Health minister in denial Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 10, 2015
Those who believe the current drug and alcohol treatment model in the NWT is getting the job done may not have looked closely enough to our western neighbour.
Either the Yukon is experiencing an addictions problem six times greater than the Northwest Territories, or what is being done here is not working. According to the Yukon government, the territory's drug treatment centre in Whitehorse averages around 1,000 patients at its 24-day residential treatment program each year.
Somehow the NWT, with a population of more than 43,000 people - nearly 7,000 more than in the Yukon - only sent 164 people south for treatment in the first year since Hay River Reserve's Nats'ejee Keh Treatment Centre closed in 2013.
According to the latest Statistics Canada figures, the drug offence rate of Northwest Territories far outpaces other Canadian jurisdictions - more than 1,000 per 100,000 compared to the national average of 305 per 100,000. The territory also leads the way in alcoholism rates. The national average for people reporting having had five or more drinks at least once a month in a year was 17.3 per cent; the NWT's average is nearly twice that - 31 per cent.
Health Minister Glen Abernethy insists the status quo - of offering a mixture of on-the-land programs and facility-based services down south -- is working well, and is the most economically efficient way of providing these services.
But anybody who has lived for even a short while in the territory is bound to be skeptical at such pronouncements. Saying that there is no better way simply does not seem true.
If everything is going so swimmingly well why did city council candidates identify "downtown revitalization" as the main campaign issue in the last municipal election? Downtown revitalization in Yellowknife is not a mere matter of throwing on a few coats of paint and laying down some cobblestone. For many people it's code for coming up with the solution required to combat an urban decay wrought by vagrancy and drunks.
Clearly the Yukon government felt having its own residential treatment centre in the territory's largest city was worth the $21 million it cost to build it.
If 1,000 people a year are using it that is a remarkable figure and evidence that built-in-the-North treatment centres may work here too providing the government has the will to make it work.
The first thing the GNWT should ask is what is it that our western neighbour is doing that has so boosted the number of people seeking treatment?
Accessibility would seem to top the list. Whitehorse has a drug treatment facility downtown and is doubling the number of beds to 20. The NWT closed its Hay River treatment facility in 2013 and the Yellowknife treatment facility in 1999.
Within the territory, the NWT does offer non-medical detox through withdrawal management services at the Salvation Army but there are no formal detox beds at Stanton Territorial Hospital.
Not so for the Yukon, which offers detox services to voluntary patients over the age of 16 who are willing to take a breathalyzer test. Those with a significantly high blood alcohol level are sent to the hospital.
It's true, the NWT does offer on-the-land treatment but that does not adequately address those with addictions concentrated in urban centres.
None of this is to say the Yukon government has found the magic bullet to tackle addiction. But the fact remains the GNWT cannot claim that what is being done is even remotely sufficient. Everyone knows the NWT has a drinking problem. Why are so many people getting treatment in the Yukon and so few are receiving treatment here? This is a question Abernethy has so far failed to answer.
Council in need of a permanent homeDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 9, 2015
The downtown strip in Fort Simpson will soon look drastically different.
Construction on a two-storey office building at the corner of 100 Street and 100 Avenue slated to begin later this spring will mark the beginning of a transformation for the west side of the village.
The $10-million project, being built by Nogha Enterprises Ltd., is not a self-serving venture. While the company will occupy space on the second floor of the building, along with Liidlii Kue First Nation, the project is happening because they wanted to improve the quality of business in the village.
Project Manager Barry Potter, of Alberta-based Potter Consultants, said the project wasn't about finding a new home for the band office or the company, but a venture for the community, by the community. By providing office space for current businesses looking for a new home, home-based business owners looking to expand or travelling business people - in and out of the community on a regular basis but looking for a more formal setting to work in than their hotel beds - the 24,000-square-foot space will have a positive impact on the foundation of business in Fort Simpson.
Not to mention a potential new home for the village office and council. The village has operated out of the visitor's centre for over a decade and while no leases have been signed, the opportunity for the village to find a permanent home like this may not come again in the near future if it doesn't jump at the opportunity. Village staff informed council at a March meeting that the cost of maintaining the current office situation is cheaper, however, with required maintenance and upkeep piling up - a boiler isn't working and the heating system needs work - the cost to move into a new, state-of-the-art office building could prove to be nearly the same.
