City raises the drawbridge Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 8, 2015
Arguably, the greatest issue facing mayor and city council candidates in the last election was poor communication between residents and city hall.
There was a growing sense among the public of the moat being dug between them and the people who provide city services. Residents complained of difficulties getting staff to respond to their concerns. Several candidates reported getting an earful on the subject while going door-to-door.
"I hear that at every second door I'm knocking on," said Linda Bussey during a candidates' forum held a week before winning her seat on council.
Mark Heyck, the eventual winner in the mayoral race, promised to maintain an open door policy if elected.
The city has made some efforts to live up to that promise since then. A year after the election, more than 200 city staff were given customer service training in an attempt to turn the page on the "horror stories," as Coun. Niels Konge called it, of rude interactions with the public.
Alas, less than six months before the next municipal election, city staff are being denied an opportunity to show off their revamped customer services skills. That's because their names, phone numbers and e-mails have been removed from the city hall website - replaced with general departmental phone numbers and an e-mail filtering system that supposedly takes e-mails but doesn't provide an actual e-mail address.
It doesn't stop there. If one is looking for an e-mail or phone number for the mayor or a city councillor, they're not going to find it on the city website.
This is a gross departure from the previous website that had virtually every city staff member listed by function and department, along with their phone numbers and e-mails.
A city official explained the new contact directory was built with "better customer service" in mind, so that citizens won't be distracted by dozens of contacts and be able to get to the person they need to talk to quicker.
Most councillors, of course, are not buying administration's buzzword logic. They shouldn't be blamed if they were to suspect this move has less to do with "better customer service" and more with city bureaucrats' desire not to be bothered by residents while at work.
Fortunately, not all levels of governments in the territory aspire to become a faceless monolith. The GNWT revamped its online staff directory a couple years ago but still lists staff phone numbers and e-mail addresses. And contact information for trustees and senior staff at both public school boards are readily available on their websites.
Mayor Heyck, who didn't comment for our story was quick to take to Twitter to defend the city's new system after it was published May 1, insisting mayor and council can still be contacted "directly."
But he misses the point. People don't want some anonymous window popping up with the City of Yellowknife logo blazoned atop of it when e-mailing city council. They want their individual e-mail addresses. And their phone numbers would be great too. Maybe they want to c.c. all of council. People can't do that now unless they already have their e-mails.
The city has come along way since the days of muzzled directors and silence that marred the previous administration.
But with an election looming and votes on the line, one might expect Heyck to persevere in continuing to make small steps toward engaging "all sectors of this community on an open and transparent basis," as he put it last election, without resorting to taking two steps back.
North is ripe for entrepreneursDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, May 7, 2015
We live in a world of incredible opportunity. Pioneers have explored every corner of the earth, but man has yet to come any closer in satiating his fellow's demands. Each step on that path to discovery only spreads the horizon further.
A career fair in Fort Liard's Echo Dene School gave students in the Deh Cho an idea of what kinds of opportunities they could pursue after high school.
Principal William Gowans said there are few job opportunities in Liard, which doesn't even have a hairdresser.
But there's a job opportunity. And anyone with a pair of scissors and a bit of initiative can corner the hairdressing market there in one fell swoop.
Where there is need, there is opportunity.
Public school needs to place a higher priority on financial and entrepreneurial education.
We are taught to get good grades, get into college, get good grades there and then find a "career" working for somebody else.
Rarely are we taught to grow up to be the employer or learn how to manage expense sheets.
Nothing is wrong with working for someone else, but to create new jobs, we need leaders. And that goes for the Deh Cho, too.
Small communities in this region show incredible entrepreneurial potential. Anything that you want but can't find locally is a future business opportunity.
The unique perspective that Dene people of the North can bring into the business world offers two advantages: they can cater to their own people's demands better, and that traditional Northern authenticity is much sought-after in the south.
Entrepreneurship aligns with the values of freedom, resourcefulness and using the land that are championed in the North.
It's with entrepreneurship that freedom of lifestyle is achievable and in 2015 we can still dream of being adventurers.
