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It would be one thing if government funding for the territory's only addictions treatment centre was cut, only to be pumped into a better system to serve the many people who suffer from addictions.

But the NWT is in a very different position, and it's embarrassing.

The only Northern options to treatment are the psychiatric ward at Stanton Territorial Hospital and jail for those caught up in the court system. Right now, Northern patients making it through the screening process are shipped south to four treatment centres: three in Alberta and one in B.C.

While the health department assure the public it is working toward implementing community-based or mobile treatment, where are the details?

The territorial government has plenty of mistakes to learn from. Its one operating treatment center - the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve - closed on Sept. 30 after almost 20 years. The earlier effort - Somba K'e Lodge in Dettah - shut down in 1999. Both facilities were apparently plagued with problems, from staff training and retention issues to a lack of willing participants in the programs, as was the case with the perpetually half-filled Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre.

So we know what doesn't work, but we don't know where we're going or when we're going to get there.

It starts with the individual wanting to get help, but having programs ready for them here is necessary. It was an impressive decision in June when Health and Social Services Minister Tom Beaulieu announced the plan to revamp the treatment for addicts in the territory, citing this is what the people want.

But four months later, leaving us with nothing else established or a schedule of what is to come is troubling.

Hay River and Inuvik were less than thrilled when the devolution job numbers came out earlier this month.

As Hay River Metis Council president Wally Schumann put it, the 25 new positions to be made available outside of Yellowknife is "not much of a bone to scrap over."

Especially when 259 jobs are being transferred from the federal government to the GNWT.

While the private sector, such as the mining industry, strongly encourages training to hire Northerners, what is the GNWT doing to prepare Northerners and NWT communities for new jobs?

Negotiations for the devolution of lands and resources from the federal government has been in the works for more than a decade, enough time for the territorial government to prepare people and communities for the potential of new positions through training.

With the legislative assembly sitting for the first time since these numbers have been available, it's up to the MLAs from outside Yellowknife to push the case for spreading the jobs around.

Devolution should be used as an opportunity to decentralize the employment, and in turn, create economic spin-off for the community economies outside the capital city.

There is no shortage of issues to be discussed and candidates to be questioned with only 14 days remaining until Nunavummiut go to the polls to select the next leaders of the territorial government.

Candidates are doing their best to communicate their platforms as they position themselves to be selected as an MLA in one of the territory's 22 constituencies. Two candidates have been acclaimed after no one else put their name forward for election in Netsilik or Kugluktuk, leaving an impressive 71 candidates seeking election in the remaining 20 constituencies.

The names of some constituencies have changed and the electoral boundaries are different since the Electoral Boundary Commission completed a review, taking into consideration population estimates in an effort to have each elected MLA represent approximately the same number of people.

We suggest voters do two things to prepare themselves to go to the polls.

Review the dominant issues facing the Government of Nunavut in the next four years and decide what your elected representative can potentially do to make a difference.

Second, become familiar with the individual candidates seeking election in your area and try to come to a decision about which person best represents your interests and would best represent the hamlet, city or region in which you reside.

A need for more housing tops the list of issues that are closest to the people. Stories this newspaper has reported about 24 members from one family living in overcrowded conditions in one house raised eyebrows and got people talking about the need for better housing. Significant funding from the federal government has been earmarked to provide relief, but it is up to territorial leaders to decide how it is spent.

The need for affordable food and the impending probe by the auditor general of Canada into the Nutrition North program is another hot topic for discussion. Outrageous food prices on fresh produce, disposable diapers and meat products eat into a family's income to such a degree that some parents are forced to choose between putting food on the table or paying for other necessities.

Another high-cost issue is the price of electricity and heating fuel. The Qulliq Energy Corporation is facing significant challenges to deliver energy to residents and businesses now and in the future. Upgrades are required and come with a hefty price tag, which will require government support.

Then there is the topic of education, with many people wanting to see an improvement in the number of high school graduates and their ability to pursue post-secondary studies. Adult education offerings are also part of the issue because of a need for more people to be trained for mining jobs and other non-traditional occupations.