Potter said they are proposing the village occupy one half of the main floor, along with Parks Canada, who are also in talks to move their offices into the building. However, Potter said the project moving forward is contingent on having tenants signed on to help appease the bank financing the project - if their are no tenants locked in, lenders may be less likely to sign off on the financing, he said.
It's important the village do its due diligence and make sure the move makes sense financially. However, if it can be done without costing taxpayers too much more money, council should vote in favour of the move for two reasons. One, the town would be supporting business growth by contributing to the success of a centralized business and government complex which could help foster economic growth in a community stuck in years of stagnation, and two, it gives the village a home, rather than a resting place.
An opportunity like this doesn't come along very often in a community like Fort Simpson and it's crucial the town consider the future. If it decides not to move into the new building, will a chance like this come along again, or will it be another decade, maybe longer?
Council's choice OK but the process is flawedInuvik Drum - Thursday, April 9, 2015
As we've all heard ad nauseum from politicians over the last umpteen years, government is supposed to be transparent and open.
As we all know equally well, though, all too often that's simply lip service from government representatives.
The recent appointment of Natasha Kulikowksi to fill the position left open by the sudden death of Terry Halifax is a case in point.
I think many people would agree that Kulikowksi is a worthy appointment.
She's an integral part of the community, well respected in pretty much every way for her considerable efforts to help out.
Since she was also the runner-up in the last municipal election, council made a sound decision by reaching out to her.
The problem with her appointment comes simply from the process to decide to fill the position by appointment without an - ahem - open and transparent public debate on the question.
As a reporter, I've seen this situation happen before in other jurisdictions, where council had to fill a vacant seat as a result of both resignations and deaths. In every case I can think of, the debate of whether to fill the vacancy and how to fill it has been discussed in a public session.
In cases where an appointment has been decided upon as the proper course of action, it's common enough to reach out to the runner-up to see if he or she would still be interested in serving.
So the real disservice to Inuvik residents is the fact the council members addressed the situation with the vacant seat behind closed doors, rather than dealing with it in a forthright and public manner.
Senior administrative officer Grant Hood confirmed the discussions had taken place in a closed session meeting, but he didn't respond to questions as to why it was done in that manner and whether that's the way it's been traditionally done in such circumstances.
In the process of filling the vacancy, the council has done a bit of a disservice to a fine candidate in Kulikowksi, as well as to the residents of Inuvik.
It's a case of the right decision reached the wrong way. Hopefully, it's a teachable moment for all involved.
It begins with businessYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
There is a clear benefit to increasing business tourism in Yellowknife. As Bruce Jonasson, business development manager at Adlair Aviation, put it, "They're like tourists on steroids."
As well as bringing their official business to town, these travellers rack up car rental, hotel and other bills that feed the local economy.
But, is it the government's responsibility to push this sector of visitors in the same way it promotes tourism? Certainly, it has a vested interest in seeing this segment grow and can offer support to make business ventures such as cold weather testing in Yellowknife easier but the real responsibility lies within the business community itself.
Looking back at the tourism industry, it was business operators such as Bill Tait of Raven Tours who in the early '90s launched Yellowknife as the winter tourism Mecca that it is today - primarily with Japanese tourists in search of northern lights.
When the frequency of travel dropped worldwide following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. 2001, and again when the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 shook the not-yet steady ground, reviving the struggling industry fell largely on businesses in the area. Innovators such as Don Morin of Aurora Village and Grant Beck of Beck's Kennels - who has been drawing tourists to the city for decades - ensured Yellowknife remained a prime winter destination.
The benefits of investing in business tourism can be proven by existing ventures, such as the recent visits of teams from Bombardier and Honeywell Aerospace who set up shop in Yellowknife for aerospace testing in the cold climate. It's these opportunities and the economic spinoffs that will encourage the government to put more behind business tourism. Offering the necessary infrastructure to support business tourism - whether it's appropriate roadways for vehicle testing or runways for aerospace testing - lie within the government's hands.
Enticing industry members to make the trip to Yellowknife, rather than to our sub-Arctic and Arctic neighbours, is the role of the business community.