Schools need to focus more on stimulating children's minds in a way that can teach them how they can best serve others and create something out of nothing.
Not everyone needs to go to college, not everyone needs to excel in school. All that matters is your ability to improve the lives of others.
Everyone needs to find a way to serve each other.
In the North, we have the abundance of resources.
We have the need for services.
We have bright, creative, eager young people.
Now where are the entrepreneurs?
Sad to see the need for second food bankInuvik Drum - Thursday, May 7, 2015
Inuvik now has two food banks open. While that's good news in some quarters, there's an argument to be made that it's both shameful and embarrassing.
The members of the Midnight Sun Mosque, with some help from the Muslim Welfare Centre in Toronto, opened the Arctic Food Bank over the weekend.
The official opening came May 2.
Without doubt, those two organizations should be applauded for stepping forward after recognizing the need for another food bank here in town.
It's the need for a second food bank that's disturbing.
With a population of a bit more than 3,000 people, and being a regional government sub-capital, it seems astounding that there should be the kind of social needs such as those demonstrated in Inuvik. But no one who lives here should seriously argue that there isn't.
The economy in town has been in a flat line for some time now, perhaps a couple of years or more. Energy costs have increased precipitously over the same period as employment has fallen and businesses have closed.
The high cost of transportation to reach or leave Inuvik is also a compounding factor. Chances are there are some people who might want to leave to look for more opportunities who don't feel they can afford to, and thus are left in limbo. It's a hellish existence if you can't afford to live where you are and you can't afford to leave either.
While people are accustomed to a boom and bust economy here, many are saying it's perhaps the lowest ebb they can remember.
The municipal council is well aware of how precarious the situation is becoming. That's one of the points raised in its recent economic strategy report, which seeks fresh ideas on how to bolster the economy.
It's not quite clear whether the territorial government has quite the same understanding, although Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay reiterated the need to diversify the economy during a recent visit.
So it's not at all surprising that there's a huge need for services such as a food bank.
The long-established Inuvik Food Bank has done its best to keep with the demand, but it's been a Herculean task to manage that with modest funding.
Margaret Miller, one of the directors of the Inuvik Food Bank, said she is very happy to see the Arctic Food Bank open.
"We're complimentary services, not competing," she said. "I only wish we have this much food at our location."
While there's no easy solution to all of this beyond a total re-imagining of the town's economy, it's clear that Inuvik residents will continue to rally together to assist one another while they wait for better days.
Transport Canada buffaloedYellowknifer - Tuesday, May 6, 2015
Reading the crash landing report on Buffalo Airways flight 168 one gets the impression of an immense ego at work versus a platoon of weak-kneed safety inspectors with Transport Canada.
According to the report, clashes between the airline and Transport Canada inspectors were frequent prior the August 2013 incident where a Buffalo Airways DC-3C barely made it back to the airport intact after an engine caught fire on takeoff.
When Transport Canada requested changes be made at the airline, the competence of inspectors was called into question by Buffalo management. The airline was told its responses to safety orders were "not the appropriate venue for 'repeated diatribes against Transport Canada.'"
No names are mentioned in the report but it's not hard to imagine the main catalyst in these disputes. That would be the airline's owner, the reality television star and larger-than-life flying legend "Buffalo" Joe McBryan, who has railed in the past against stifling safety rules and the burdensome paperwork created by an ineffectual aviation watchdog headquartered far away in Ottawa.
Both McBryan and his fleet of venerable aircraft - some of them predating the Second World War -- appear to be living a charmed life. There have been several brushes with disaster over the years, close scrapes that tested the skill and nerves of the pilots flying those planes but aside from minor injuries and some wrecked planes, close brushes are all they remain.
Indeed, what would an episode of the hit History Television show Ice Pilots NWT be without one of Buffalo's airplanes limping back to the airport on one engine or with landing gear that won't deploy. If these incidents did not make for good business they certainly made for great television.
But the reality of just how close Buffalo Airways came to disaster on Aug. 19, 2013 is hard to ignore in the cold light of the transportation safety board's damning report.
