Dehcho tumult business as usualNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, March 23, 2015
Settling land claims and striking a form of self-government is a high stakes game.
Tens of thousands of square kilometres, millions of dollars worth of subsurface royalties and access to the Mackenzie Valley corridor are on the table. After close to 15 years of negotiations the territorial government and Dehcho First Nations have found themselves in a very public impasse. The territorial government is offering 37,500 square kilometres and 17.78 per cent of subsurface royalties and Dehcho First Nations has responded that they will accept nothing less than 50,000 square kilometres of land.
Premier Bob McLeod maintains his position that the government's offer is "the best in the history of the NWT, if not Canada." Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian, on the other hand, says the government is not only failing in its constitutional duty to negotiate in good faith with the First Nation, but accusing it of using "bullying" tactics. The revelation of a letter to Norwegian from McLeod contradicting the premier's steadfast denial that the GNWT has threatened to walk away from the negotiating table throws more fuel on the fire.
It all looks mighty ugly from the sidelines, but leaders in this territory have a long and storied history of hard-fought negotiations that have led to innovative bilateral agreements.
Consider how long it took Deline's chief negotiator, Danny Gaudet, to strike the deal that would create what he has called the most comprehensive indigenous self-governing system in the history of Canada. It took 19 years of negotiations, a path that no doubt included some degree of struggle and compromise. But it is from this struggle and compromise that the First Nation has won the right to start allocating income tax and GST toward made-in-Deline social programming. This means the band will no longer be reliant on federal core band funding, which was cut last year to $140,000 from $325,000 annually.
Over in the Tlicho, it took almost two decades to settle land claims but today the First Nation is financially strong and delivering programs to its members.
The territorial government itself has only in the past year realized the dream of devolution over resources and land after negotiations began in 2001.
Since then, Tlicho and Sahtu leaders have questioned the constitutionality of an aspect of this agreement and have taken the federal government to court. Earlier this month, NWT Supreme Court Justice Karan Shaner sided with the Tlicho by halting the implementation of a pan-territorial land and water board, which would have dissolved the First Nation's regional Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board. The Tlicho is fighting to save its land and water board which is, of course, one of the fruits of the previously-mentioned Tlicho Agreement.
Back in the Deh Cho, the grand chief is merely following a tradition forged by a number of predecessors, including McLeod himself.
The public slinging of threats over the past few months seems ugly but at least both sides have put their stance on the table so Dehcho First Nations band members and NWT citizens can bend their leaders' ear. It's the best chance each side has to achieve the best possible outcome for the people they represent.
Consider teaching Inuit culture to outsiders at Nunavut universityNunavut/News North - Monday, March 23, 2015
It is interesting to note that Education Minister Paul Quassa reignited interest in a university in Nunavut at the same time Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Ottawa announced they had reached a tentative agreement on a 10-year-old, $1-billion lawsuit over the federal government failing to meet its obligations under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
A portion of the lawsuit and discussion has been Ottawa's failure to meet requirements in Article 23, which calls for a minimum percentage of Inuit to be employed by the Government of Nunavut, a goal easier to say than achieve. In 2005, Government-appointed conciliator Thomas Berger observed a situation that continues to some extent to the present day, that "the problem is not on the demand side of the equation. The Government of Nunavut has strived mightily to provide opportunities for virtually all qualified Inuit. The problem is that the supply of qualified Inuit is exhausted."
That in itself justifies the need for a university in Nunavut, to provide a place in the territory for high school graduates to naturally progress, to give them a place to aspire, a made-in-Nunavut solution.
Quassa, who is also the minister responsible for Nunavut Arctic College, has asked a number of organizations and two existing universities to prepare an options paper for cabinet in time for consideration before the spring session, so that there can be an announcement of some magnitude.
On the table are a "stand-alone university, a university college, a pan-territorial university, an Inuit Nunangat university, or some combination of those."
There is already $5 million in seed money for the bricks-and-mortar construction of a university promised by the mining giant Agnico Eagle.
Quassa's announcement in the legislative assembly gets the ball rolling and the NTI-Ottawa lawsuit serves to demonstrate the need and the success of Nunavut Arctic College's teacher education and nursing programs shows it can be done.
A workshop later this month will involve representatives of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Laval University and Carleton University.
The two outside players can provide a unique perspective on Nunavut, its unique location and climate, and how other universities have tailored their programs to attract students.
