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While domestic violence can sometimes seem to be a private matter, it is now being pushed to the forefront by groups and victims of abuse as a societal problem.

More than 50 people marched to raise awareness for Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women during the Sisters in Spirit walk Oct. 3. Participant Sarah Carr-Locke said she was there to support women and bring attention to the safety of women in Yellowknife and other communities. She asked whether the city's streets were safe for all women, citing another walk for women, Take Back the Night, which was held this past Thursday. The last Sisters in Spirit walk went to Behchoko in 2006 and was warmly greeted by the community and people living along the route.

When people participate in these kinds of events, it proves they do care about ending violence in all its forms. However, there seems to be a debate forming around the question of which gender is affected more. The answer is everyone.

Sisters in Spirit organizer Marie Speakman called on the men of the communities to step up as protectors, explaining the issue of domestic violence affects them as well. As one man on the walk, Kelly Bourassa, said, all men have women they care about in their lives, so this is an issue that touches everyone.

Until recently, the focus has been almost exclusively on female victims. To make this everyone's issue, women and anti-violence groups have to reach out to men and men have to stand up in opposition to domestic violence. In hindsight, some campaigns to bring domestic violence to the forefront may have cast a bad light on men as the perpetrators of violence and women almost always the victims. This has led to mistrust on both sides. This has to be put aside if we hope to make any real progress on this issue.

Inaction is the main reason violence persists, either out of fear or belief that it's "not my problem." Stories from our own community show people are still reluctant to confront it. Mira Hall recounted her own experiences at the opening event of Family Violence Awareness Week on Oct. 6. An ex-boyfriend publicly attacked her in a coffee shop where she worked, but no one stood up to help her. Instead, she said patrons sat at their tables "looking at their coffees." This was after she escaped an abusive boyfriend in Manitoba with the help of a male roommate. Premier Bob McLeod made a stark point after hearing her experience in the coffee shop, saying such non-action is tantamount to signalling domestic violence is OK.

If we want domestic violence to be dealt with, we have to deal with it ourselves. Grand heroics are not required, but simple phone calls can expose abusers and send help to victims. We are making progress, but women are still going missing or being murdered, or are running to emergency shelters, family and friends to escape violent partners. We still have a long way to go.

It's often said if you have big names fronting your event, it will be a success.

Such was the case last week for a couple of special events. First, the Sutter family headlined the annual Summit Air Champions For Children dinner in support of KidSport NWT.

Next, the NWT Literacy Council managed to bring Jonathan Torrens, better known to most as J-Roc from Trailer Park Boys, back to the city for his seemingly biennial appearance in support of the Peter Gzowski Invitationals for Literacy.

The total funds raised during these events aren't known yet but what is known is plenty of people were talking about them.

As much as celebrities and personalities are frowned upon for stealing the spotlight far too often, these are two examples where it's a good thing to have name recognition on the marquee.

People will buy tickets and write cheques for a good cause if they know a big name is involved.

What's even more noteworthy in these two instances is that those famous names who came North actually believe in the causes.

The Sutter family is arguably the NHL's most famous family and always do benefits for young athletes, while Torrens has been travelling the country in support of literacy for years - even if he isn't exactly literate in his portrayal of J-Roc.

So, the next time you see a celebrity's name on the advertising poster, look closely. As long as the name doesn't contains "Kardashian," chances are you're in for a good time and supporting a good cause with someone who actually cares.

There are so many themed weeks and months these days that it's hard to keep track of them all.

There is National Addictions Awareness Week, National Fire Prevention Week, National Diabetes Awareness Month and the list goes on. Depending on the community, the organizers and the relevance of the topic, some themes are recognized with one event while others get a whole line-up of activities dedicated to them. But after the allotted time is over, what really remains?

There might be a little more awareness and maybe some people took home themed prizes from some of the events, but often the topic fades from active memory.

Family Violence Awareness Week, which just took place from Oct. 5 to 11, however, is one themed week that deserves to be actively remembered all year long. To begin with, the topic is very relevant to the NWT.