Buffalo management flaunted the rules and Transport Canada inspectors didn't have the guts to stand up to them.
"The current approach to regulatory oversight, which focuses on an operator's (safety management system) processes almost to the exclusion of verifying compliance with the regulations, is at risk of failing to address unsafe practices and conditions," the report states.
The plane, with 21 passengers and three crew, was overweight by 1,235 lbs, which had not been calculated prior to takeoff. Was this just a chance oversight? No. The report stated that not calculating weight was common practice at the time and Transport Canada did not pick up on that.
Because of mechanical issues and the plane being overweight it could not gain enough altitude to climb to a safe height and attempt to re-land. Instead, the pilots were forced to make a quick go-around at 180 feet above ground level, clipping trees before belly-flopping to the ground short of the runway.
Despite their brush with death, the passengers and crew survived with hardly a scratch. For this Buffalo ought to be thanking its lucky stars it didn't have a fatal plane crash on its hands, up to its eyeballs in lawsuits and flight stoppages.
Transport Canada officials refused to comment on the safety board's report but did issue a written statement Monday. It says since the 2013 incident Buffalo Airways has been in full compliance.
After reading the report, however, one has to wonder who is making sure Transport Canada inspectors will never put themselves in a situation again where an airline is calling the shots.
Feeling seriously disconnectedEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Tuesday, May 6, 2015
I have to admit to being momentarily stunned by the total lack of customer service being shown by the good folks at my Internet service provider, as it continues on its path of unprecedented expansion of high-speed Internet to all of rural Canada.
Since its innocent little e-mail landed in my inbox months ago - telling me I'd soon be zipping around the Internet at breathtaking speeds - my service has disintegrated to the point where dial-up would kick my tush and laugh while doing it.
Oh how it harkens me back to my early days in Rankin, when I'd click to open a page and then saunter off to make a coffee, do a little cleaning up around the crib, or write an opera of roughly the same reading duration as War And Peace before realizing my attempts to log on had just logged me off.
Ah, the good old days.
Basically for about the past three months, I've had e-mail service at home and a bit of cruising speed on the information highway if I care to get up at about 3 a.m. to take advantage of it.
Now I admit to being about as tech-savvy as Jethro Bodine (there's one to Google), but, as near as I understand it, we're moving to a brand-new satellite link-up just as soon as they find a technician willing to come to Rankin and install the new dishes.
In fact, the last I heard, a Yellowknife-based company now involved with the process was looking at asking the community to chip in for airfare to get the technician here and then take turns billeting and feeding him until all the new hardware is installed.
Only in the North!
The whole thing would actually be a bit humorous, except for that, you know, little thing called no Internet at home.
It could still be funny, except my provider has taken to treating me like someone it wishes would take their $90 a month and go away.
Nobody answers phones or returns calls, nor do they respond to e-mail inquiries or provide any information or updates.
But I did receive a brochure asking me if I'd like to drop my existing satellite TV service, and sign up for southern direct TV beamed through my existing Internet hardware.
I'll pass.
I've been with my provider for years and we've always had a happy, somewhat symbiotic relationship.
I give my money on a monthly basis, and it provides decent Internet to my humble abode.
The good folks in Yellowknife, at least, do answer calls, and seem to be honestly trying to right the ship, even if some of their ideas are a tad off the wall.
But, heck, I've reached the point where I'll billet.
Hopefully, to the many customers my provider has in Rankin - many of whom are going through the same thing right now - this will all be sorted out soon, and the new system will prove itself to be all that and more.
And, on the bright side, I was given one month's credit for the three months I've had little more than e-mail.
At least that's something.
And, I must admit, I do prefer the silent treatment to the courier company that once tried to convince me its truck had tried to deliver my parcel twice that day, but there was nobody home.
That's a disconnect of a whole different kind.
Road to success is paved in resourcesNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, May 4, 2015
The federal government announced last week it has approved a $500-million increase to the territory's debt, which will no doubt give leaders a bit more wriggle room to address infrastructure issues that have plagued the territory for as long as it's existed.