Perhaps among the considerations could be the potential development of a Northern Studies curriculum, the sharing of traditional knowledge handed down through generations of Inuit and program offerings that would be attractive to students from across Canada and throughout the world.
Many universities offer a unique experience to students based on their environment, culture and history.
Nunavut has much to offer in that regard, as long as there is sufficient infrastructure to provide services and accommodation.
Just as there is not a large enough educated population to meet the employment needs of the government of Nunavut, there likely aren't enough high school graduates in Nunavut to fill a university.
Looking outside the territory, while protecting Inuit culture and values, must be a consideration.
Hypocrisy over city deadline Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 20, 2015
Miss a property tax payment and the city won't hesitate putting your house on the auction block and your address in a public notice saying your taxes are late.
If the city makes a mistake on your tax assessment, however, and you don't catch it within the 45-day window the city provides, too bad. That's your mistake. This is the message and the hypocrisy signalled by the city's insistence that it's up to the taxpayer to catch its mistakes within the time-allotted window.
Telling people, "sorry time is up. Better luck next year," adds credence to the accusations of arrogance at city hall.
Tax assessments are complicated and difficult to interpret at the best of times.
Providing an example of just how difficult it can be to untangle the web of numbers and equations making up city tax assessments, last week Coun. Adrian Bell shared the story of a Yellowknife property owner who had been met with a rather unwelcome surprise -- after dutifully paying his taxes without questioning his assessment for several years, he learned he was being taxed for a non-existent basement extension as a result of an error made by the city's assessor.
The example was rightly offered up by Bell as a cause for concern. While the imaginary basement unit was the only specific instance cited by Bell, he pointed out, quite worryingly, that oversights like this one probably happen a lot.
Even more astonishing than the revelation that residents are being unjustly taxed for property improvements that don't exist, is the city's response. Rather than admitting fault and making amends, administration doubled down and said even if the assessor had conjured up the new suite out of thin air, the onus was on the property owner to catch the mistake. Alas, this year's March 9 deadline has already passed. In other words, if you've only just realized the city is charging you a little extra for that new loft you never got around to building, tough luck.
If the recent Kam Lake tax debacle is any indication, there is certainly more than enough reason for residents to be wary about the city's ability to crunch numbers. After assessments were sent out last year, administration repeatedly assured the public not to fret - mill rates would be adjusted to account for the property assessment increases.
Then came the property bills for Kam Lake and 300 per cent increases.
Bell's suggestion, subsequently supported by all of council, that the city should make it easier for residents to check the accuracy of their statements by setting up a comprehensive website to demystify the process is a no-brainer and will go a long way in reassuring those who feel overwhelmed by the numbers.
However, it will do little to ease the pain for those whose wallets are a little lighter this year because they have failed to catch the city's errors. If the city really wanted to give residents a surprise they could look forward to, they could be more lenient with the time frame for appealing their tax assessments, especially when it is the city in the wrong.
Cabin spaces help make North attractive Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 20, 2015
Nobody needs to be reminded the territorial government is having a difficult time in its Northern resident recruitment strategy.
The jobs up here are well-paying, steady and long-term, yet government postings remain unfilled and the fly-in-fly-out mine worker population continues to grow.
Turning this trend around is not about offering better paying jobs. That strategy is unrealistic and self-defeating; at some wage-point it becomes cheaper to fly in a worker on rotation than to pay a wage premium. Wages will always be capped at that point because it's not in the interest of a corporation to subsidize northern residency. Moreover, our largest employer - the GNWT - must keep wages under control for fiduciary reasons as much as to avoid skewing the labour market further.
That's why Lands Minister Robert C. McLeod's decision last week to open 22 already-existing recreational property leases to the public through a lottery was a good idea in the context of improving Northern residency.
Creating recreational opportunities for those who may choose to live in North is part of a sober plan for growing our population. Not only does it not cost the GNWT anything to open these lots up for use, it may add 22 reasons to why moving to Yellowknife is a good idea, or add 22 reasons to why it's a good idea to stay.
Where's the plan?Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, March 19, 2015
The amount of money it could cost just to shore up the bank along the Mackenzie River in Fort Simpson is eye popping; between $19.5 million and $31 million depending on the option picked.
What's much worse is the reason village Mayor Sean Whelly gave for why the community has shoved the report outlining those costs in a drawer for the last two years.
He said it just seemed like bad timing to ask for money when the territorial government is cutting back its spending. It would likely be rejected, he said. But it's hard to know if you don't try.