There are other issues related to job training, health care, social services, mental illness and addictions.

It is not necessary for people to be fully versed on all the issues. However, it is important for voters to be familiar with the unique issues and the candidates in their corner of the vast territory.

Lastly, the most important thing voters must do is cast a ballot on Oct. 28. Embrace your right to vote and play a part in the democratic process.

One hundred years, $190 million and counting.

That's how long, at least according to the current plan from the federal government, the arsenic tailings at Giant Mine will be frozen underground.

In other words, the current plan is to freeze it in a giant toxic ice cube under the old mine site and keep it frozen at a cost of $1.9 million a year, until government scientists can figure out a better way to deal with it.

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) recommended that the arsenic be moved elsewhere, although the where wasn't specifically addressed. That plan was deemed too dangerous. Either way, the arsenic would just be moved and contaminate another site.

This is why Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins has the right idea.

Last week, Hawkins made the suggestion the federal government cough up a few bucks (he suggested $20 million) for a competition to spur on private enterprise to devise a way to deal with the arsenic sooner rather than later. Hawkins said there are ways to motivate people and money is certainly one of the top ones.

The payout could inspire those in the environmental clean-up business to come up with an innovative way to deal with the tailings. In fact, another recommendation from the MVEIRB was to invest in research with the intent of exploring emerging technologies.

One of those emerging technologies could be phytostabilization. That mouthful of a word comes from a 2007 study done by the University of Arizona. According to the study's authors, a vegetative cap could be grown that would help to contain mine tailings.

The theory is that plants, specifically chosen to be resistant to contaminants, would absorb the harmful components of the tailings, and store them in its root structure, lessening the potential exposure to the surrounding environment.

Now, the study was initially conducted for mine tailings in arid and semi-arid climates, but who's to say that the same technique couldn't be adapted to work in the North?

That's where the research funding comes in - if we invest in potential technologies, we can find a way to clean up the mess that's been left by past mining exploits. And who's to say if we do perfect this new technology, we wouldn't be able to sell it to other areas around the world facing the same problems?

We need to invest in emerging technologies such as these in order to help clean up contaminated sites like Giant Mine.

It's better to spend some money now than to throw the problem on to future generations to solve for us.

Many families will gather around a turkey and cranberry sauce this long weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The annual holiday is celebrated on the second Monday of October, which falls on Oct. 14 this year.

But the holiday has some unique Canadian connections, starting with its origin.

The first North American Thanksgiving is credited to Martin Frobisher, who sailed to present-day Newfoundland in 1578, in search of a Northern passage to the east. Grateful to have survived the journey, he held a ceremony.

Throughout history, Thanksgiving celebrations did not always centre on the harvest.

The first one after Confederation, on April 15, 1872, celebrated the recovery from a serious illness of the Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII.

According to the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, between 1872 and 1879, no record of a Thanksgiving Day is found. But from 1879 to 1898, it was celebrated on a Thursday in November.

Throughout the decades, Thanksgiving would be observed in October or in November, sometimes on a Thursday and at other times on a Monday.

In 1957, parliament issued a proclamation, permanently placing the annual holiday on the second Monday of October.

Celebrating the holiday by eating turkey is still popular, although the menu selections can be quite varied. Last year, Canadians bought 3.1 million whole turkeys, representing 35 per cent of all the turkeys sold during the year, according to the Turkey Farmers of Canada. But turkey at Christmas is still the most popular way Canadians eat the bird, with 3.9 million whole turkeys purchased for that holiday, representing 44 per cent of the turkeys sold during the year.

As for cranberries, this country is the second-largest producer of the fruit native to the Atlantic provinces. Highbush cranberries can be found at certain locations in the Mackenzie River Valley.

In the North, the turkey dinner might be replaced with moose stew to give the holiday a unique local flavour.

Whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, as a blessing for your well-being or just taking the time to enjoy the day to be with family, Canadians have many reasons to be grateful.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Jeanne Gagnon is the acting editor for Deh Cho Drum while Roxanna Thompson is on vacation.