Rates of reported family violence in the NWT are four times the national average.

Family violence also covers a range of situations that can have lasting consequences on those directly involved, wider family groups and communities. Family violence is any abuse or violence that takes place between intimate partners and family members.

It includes spousal abuse, elder abuse and child abuse, among others. Those committing the abuse or being abused could be husbands or wives, boyfriends or girlfriends, aunts and uncles or grandparents.

Family violence is also not just limited to physical abuse. It can also be psychological, emotional, financial or sexual.

This year's theme for the week is that family violence is everyone's business. According to a 2013 Statistics Canada survey, female victims of any type of abuse in the NWT most often turn to family members, friends and neighbors for support and guidance.

This is one of the reasons Family Violence Awareness Week is so important. It draws attention to the problem, lets victims know they are not alone and also provides people who may be approached by a victim of family violence important information and tools they can use to help.

Although family violence is often hidden, in small communities, like those in the Deh Cho, people are often aware of what is happening to their extended family members and neighbors. By being up front about family violence, everyone in the region can play a role in helping those who are being abused and by doing so, help families and communities become stronger.

The seasonally-operated Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre's soup kitchen opened just in time for the first real snowfall of autumn last week, and it was a welcome sight to many in town.

In its first week of operation, the kitchen was serving between 25 and 35 people over the 90 minutes a day it was open.

In of a town of a little more than 3,000 people, that's a troubling number.

Anyone who lives in Inuvik can tell you how dire the economic situation is becoming, particularly for those who don't have a government job of some sort.

Estimates place Inuvik's homeless population at around 50 people or so. While many of them are using the soup kitchen on a regular basis, they're not accounting for everyone using it.

As cook Donna Firth points out, some high school students are straggling in, and that's just in the first week of operation. That's something that's bound to increase.

She's not about to turn them away either, which is a compassionate response that needs to be commended.

It would be easy to make a knee-jerk observation that some of the people using the kitchen don't really need to. But that's simplistic. Many of us are one paycheque away from needing this kind of service.

As Brenda Jerome, the executive director of Ingamo Hall, said, there are large numbers of Inuvik residents living paycheque to paycheque, and sometimes they run out of money for food before the next pay day arrives.

If someone living under those conditions comes by and uses the kitchen occasionally, Jerome said she's not going to begrudge that. If there is a family struggling to get by to the point where their school-age children drop by the soup kitchen periodically, Jerome and Firth aren't going to begrudge that either.

That kind of true compassionate caring and concern for the community is what's needed under these circumstances.

In this economy, most people aren't all that far from needing to use services such as the soup kitchen, the local food banks or possibly even the homeless shelter.

That's something that should be given some sober second thought before casting stones.

RCMP initially struggled with its decision to warn people that notorious sex offender Travis Casaway is back in Yellowknife but ultimately made the right call.

Casaway, 27, snatched two children off the street in 2002 and sexually assaulted them - one at knife point. He was 15 years old at the time but pleaded guilty to the crimes two years later as an adult.

He spent five years in jail and then moved to Edmonton where he spent time in halfway house. Edmonton police were so concerned about his decision to relocate there they issued a statement upon his release in 2009, warning the public that "a violent sexual offender who poses a risk of significant harm to the community" was in their midst.

The RCMP's hand was forced last week after Yellowknife Catholic Schools issued a letter to parents Oct. 7 warning them that an unnamed sex offender had returned. The letter stated the school district was not permitted to name the offender.

Naturally the warning, though unsatisfactory to people looking for complete information, spread like wildfire. People who had heard the offender's name was Travis Casaway through local gossip began posting his mugshot from the Edmonton police on social media.

This, of course, put police in an untenable position, and by Thursday they had no choice but to identify Casaway by name and release his photo. Further steps were taken Friday when police arrested Casaway and brought him to court under a peace bond application to restrict his movements and activities.

Some pundits have argued that issuing warnings about sex offenders does not always serve the public well, that they can cause unnecessary panic and lead to vigilantism.