Even if funding didn't start flowing for five or 10 years, if the GNWT at least knew about the problem it could be put on a priority list to be balanced against other potential projects, money could be put aside over a period of years in order to either shore up the river bank or to cover moving vital infrastructure away from the areas most at risk.
Since the village hasn't gone to the GNWT to at least get the ball rolling, surely it is saving up money to repair or relocate its water treatment plant or water intake line should erosion continue over the coming years. Well, not exactly. Village leaders have been spending but not saving in a capital reserve fund.
That's what other municipalities use to save up for those rainy days when they have to replace big ticket infrastructure.
"There is no money," the mayor said, citing a measly $1 million transferred to the municipality from government coffers for capital spending each year that goes to projects needing immediate attention.
Sure, things that need to be fixed right away should be covered but that doesn't mean potential disasters should be swept under the rug.
It's likely erosion won't pose an immediate risk to village infrastructure for several or even many years from now. However, the erosion issue is just one part of the fiscal puzzle that makes a lack of a capital reserve fund astounding. There's money that's going to be spent in a few years to clean up the dump and the water treatment plant is due for work in about five years, Whelly said.
The recreation centre isn't new and will likely need either a renovation or rebuild at some point.
This all leaves us wondering: where is the long term plan?
Keeping up with the yearly capital costs and operations and maintenance isn't good enough.
Leaders need to have some foresight and look many years down the line to anticipate the needs of the community. Without a plan in place, future councils will face some hard choices.
Worth seeing majestic 3,000-head herd crossInuvik Drum - Thursday, March 19, 2015
Excitement is mounting over what promises to become a major tourist attraction for the Beaufort Delta region.
That would be the annual movement of the Canadian Reindeer herd from its wintering grounds east of Inuvik to the summer calving grounds on the coast.
While the migration has been an annual rite of the late winter and early spring season for many years, it was only in 2014 that it caught the public eye in a serious way
Photos and videos show that hundreds of people, primarily from Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, made the 75-minute journey north during the Muskrat Jamboree weekend last year to watch the spectacle as the 3,000-strong herd crosses the ice road like a river of antlers and hooves.
That was primarily through word of mouth.
Now, in celebration of the 80th anniversary of reindeer herding in the region, the spectacle is on the verge of becoming an event.
Inuvik's Lloyd Binder, the manager of the herd, is arranging for shuttles to take a limited number of people north to see the herd cross on the morning of March 29.
He's also scheduled interpretive tours of Reindeer Station, the former headquarters for the herders, the same day as part of the 80th anniversary celebrations.
The Inuvik tourism department has also hopped on the bandwagon, and is happily advertising the event diligently.
It's exactly the kind of unique, signature event the town and region needs during the winter. Yes, there are also the jamborees to look forward too, but there seems to be a particular allure and mystique to watching the reindeer crossing.
That's almost certainly because it's the closest thing most people in the region can find to comfortably watch something so similar to the great caribou migrations that are now largely in the past.
Like dog sledding, it's also a particularly Northern spectacle that strums a chord in the souls of residents and tourists alike.
The real question will be how viable the reindeer crossing will be once the permanent road from Inuvik to Tuk opens in the next year or two.
That road will spell the end of the ice road to Tuk, of course, and it's not clear whether the reindeer's path will take them near the new highway.
So this could be a case of enjoy it while you can.
If you can, make plans to be there to see it.
Don't throw baby out with bathwaterYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Getting a bad grade on a test is always a kick in the teeth. When it happens, a student has a choice. Criticize the test, the teacher and the system or to turn that pain into a learning experience and, with a little hard work, knock the next one out of the park.
According to the most recent results from the 2013 Alberta Achievement Test, only 37 to 49.8 per cent of NWT students are meeting grade level.
That's some tough medicine for students, parents, educators and policy makers but by the same token it's also good to know.
"This tells us we have to make significant changes in our education system," said Rita Mueller, assistant deputy minister with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, back in September.
But now that Alberta is looking at a new way to assess its students, Education Minister Jackson Lafferty wants to follow suit with a new learning assessment tool of our own -- one with a "Northern perspective."
Certainly, many Northerners tire of assessments formed by well-intended southerners. A few months ago, the territory got a failing grade from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business on its red tape report card. The grade was not supported and was in fact criticized by the executive director of the NWT Chamber of Commerce.
But our young people -- who must often go down south to get the education they need to pursue their career goals -- must still adhere to national standards so they may remain competitive with their southern classmates. A test that takes into account the Northern perspective must also take into account the competition our students will face down south.
