Sex talk better than pill alone Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 17, 2015
It would be easy to misinterpret a recent study from the journal, Contraception, looking at what might happen if birth control pills were available over the counter.
It highlights opportunities to prevent unintended pregnancies but making oral contraceptives available without a prescription is not the answer.
The findings suggest 21 per cent of low-income women at risk for unintended pregnancy would be very likely to use the drug if it were available without a prescription. It also suggested an additional 11 to 21 per cent of these same women would use the pill if there were no out-of-pocket costs.
It shows there may be some low hanging fruit out there for those who want to do something about the youth pregnancy rate in the territory -- currently three times the national average.
Just imagine what it would mean for young women who got pregnant without intending to do so. What would it mean for the territory if 21 per cent more of these women could pursue more post-secondary education or advance through their careers before having children -- if they chose to do so at all?
Unfortunately, the world can sometimes be more complicated than statistical studies would imply.
While some countries do make oral contraceptives available through pharmacies without a prescription, including Kuwait and Mexico, that's not necessarily the best course of action.
Pharmacist and Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny pointed out some long-term concerns.
"After a period of time, the effectiveness of birth control tends to wane and sometimes prescriptions have to be switched."
It's unlikely a woman taking the pill would know this without advice from a medical professional.
The takeaway isn't necessarily that these drugs -- currently available only through a prescription across Canada -- should be available over-the-counter. It's that people are more likely to take advantage of sexual health products if they're more easily accessible.
Caroline Johnson, the executive director for the Centre for Northern Families, points out that seeing a physician for a birth control prescription also opens up an opportunity for one-on-one counselling. A sexually transmitted infection can mean more life changes than an unexpected pregnancy, and an opportunity to discuss ways to prevent that shouldn't be overlooked.
The solution would seem to be making medical professionals more available to patients seeking oral contraceptives.
If it were as easy to go in to a pharmacy and pick up oral contraceptives as it were to see a doctor or nurse practitioner, it stands to reason there would be fewer unintended pregnancies.
Childcare expectations unrealistic Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 17, 2015
Ensuring children are prepared when they walk through the kindergarten doors is a necessity but it also isn't the whole picture.
The recent release of a GNWT study asserting that five year olds are unprepared when they enter the education system illustrates that more needs to be done to provide the necessary early education that will groom children for their future studies. There is no specific curriculum in place for daycare facilities, although some develop their own systems and independent bodies such as Montessori, have set programming - this also comes at an added cost.
Cost is one of several factors that come into play when looking at strengthening territorial support for preschool programming.
What does a parent look for when considering preschool for their child? A safe place - certainly. A welcoming and pleasant environment - of course. Something they can afford - absolutely. Whether the educational opportunities at that facility stack up to the competition - yes, this is important but undoubtedly safe, welcoming and affordable childcare takes precedence.
Push into politicsDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 16, 2015
The public doesn't head to the polling stations to cast their votes in the municipal election until late-October, but it's never too early to talk about the importance of civic engagement.
A number of current councillors, and Mayor Sean Whelly, plan to throw their name in the ring once again to represent residents of Fort Simpson for another term. The decision to occupy a seat on village council isn't a glamourous job, by any means. The pay is little, the work is lofty and often times complicated. Decisions have to be made for the betterment of the community and may be unpopular with residents, and can often-times lead to council making difficult decisions that, despite resistance, are in the best interest of the village moving forward.
Again, it's far from glamourous. However, the people who have a desire to give their time to make sure the village priorities and needs are met makes them individuals who care not just for themselves, but the community as a whole.
Being a municipal politician is no easy task during good economic periods, and in a time when budgets are tight and money isn't flowing into village coffers like it has in the past - and the territorial and federal governments are asking municipalities to do more with less - it's a whole different beast.
It's no secret the village is financially strapped, so much that even village assets in dire need of work are given only band-aid solutions to stay operational and safe: roads, water and sewer, the recreation complex, the village office and visitor's centre, the town garage, the list goes on. Councillors are tasked with maintaining old and in some ways crumbling infrastructure until better times shine through. The passion and desire council has to make this village the best it can be is visible at each and every council meeting.