There is no shortage of sex offenders in the Northwest Territories so this is a dilemma police must face often.

But Casaway clearly presents a particularly grave and predatory danger to young girls and women. His self-concern and lack of remorse exhibited during his interview with Yellowknifer - complaining he was "pissed off" by the attention he was receiving - shows he has little thought for his victims or appreciation of the fear he has caused.

It's worth mentioning after attacking his first victim in Yellowknife - a 12-year-old girl he grabbed and sexually assaulted - RCMP failed to alert the public. Casaway's next victim came nine days later.

Alerting the public this time and taking preventative measures to keep Casaway on a short leash while he remains in Yellowknife is the only decent thing the RCMP could do.

Sweater tossers need not apply as Kivalliq hockey fans
Editorial Comment by Darell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 15, 2014

When people lay down their hard-earned money to attend a professional sporting event, they have the right to boo or cheer for whatever team they wish.

As long as they don't break any laws, or become unruly enough to ruin the event for others, they can boo the home team at the top of their lungs if they think it's under performing to that extent.

However, there's this little word called respect that helps govern what most would consider acceptable behaviour.

Whether you enjoy the sport or not, only a fool would claim the game of hockey to be non-important in this country.

But hockey has been slipping a bit, in terms of respect, during the past decade and it has nothing to do with the game itself.

Too many players feel they are invincible with today's modern equipment.

That has led to a loss of respect in how they make physical contact with an opponent, especially one in a vulnerable position, and a large chunk of the game's unwritten code is in tatters.

Still others have become obsessed with the riches today's game can offer in the professional ranks of the NHL, KHL, European elite leagues and even the AHL.

To them, an opponent is but an obstacle to go through on their way to claiming the riches they feel entitled to.

This is no dump on the game of hockey or those who play it.

In today's instant-gratification-driven society, with the funding and scholarships involved in sport, a loss of respect in some quarters was inevitable.

But the line is moving outward to encompass areas once deemed sacred, and the actions of some would-be fans would have been looked upon as sacrilegious not all that long ago.

It's one thing to sit behind a computer, using an online name in almost complete anonymity, to put down a team's performance.

Sadly, such behaviour in today's virtual world has transcended acceptance to become expected.

But, in sporting etiquette, to throw your team sweater - or any other garment bearing your team's logo - out onto the ice or on the floor of the level beneath you is an act devoid of class or respect.

In the vast majority of junior and professional dressing rooms, just walking on the uncovered logo of your team is cause for immediate ridicule and retribution from those around you.

You are demeaning every player or fan who came before you when you disgrace a team logo, not to mention the team's history and that of the game itself.

The act has been happening with alarming regularity in Edmonton during the past few seasons, and viewed by millions of Canadians across this great nation of ours.

To see the once proud Edmonton Oilers belittled like that is both reprehensible and sad.

I have never viewed such an action in all my hours in Kivalliq arenas and I hope I never do.

Whether it's the Rankin Rock, Team Nunavut or a storied NHL franchise, it's a despicable act that puts a stake through the heart of the entire community.

A photo of a person tossing a sweater on the ground should be hung in every Kivalliq arena, with a message of do not try this at home!!

Elder abuse is wrong. This is something on which everyone should agree.

The issue is a growing concern throughout the territory, with many recognizing that elders are being taken advantage of, most often financially, and that their ongoing mistreatment needs to stop.

Both the NWT Seniors' Society and the NWT Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults implore members of the public to call RCMP for support or if they need immediate assistance.

For these reasons and so many more, the irony in the way our police force has chosen to handle the situation going on in Fort Resolution boggles the mind.

When relatives of a 71-year-old elder - the mother of the chief no less - say she was needlessly manhandled by police in her home, such complaints need to be taken seriously.

Canadian police forces promise to keep the peace in our communities in exchange for us citizens respecting their authority to enforce Canadian laws. This requires trust between police and the public and in several NWT communities, trust in this traditionally colonial system is tenuous at best.

The RCMP G Division investigating themselves in the beating of Loretta Edjericon is wrong.