Of course, the danger now is that GNWT foot-dragging will lead to no assessment being done at all.
Back in September, the department had plans to take steps to address poor results from the Alberta Achievement Test over the next 10 years.
A decade from now, how will we be able to figure out whether they were effective or not without some kind of test? How will we know how they will do in a southern classroom?
Students are owed every opportunity to flourish in post-secondary education and beyond. Part of that is making sure they are at the same academic level or -- why stop there? -- even better than their southern classmates. The only way to do that is with a test that tells us how they're doing.
Phone book shows city can't muzzle artistsYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Past attempts by the city to micro-manage artists and performers has become a running joke, and the latest barb has showed up in a place where the city has little control.
Northwestel released its 2015 phone book last week with a not-so-subliminal political statement on its front cover. It features a painting of the Wildcat Cafe by Terry Pamplin, with a group of mice picketing outside the historic eatery, holding signs reading "Take back the Cat."
Pamplin said the inspiration came from the tempest in a teapot that erupted last year over T-shirts designed by fellow artist Nick MacIntosh depicting the Wildcat populated by mice enjoying meals. The city ordered MacIntosh to hand over the T-shirts, citing copyright infringement. A backlash ensued and the city quietly backed off and returned the shirts. The building belongs to everyone, Pamplin said, as the city used taxpayers' money to renovate it and the city is supposed to work for the common good.
Pamplin's tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the issue didn't go unnoticed by the Northern telecom giant, which chose the painting for its cover despite the controversy.
This isn't the only time the city has riled artists. Last summer, it released guidelines for buskers full of condescending rules, including a diktat that they play for free and even ordered how to dress. City administration has shown they think they can control how artists depict the city, yet they haven't ordered Northwestel to hand over its phone books.
Artists and their supporters will ultimately decide how they will represent the community, with or without approval. Rest assured, the city will be reminded of this by the multitude of phone books at city hall.
The sting of online disconnectEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 18, 2015
It's been a while since I took the plunge and joined the modern world of Facebook.
For the most part, I must admit, it's been a rewarding experience.
On the down side, there are more than a few posts that get my blood boiling.
I know the rest of a post is going to result in nothing more than me gnashing my teeth painfully into my lips and bouncing pillows against my apartment walls.
I will sit and stare at the screen, waging a 10-minute battle with myself not to respond to what I have read.
Thankfully, it's a battle I continue to win.
But, for the life of me, I don't understand why I can't simply look away, or keep scrolling, when I know, after the first few words, a post is going to upset me.
It's become one of life's great mysteries to me.
I honestly don't look when I'm in the south and have to drive past the scene of an accident.
That's one mental image — should I actually see something terrifying with my rubbernecking — I would never get out of my head.
I suppose it's my writer's curiosity in always wanting to know how people honestly feel about a topic that keeps me reading, and personal anger be damned!
Thankfully, a fair amount of it could be (not unfairly) labelled as superfluous ramblings.
There are, however, a few topics that get me every time.
I have developed great disdain for the wannabes, apologists and paternal types among us, who see racism in almost everything, have convinced themselves white people really have no culture (no matter where they're from) and believe there are but two opinions on everything: their's and the wrong one.
And don't get me started on the perfect life of getting up, eating a healthy breakfast, working 8.5 hours, going to the gym for 1.5 hours, having 1.75 hours family time and eight hours sleep per day for as long as you're alive.
These days it seems you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
It baffles me how so many Kivalliqmiut living in the south could have become so disconnected from life here.
I mean, OK, a good percentage of them are well to do, financially, and that accounts for some of it, but not all.
I don't know how many people truly take food from the dump here in Rankin, but I do know how many here struggle to be able to put healthy food on the table day in and day out.
Some struggle a lot more than others and not all of the struggling are unemployed, or spend all their money on drugs, alcohol or gambling.
Food is darn expensive here. It's reality.
To insinuate on Facebook that everyone who's going hungry from time to time is a degenerate or, at the very least, a bad parent, is truly despicable.
So, too, are the jokes about those in the south who are trying to help by sending food to various hamlets.
You know, we're all happy for those financially secure and living in the south — even those who may have just got lucky — but it wouldn't hurt for some to add a little compassion and humility to their five-star daily diet.
Life can be a struggle for many good people and those willing to lend a helping hand are no laughing matter.
Not even on Facebook.