North's heritage sport runs strongYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
As far as Northern sports go, the enduring popularity of the Canadian Championship Dog Derby is proof enough that the 60-year-old event will not be running into oblivion anytime soon.
The sight of barking dogs pulling a sled remains a common sight around Yellowknife even while the tar paper shacks and mine headframes disappear.
The derby marked 60 years in grand style late last month with teams from across the continent challenging themselves and their dogs in the 150-mile race. A dynasty also regained prominence with the victory of Richard Beck but he had to fight for it against Dave Turner of Oregon. There were five Becks in the top six at this year's event, cementing the Beck family's dogsledding dynasty.
Like the prohibition-era bootleggers who laid the foundations for NASCAR when they raced cars modified to outrun police, dogsled racing has its roots in practical applications. The original purpose of the derby was a social event among trappers who came to Yellowknife to sell furs they collected over the winter and then have a little fun by racing their dog teams.
The derby has captured imaginations for decades and is being pursued by future generations. Several novice teams got a taste of competitive racing with four-dog 32 km races and even children tried short two-dog runs. This bodes well for the future of dogsledding as it shows there is no shortage of people willing to get behind the sled.
Bill threatens your way of lifeEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 8, 2015
There are quite a few reasons to be nervous about the more than 60 pages of legalese that represents -- if you happen to have an affinity for Kool-Aid -- the mother of all action plans designed to make you feel safe and secure in the knowledge your government is about to make Canada a tough place for terrorists.
But simply being nervous about its contents only applies if you're well-grounded to begin with; exhibiting no overt signs of mental instability, emotional imbalance or unchecked paranoia such as an inherent distrust of all things related to Big Brother, and/or displaying a tendency to be a free thinker.
Should you not be oak solid to begin with, some parts of Bill C-51 could take you well past the state of nervousness and deposit you smack dab in the middle of slightly unhinged avenue.
To borrow a line, you'd still have the right to free speech, provided, of course, you're not dumb enough to actually try it.
At least not in any way that could be read or overheard by others.
If you Google Bill C-51, you'll discover all sorts of fascinating reading material.
Said material will cover everything from the eight things you absolutely have to know, without wasting another second of your life, to why it's our duty to sacrifice a bit of our freedom to fight the good fight against terrorism.
You can, however, expect to read a great deal more on the former point of view than the latter.
You'll even see Bill C-51 portrayed as a tool designed by men who've had their manhood threatened by terrorism or gay rights, although I'm not sure exactly how the author prompted herself to come up with that particular combination.
No-fly listings, personal information sharing, and information agencies being given policing powers are all things that should make one sit up and take notice.
The deal breaker for me is Uncle Stephen's desire to make it easy for police to legally detain a person who has not been charged with a crime, and to allow them to prosecute an individual for the spoken word as easily as they would an act of violence.
That trips the light fantastic too closely to the rhythm of a police state for me.
Whispering one's thoughts well off the beaten path, and trading opinions in the darkest recesses of the public domain for fear of having them twisted, misunderstood or used against you has suddenly become an all-too-real possibility.
I have read social-media postings left by friends this very week that could make them a person of interest should Bill C-51 become law, possibly as early as the end of the House's spring sitting.
And spy agencies, even a Canadian one such as CSIS, being given the power of threat reduction?
B.C. Civil Liberties Association senior council Carmen Cheung is right when she argues threat reduction power is policing power.
Secret spy agencies being given policing powers has already been done.
They're recognized by such cheerful abbreviations as KGB and Gestapo, and their results speak for themselves.
Should Bill C-51 become law, the type of freedom so many gave their lives to protect will slowly, but surely, fade from memory, and those most powerful among us will succumb to the mistakes of the past.
Stick to what's realisticNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 6, 2015
The territory's leaders must be feeling dismay one year into their five-year plan to increase the population of the Northwest Territories by 2,000 people.
Not only has the territory lost 200 citizens since the beginning of this initiative but a recent NWT Bureau of Statistics survey reports more than half of those working in the mining industry do not live here.
In his budget address last year, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger told the legislative assembly the GNWT is working with the private sector and other governments to tackle the issues that lead to the territory's stagnant population growth, such as mine workers who fly in for work and fly back out to their southern home bases or high school graduates who leave to earn post-secondary degrees and never return.