Likewise, those in headquarters making decisions on this matter would be wise to heed Chief Louis Balsillie's warning that keeping the officer accused of the assault in his community on active duty is unwise while the investigation continues.

Fort Resolution is a small town and Balsillie is not being sensational to warn that residents - many of whom are related to Edjericon - may take matters into their own hands if justice is not served.

Whether or not the officer assaulted this woman, the public needs to know they can trust police to fully and transparently investigate allegations of police brutality.

This is not the first time police have been accused of abusing members of the public, nor the first of these cases where the public questioned the impartiality of RCMP investigators and the justice system in which they work.

When a "member of the public" was injured during a drug raid in Yellowknife last December, RCMP wasted no time calling upon the police services in Medicine Hat, Alta., to take over as third-party investigators in order "maintain public confidence and transparency."

Surely, when a police officer in Fort Resolution is accused of elbowing an elder in the face because she happened to be standing in his way, RCMP should be equally, if not more, concerned about maintaining that confidence and transparency.

Clearly the manner in which the RCMP handle complaints of abuse is inconsistent.

People can turn to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP when police conduct is at issue but this body has no real power other than to make recommendations.

In B.C., concerns about the way police investigate themselves led to the creation of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a civilian-led organization mandated to investigate police-related incidents of death or serious harm in order to determine whether or not the officer committed an offence.

The office has helped re-establish public trust that allegations of police brutality are taken seriously, and that no violent crime is condoned by a police force in B.C., even if that crime is perpetrated by one of its own officers.

Setting up such an office in the Northwest Territories would be difficult and expensive but is worth exploring in a territory where the population is mainly aboriginal but the police force is mostly non-aboriginal.

There are many good police officers working in the NWT and unfortunately decisions like the one in Fort Resolution tar them all with the same brush.

From the response to date from police headquarters, it seems as if the plan is to hunker down and wait for this to blow over. That is a mistake.

The prospect of a government-run beer and wine store opening on a trial basis in the capital city has piqued the interest of residents of Iqaluit.

It is a polarizing topic, with one group of people firmly in the "no" camp and another group in the "yes" camp.

Generally speaking, it seems elders and long-time residents who remember ugly incidents from the 1970s when there was a liquor store in Iqaluit are against the proposal. They point to the harm done to society, families and individuals from binge drinking, primarily of hard liquor.

In the other camp is the "yes" vote, made up of people who moved to the territory from the south, where attitudes about alcohol consumption are different, and young people who see no harm in having a few beers in a social situation, or having a glass of wine with dinner.

There is merit to the arguments put forth by both camps.

But into the mix comes other considerations, such as the underground economy created by bootleggers, who make an enormous profit by illegally selling bottles of liquor, primarily vodka. Some suggest opening a beer and wine store would cut into the livelihood of bootleggers, because people would be less inclined to spend big money for illegal booze when they can buy beer or wine from a retail outlet.

There is also an observation that the territorial government has an opportunity to turn a substantial profit from the sale of beer and wine at a retail outlet, through markup and taxes. That money could be used for a variety of positive purposes, such as an education campaign about responsible drinking, substance abuse initiatives or programs for those who suffer from mental illness.

Some players in the debate make a deliberate distinction between hard liquor - such as vodka, whiskey and rum which typically has 40 per cent alcohol content -- and beer and wine products, with five per cent alcohol content in beer and 10 to 12 per cent alcohol content in wine. The argument is that beer and wine is less harmful because a person has to consume a lot more beer or wine to get drunk.

People getting drunk, essentially, is the crux of the issue, because drunk people cause a host of problems and increasing access to alcoholic beverages will only make it worse. After all, alcoholism is a devastating disease which affects many people.

Because of their upbringing and life experience, many people see alcoholic beverages as having one purpose -- to get drunk. This experiment will determine if attitudes can change.

It seems likely that a beer and wine store will open in Iqaluit on a trial basis, a pilot project. If so, it will be the behaviour of patrons that will decide if it remains open.

We hope the experience won't be too painful.

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