Most, if not all of council, has lived here for the majority of their lives. They believe in this town and want what's best for its residents. They dream of a new recreation complex, a fitness centre, new village offices, an upgraded visitor's centre, better roads, landfill remediation and stopping the banks of the mighty Mackenzie River from swallowing the island.
While there is the potential for decades of council experience to remain for the next three-year term, it's important young people get involved in local politics. Selflessly applying your knowledge and vision to a civic position will help benefit your family, friends, neighbours, business owners and everyone else who lives here, or may one day live here.
While a voice in your head may say you can't make a difference, it's sorely wrong. You can, and if you think you want to help contribute to making Fort Simpson a better place, win or lose, you're doing what you think is best.
And that is a winning move.
Positive power of a Facebook postInuvik Drum - Thursday, April 16, 2015
It's been an interesting few days on social media in Inuvik.
On April 12, Denise Kurszewski started a lively discussion of the littering and trash problems in town and the surrounding area with a post and photo showing how much garbage she had collected near her camp outside of town.
Thirty-six comments later, Inuvik residents had made it quite clear they found the amount of trash they were seeing repugnant. That's even before the snow melts to reveal the full extent of the problem, which is likely to be appalling.
That's why every spring the Town of Inuvik offers money to people who collect the garbage. While that's a generous (and unfortunately necessary policy), it would be far simpler to reduce the littering to begin with. I'm not naive enough to think it can be eliminated all together, and certainly not overnight, but a reduction is certainly possible.
As many of the people offering comments noted, the problem shows a clear lack of respect for the land and environment. It's hard to argue against that notion.
Many of them thanked Kurszewski for publicizing the issue, and she does indeed a deserve a vote of thanks for it.
It's a good example of the positive power of social media, and its ability to connect people. That's a beneficial side to a much-criticized technology that's often overlooked.
Social media, especially Facebook, is wildly popular in Inuvik, making it a valuable forum for people to reach out and begin a conversation. It was also interesting to note that it was a positive and civil discussion, rather than shrill insults issued by people playing at being online "trolls."
In a more amusing side note, many people had doubtless been following the somewhat comical tale of a missing mattress that's been ongoing for more than a month.
The brand-new mattress went missing March 1 during the savage windstorm the blew through town.
It had been left in the back of a truck, and apparently seized by the wind and vanished in the Spruce Hill Drive area.
An appeal immediately went out on Facebook, but there had been no sign of it until Sunday, despite multiple searches and many eyes looking.
The slow snow melt finally uncovered the missing mattress in a backyard an impressive distance away from where it had disappeared.
All it took was another Facebook post to reunite the mattress with its probable owner within a day of its discovery, and doubtless satisfying the curiosity of many Inuvik residents.
Now, that was the way to start a week on a good note.
Military uniforms welcomeYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Yellowknifer has received several letters in recent days regarding the apparently armed reservists who set up a tent at last month's Long John Jamboree.
The letter writers were sparked partially by comments from deputy mayor Linda Bussey questioning the appropriateness of soldiers carrying around guns at jamboree.
Bussey was clearly not trying to disparage the military. She quite rightly saw a problem in allowing soldiers to walk around, seemingly on patrol, with their fingers over the trigger guards of their rifles.
The rifles may have been rubber fakes but they look real enough. Put in the hands of camouflage-wearing soldiers, they were bound to create an impression that there was some sort of threat or emergency taking place. This does not seem like a prudent thing to do at an outdoor winter festival attended by hundreds of people with their children.
There would have been no risk for confusion had these replica weapons been kept to a display in the Canadian Forces tent.
Most criticism was reserved for a letter by Colin Dempsey, the now embattled president of the Northern Frontier Visitors Association.