After attending a public meeting on the GNWT's proposed anti-bullying legislation, I'm generally in favour of the bill.

The meeting attracted a small group of about 15 people, a number of them local teachers, who had some good things to say about the concepts in Bill 12. They also expressed some reservations about how to implement the bill. While some of those concerns were well placed and well meaning, others might be more debatable.

One of the more poignant parts of the evening were comments from some people, including MLA Daryl Dolynny, about being bullied themselves.

He spoke with obvious emotion about how difficult it is to even discuss the subject openly due to fear and social stigma.

Others in the audience remembered how they too had been bullied, often with no one to turn to who would actually take steps to deal with the matter.

One young woman recalled how she had tried to turn to school officials, including a principal, to help end her torment, with no success.

I'm a little torn on that issue, since I remember much the same thing going through school. My personal recollection is that school, especially in the junior grades, is where the law of the jungle prevailed. To quote from one of my favourite movies, A Christmas Story, public school in particular was where people were sorted into bullies, toadies or the nameless, faceless rabble of victims.

I also recall thinking that much of this should have been pretty obvious to the school staff, who turned a blind eye to the bullying unless it escalated to some significant physical level.

As an adult, I can now see where that perception was likely somewhat misplaced, but I still have no doubt that many school officials were taking their cue from the NHL refereeing code that says "let them play and sort it out themselves."

Too often that simply breeds more violence of whatever nature. There's got to be a better balance between letting children handle it themselves and intervening in a constructive fashion.

As another spectator pointed out, too often inaction on bullying at the childhood level leads to the behaviour continuing into adulthood.

That's why Ontario, my home province, has introduced some stern anti-bullying and harassment at the workplace legislation in the last few years. When you reward bad behaviour with a blind eye, it becomes harder to fix later and requires more drastic steps.

While I appreciate the trepidation expressed by some teachers at the public meeting about having to assume more responsibility for policing bullying, I don't agree with it.

Children spend a good chunk of their lives at school, as adults do at a workplace. Bullying in either location is simply not acceptable. If it indeed takes a village to raise a child, it might also require a school to help stamp out bullying.

The law of the jungle must end now, and not later.

Last Thursday's town hall meeting on public safety in Yellowknife, hosted by the Department of Justice, highlighted the myriad issues that contribute to the critical situation now faced by residents.

The issues go something like this: the realization that Yellowknife sits at the top of the Canadian heap in the Crime Severity Index; social issues, such as alcohol and drug abuse; marginalized citizens of our territory who carry the horrific legacy of residential schools and play out destructive cycles; little to no help and financial commitments for people and programs that need and offer vital services to heal at the root; and government departments seemingly disconnected from each other.

Meanwhile, on a day-to-day basis, on the street level, everyone who lives in Yellowknife experiences the consequence, some benign and some violent and extreme, via criminal activity that makes the rest of Canada look like a utopia.

There is no department or agency solely responsible for solutions, no overlord that will magically solve the problems Yellowknife society faces.

Here's a snapshot.

Yellowknife Mayor Mark Heyck said, at the town hall meeting, that the city is currently looking at funding RCMP officers with a mandate to police the downtown area.

Justice Minister Glen Abernethy said, "We're looking at funding additional (RCMP) positions."

Meanwhile, RCMP Insp. Frank Gallagher, likely the safest person walking around Yellowknife, insisted in an interview last week, "I definitely have enough police officers."

Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society in Yellowknife, said at the meeting, "Talking about more police or closed circuit cameras or things that are responses after the harm is done do not make us safer."

Conflicting points of view are entirely normal when faced with a mess. Everyone has their agenda to fulfill.

Two things are clear.

Although Gallagher balks at the thought of increased staff and received applause at Thursday's meeting when he said, "We can arrest, arrest, arrest, but that won't solve the problem," the fact is that more officers won't, de facto, result in more arrests. It simply means more police presence, more control in current high-risk areas.