It's pointless to criticize the government for having failed to grow the population so far. But it's hard to not to feel let down after reading the best idea Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay could come up with in last week's News/North to turn the population tide was an infrastructure project abandoned months ago because it was too expensive.
His suggestion, to link NWT's power infrastructure to southern grids, was the fruit of a 2012 roundtable discussion over how to reduce the cost of energy in the NWT. It seemed like a wonderful idea until Miltenberger announced to the legislative assembly this government was no longer considering the project because a feasibility study came back with a $1.2 billion price tag, which is almost double the originally anticipated cost. Since then, the government convened an entirely new energy roundtable and came up with a handful of other ideas to reduce the cost of energy, such as small-scale community power infrastructure and information campaigns to help people reduce their power bills on a grassroots level.
It is absolutely useless for our leaders to continue to hang on to a discarded infrastructure project to tackle a five-year goal.
Hopefully Ramsay only neglected to consult with the people Miltenberger indicated was working on the problem before talking to the media because the other possibility, that representatives from the GNWT, private sector and other governments have spent the past year hoping a defunct infrastructure project will come back from the dead is far worse.
A few Northern News Services editors had their own short brainstorming session on the issue last week and have a few ideas to add to whatever this working group has come up with. Considering the Northwest Territories already gets something to the tune of $30,000 per person who lives here in federal transfer payments, we wonder what is stopping the government from re-allocating some of that money to incentive programs to encourage mine workers to put down roots here. Perhaps the GNWT could extend low interest loans or rebate programs to people to put a down payment on a house. Perhaps it could better advertise incentive programs it already has, such as the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program, specifically to people who work in the territory but don't live here. For example, the GNWT will refund as much as much as one-third the cost, to a maximum $700, of a wood pellet stove to any NWT resident.
None of these ideas are as grandiose as linking NWT to a southern power grid but there is no reason to believe any of them aren't feasible. And really, that is all NWT citizens expect of their government officials when planning for the future of the territory - stick to what's feasible. Because the alternative, throwing out abandoned ideas as viable ones -- is no way to build confidence that our leaders have any plan to achieve their goal to build the population.
Students' trip to Europe has potential for positive resultNunavut/News North - Monday, April 6, 2015
Posing on a pile of snow in the remote Baffin Island community of Clyde River, five teenagers with a longing for knowledge have embarked on a project that appears to be too ambitious.
Set to graduate from Quluaq School, Tyson Palluq, Nora Aipellee, Katelyn Hainnu, Maybelle Enuaraq and Leah Palituq need to raise about $30,000 to pay for a graduation trip to Paris and London.
And they don't have much time left to pay the balance of the cost of the tour, $20,000, after clearing the significant hurdle of raising $8,000 to pay a deposit last month. Another $10,000 is needed for the students to get to Ottawa from their Nunavut community to catch the plane and embark on a great learning adventure.
The students have been doing everything in their power to raise money for the trip, including catering the recent opening of a new hamlet office, where they cooked and served country food for the feast. They've also done raffles, bake sales, cake walks, 50-50 draws and hockey pools.
The problem is that Clyde River has only about 1,000 residents. About half of the residents are under the age of 18 and about half of the adult residents are on social assistance and don't have much money. That's why the group turned to a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe, where perfect strangers have the opportunity to donate to the cause.
We believe it is a worthwhile endeavour, deserving of support, for a number of reasons.
This is the first time the school has organized a trip outside Canada. The students will learn about history involving Canadians during the Second World War with a visit to the beaches of Normandy. Tour companies which specialize in educational excursions for students pack days during the trip with activities and realms of information about each country's history, people and way of life.
The trip is bound to be an eye-opening and perhaps life-changing experience for each of the students. It has the potential to create future leaders in the community, people with vision, who can realize the untapped potential within their own community.
The trip will likely also inspire other young people to stay in school, to apply themselves to their studies and graduate high school with an anticipation of greater things to happen.
The community is supporting this initiative as well as it can, even providing the means for the students to get passports. However, the goal cannot be reached within the school or the hamlet itself. Outside forces are required to make this trip a reality.
Our hope is that more people contribute to the crowdfunding campaign - or that a wealthy individual, a generous corporate donor or a politician able to pull some strings steps forward - to help these young people accomplish their ambitions.
We think it will be well worth the investment.