Dempsey was similarly dismayed. Where his letter erred was in the assertion soldiers wearing uniforms on city streets somehow disrespects taxpayers, and that as president of the visitors association, he is worried the sight of them sends the wrong message to tourists.
Like anyone else who goes to work in Yellowknife wearing a uniform - whether they be Canadian Forces, RCMP, bylaw or Brink's guards, to name a few -- they all have a job to do. There is no reason for them to carry their uniforms to work in a dufflebag. In fact, they should take pride in wearing them in public. Yellowknife is the gateway to the Arctic so it is perfectly understandable that the military would have a visible presence here.
As for Dempsey's fear of frightening visitors, it is an entirely unreasonable concern. This is not Turkey or Greece, Canadian Forces remains one of most highly regarded and respected military institutions in the world.
As long as they are not walking around downtown with fake assault rifles there is no danger they will scare tourists or residents.
Time reveals what's importantEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 15, 2015
About a year ago I was doing a person a favour by looking through a stack of old Kivalliq News binders from the late 1990s to about 2001, trying to find a photo I had taken of a family member.
During my search, I came across a picture of a young boy outside the Rankin arena being recognized as player of the week for his efforts in minor hockey.
That young lad has grown up to be current Rankin rec co-ordinator David Clark.
I consider Mr. Clark a good friend today, as much as any old-school hack allows himself to have close friends in the community he serves.
But friend or not, in my humble opinion, Clark is one of the best recreation co-ordinators I've known over the years and, believe me, between my love of sports and earning a living by the printed word, I've known a few.
I retired from playing shortly after taking that photo, having been fortunate enough to be the starting goalie on two tournament winning teams, as well as Rankin's senior league, during my final season.
I wanted to get back into officiating to -- as corny as it may sound -- give something back to the game that had given me so much.
And, even at our little level in the grand scheme of things, it felt good to hang up the pads on my terms and go out on a winning note.
Over the next decade-plus of officiating, save for a year or two he played in the south, I was a fixture on the ice calling games as Clark moved up the hockey ranks to junior and the local senior men's league.
I often wish I had a Blu-ray of our "special" moments as referee and player to show those who think it can't really be left on the ice.
At every level Clark was talented, successful, uber-competitive and, at times, a real handful to officiate.
And, whether he cares to admit it or not, his credo was always win at all costs and, if you can't win, leave them with a memory or six for next time.
Fast forward to today, and Clark is both a father and a minor hockey coach.
The past two seasons, for the first time I can remember in his hockey career, Clark has actually said (not without a lingering bit of difficulty in getting the words out) the game is not always just about winning.
And that is a very, very good thing.
Many of my fondest memories of playing and officiating hockey have taken place in a Kivalliq arena. But so have a few heartbreaking memories.
I will never forget young Rankin players throwing their silver medals away seconds after receiving them, punching a rival player in the head during the game's-end handshake simply because his team was better that day, or a defenceless player being badly nailed into the boards during the final second of a game long lost on the scoreboard.
Those acts resulted from the win-at-all-costs mentality.
Clark is destined to be a hockey leader in these parts for a number of years to come.
It is good to know a player -- still as competitive as ever, who gives his all every shift on the ice -- will be coaching our children and spending as much time showing them how to have fun and give it their all, but to accept defeat with dignity and respect, as he will teaching them how to become better players and win as a team.
That, truly, is what the game is all about.
Please sir, can I have some more?Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 13, 2015
Watching the legislative assembly unfold every day can oftentimes seem like watching a table reading of Oliver Twist.
Regular MLAs on one side of the room take turns begging cabinet members for infrastructure improvements in their regions, projects rationed out as if they are the GNWT's "three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and a half a roll on Sundays." Hay River North MLA Robert Bouchard routinely implores the Department of Transportation to start dredging the Hay River since the federal government stopped doing it in 1994. Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake Jr. has a replacement for Moose Kerr School, which was built in 1969, on his wish list. Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche has recounted standing with Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay in a Highway 7 pothole so big that "it reminded (him) of a roller-coaster."