The second glaring issue is the lack of a group approach, and, specifically, the absence of the Department of Health and Social Services. Where was the voice of Health Minister Tom Beaulieu - the man without a plan responsible for closing a treatment centre - on Thursday night?

When Gallagher moved to Yellowknife and took charge of G Division in April this year, he told Yellowknifer, "I'm still getting my feet wet. I'm in meetings all this week with different groups. I want to know what they expect from their police before I do anything."

Who did he meet with and what were the results of those conversations?

Multiple voices, multiple points of view, and multiple levels of responsibility - this begs a task force. A task force that brings together all the players: the City of Yellowknife, the GNWT - both Justice and Health - non-profits that struggle to offer programming under lack of funding or spending cuts, and citizens.

Citizens who have experienced first hand a terrifying break-in and an assault, and spoken publicly, citizens such as Kelli Hinchey and Deanna Leonard, who said Thursday, "We need to not be afraid." Citizens like Sandra Lockhart, who, as a woman who has experienced sexual violence and addiction, said, "It's racial profiling that's going on, we're just not saying it. We know the people that are drinking downtown are of aboriginal descent."

Gallagher told Yellowknifer in July, "We don't want to be a reactive police force. We need to be proactive."

The real task, Bardak added, is preventing crime and healing those affected by it.

Well said. But until those people who are paid to lead actually lead and the rest of us contribute, it's all just more and more empty words leading nowhere. It is time to pull this city out of the nowhere nightmare.

Nunavummiut who are pointing to former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau's condemnation of the Parti Quebecois' (PQ) proposed charter of values as proof of his sensitivity to minority rights, while being a full-fledged advocate of language protection and distinct-society designation, are missing the point.

Parizeau is a separatist. Period.

This is still the same man who blames ethnic votes for the failed 1995 referendum on Quebec leaving Canada to become a sovereign state.

Parizeau couldn't care less about the rights of people in Quebec's public service to wear "overt" religious symbols such as hijabs, kippa and "larger-than-average" crosses.

Who exactly, I can't help but wonder, gets to decide the average size of a cross or crucifix? But I digress.

Parizeau is not concerned with individual rights, but, rather, the impact the proposed charter is having on the political landscape.

Those following this battle for the right to free expression realize the majority of PQ supporters back the charter, while the majority of everyone else do not.

As he wrote in his highly-publicized column in Le Journal this past week, he's worried federalism is presenting itself as the defender of minorities in Quebec.

In short, he's worried the proposed charter will tip the scales against the PQ (read separatists) for a very long time in the court of public opinion, especially among those with voting rights in Quebec.

The ironic part of Parizeau's written tirade is that federalists - especially in this great democratic nation of ours -- should defend minorities.

Heaven help us in the North should they ever go in the opposite direction.

While no doubt he is enjoying the bluster over the proposed charter -- blustering himself over possible legal challenges if the charter is adopted -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have made the federalist point crystal clear by body-slamming his senior federal minister in Quebec, Denis Lebel, for saying there was nothing in the PQ's proposed charter that upset him this past month.

And, as often is the case lately with the Tories' travelling medicine show, while Lebel shrugged his shoulders in indifference, Jason Kenney, minister of multiculturalism, was shooting across cyberspace with a turban on his head to protest the charter.

Here's hoping the Tories come back down to Earth soon and, at least, look like they're on the same page.

Some would have you believe this is a little argument, in a militant province, aimed primarily at Muslims, with next to nothing to do with the rest of us.

But things have a way of growing once they take root.

If you overlook the annexation of Austria, the seeds of the Second World War sprouted in Poland.

Rights top the list of things you don't truly appreciate until they're gone, and they have a bad habit of following each other out the door once one is removed.

In Canada, you can put a punk rock video of protest on the Internet if you don't think a church leader should support a politician's campaign, and suffer little more than accusations of bad taste aimed more at your music than your message.

In Russia, that landed two feminist punk rockers two years in prison for hooliganism.

Stomping on people's rights is a song best not played, even in Quebec.

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