notices and inspected the property almost two weeks ago, it was clear Lindsay saw the absurdity of not commenting on what has now become a very public matter. The details on the eviction and closure notices were quite plain, and he recognized the futility of hiding behind a Yellowknife-directed communications campaign of evasion and silence.

Undoubtedly that candour hasn't endeared him to his bosses in the territorial capital, but Lindsay had the courage to defy what is clearly a nonsensical policy after being asked bluntly what he could say on the record. Hopefully his punishment will be restricted to a slap on the wrist. Anything else will be a monumental bungle and over-reaction.

That's what makes me want to believe him when he said the situation can't be allowed to stand as it is.

I just hope his superiors have the same courage of their convictions and the fortitude to fight for what's right instead of taking the easy way out.

The territorial government (and the town of Inuvik for that matter) is too eager to work in secrecy when openness is called for. It hides behind policies when that much-talked-about government transparency is mentioned. In this situation with the derelict buildings, it has run for cover when action is needed.

Maybe that will change this time. I know I'll be watching closely to see if it does.

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.

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