Banging their empty copper bowls with spoons, each MLA has taken a turn to ask, "Please sir, may I have some more?"
And it's no wonder the territory's infrastructure is starving for upgrades after the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) revealed last week its funding formula leaves an annual $40 million shortfall.
According to Hay River Mayor David Cassidy, the department was aware its funding formula was flawed at least as far back as September 2013. Three months later MACA announced it would review the way it calculates these numbers for the first time since 2007 and despite the fact MLAs requested the department fast track the review so it would be ready for consideration before the 2015 budget, the new formula will not be presented to the legislative assembly until after the election. When MACA finally presents these new numbers to political leaders, it will be a full two years after the department first announced it was embarking on the review. This is really unfortunate, because imagine how far $40 million could go in improving the territory's remote infrastructure this year.
In the meantime MLAs will continue to grovel, like Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya when he showed Health Minister Glen Abernethy pictures of the Tulita nurses' residences furnished with mousetraps and water-damaged furniture last fall, or the Yellowknife MLAs when they begged for a safe pedestrian walkway along Highway 3 between the legislative assembly building and downtown.
Ministers will no doubt say they have a policy and they're sticking to it.
At least one community, Colville Lake, is taking matters into its own hands in its quest for a school big enough to accommodate its burgeoning student population - community members are planning to construct a building themselves and invite the GNWT to lease it.
The one silver lining in all of this is that it's an election year. This is the perfect time for municipalities across the territory to urge their residents to vote for politicians who make community infrastructure a priority -- politicians who possess the creativity and political will to find ways to work around a bureaucracy that moves slower than molasses so residents across the territory don't have to beg for access to the things they need.
Food studies students' enthusiasm is inspiringNunavut/News North - Monday, April 13, 2015
It may seem overwhelming to consider how best to offer assistance to low-income Nunavut families in need of healthy food to feed their families.
The administrators of the Helping Our Northern Neighbours Facebook group, which has been matching needy Nunavut families with sponsors in the south, are learning as they go along how best to provide food and essentials of life to those in need.
The group is changing its tactics in the future to focus more on providing food to food banks, church groups and organizations in Nunavut and other parts of Canada, to better distribute the assistance, prevent abuse and provide the necessary ingredients for families with children to eat healthy foods.
Ingenuity is one of the ingredients in discovering how best to help the hungry.
That was demonstrated this past summer when it was reported in a controversial documentary by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network that Inuit elders in Rankin Inlet were taking discarded food products from the hamlet's dump. What was being taken was boxed and packaged unsold products from the Northern store, mostly cut and washed fruit and vegetables that were arranged in clear, plastic containers with a mix of items such as strawberries, pineapple, melon and cantaloupe.
The items didn't sell because the price reflected the labour required to cut and wash the raw ingredients, place them in the package and label them. Consumers could purchase a good quantity of raw fruit for the same price as the processed fruit container.
Consider then the lessons that are being taught in the classrooms at Netsilik Ilihakvik in Taloyoak, where students are enthusiastic about the Food Studies course being taught by principal Gina Pizzo, who has transferred the popularity of reality TV cooking shows to her pupils.
Young people are challenged to create dishes from raw ingredients, are shown how to wash, cut, cook and arrange plates of healthy food for consumption at the school and at home. The result of one classroom session included sushi, which was extremely popular once the students got the hang of rolling raw fish and seaweed in rice sheets.
The students also learned how to carve vegetables and fruits, making tomato roses, radish and carrot flowers, orange fruit salad bowls, swan apples, spritzes of celery, kiwi flowers and Japanese vegetable wraps. What is being developed is a love for cooking among young people, which is bound to provide healthy benefits to entire families and to the larger community during celebrations and feasts.
There is no reason to be overwhelmed by the vast numbers or widespread need for healthy alternatives when one considers the potential impact of individual ingenuity.
Just as a casserole makes a little meat go a long way, cooking classes and education about transforming raw ingredients into healthy meals for a relatively low cost provides some relief from food insecurity.