Previous to this announcement Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger predicted the 2015 budget would push the territorial debt to a mere $85.6 million shy of the previous $800-million limit.
The Northwest Territories has a debt ceiling because, unlike provinces, the federal government legislates the amount of debt territories can take on.
Here at home there's a pile of things NWT'ers need. Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche has been crying out for a repaved Highway 7 for years. Speaking of highways, a road up the Mackenzie Valley has been on the long-term government wish list for ages. Whati Chief Alfonz Nitsiza told News/North last week he wants the government to build a road to his community, where Fortune Minerals could be building a rare earth mine in the near future. Apart from roads, several communities are currently asking the government for new schools and health centres.
So looking ahead, what will the GNWT be doing with this $500-million injection?
While Premier Bob McLeod and Miltenberger both say no money has been earmarked to specific projects, they did point to one possibility: a 150-km all-weather road running from Yellowknife to the diamond mines northwest of the city.
Now it would seem reasonable to question why the government, given the freedom to pick any item off the infrastructure wish list, would choose to build a road to a cluster of mines when communities remain under-serviced. But let's take a look at why this might actually be the most essential project on the government's roster.
First, two words: resource revenues. Part of the 2014 devolution agreement gives the NWT a portion of the money mining companies pay for the right to extract minerals. The first year after devolution saw a $40 million resource royalty paycheque. Of that $40 million, the government shared a quarter, or $10 million, with First Nations governments -- that money gets funnelled right back into individual communities. The more resource revenues the NWT rakes in year after year, the more money it has to invest in other infrastructure projects, which in turn make the territory an easier place to live and do business.
Second, the government wouldn't be going it alone. According to Miltenberger, the GNWT is working to reach a deal with mining companies to cover the cost and maintenance of the road to the mines.
Third, the government is responsible for considering the business case for projects it embarks on. When considering new projects, it's prudent for leaders to consider the return on investment if this money is spent. There is a good business case to build a road to the mines, as well as a good business case for a road to Whati - each road would be about 150 km and each would cost a few hundred million dollars to construct. A road all the way up the Mackenzie would benefit the communities situated along the river, but this road would be much longer, thus much more expensive. Plus, these communities aren't as isolated as they would seem: barges can travel up and down the river in summer and the winter road system is in place when it's cold.
It may sound counter-intuitive to prioritize a road to a diamond mine before a road to a communities, but the road to the mines isn't just a road, it's an investment.
Industry must give primary consideration to NunavummiutNunavut/News North - Monday, May 4, 2015
The recent decision to deny approval of Baffinland's application to ship iron ore from its Mary River mine through Milne Inlet year around using icebreakers is a landmark moment.
Other companies wishing to do business in Nunavut should take note.
Baffinland has a long history in Nunavut. It did many things right and a few things wrong in the process of gaining approval for Mary River. Original plans called for construction of a rail line to ship iron ore from a less sensitive location than Milne Inlet, which is prized by the Inuit as a rich traditional fishing and trapping area.
Global economic events changed the company's plans, prompting the change to what was called an early revenue stage. The rail line was to be postponed in favour of using nearby Milne Inlet for loading massive ocean-going freighters with raw materials destined for steel-making smelters.
The early revenue stage gained approval but the year-around shipping was justifiably denied. Its negative impacts on the traditional users of the land are just too much to bear.
That the traditional users of the land must be given primary consideration is also evident in the court action by the hamlet of Clyde River trying to overturn a National Energy Board decision to allow seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.
Lawyer Nader Hasan summed up the Inuit position to the Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto succinctly.
"The people of Clyde River, the people of Qikiqtani, have never been anti-development or anti-oil," Hasan said in the days after the hearing.
"But the stakes are high for them because the proposed exploration is taking place in their backyard, their kitchen, their supermarket.
"They have to be confident that whatever these companies do is not going to harm their food sources and their food security. They need to be part of the process."
The Inuit of Nunavut have to not just be part of the process, they have to be partners in any project with any company that wants to do business on their land.
That means the people of Nunavut have to stand to benefit from the project, whether it be mining or oil and gas exploration. That can take the form of jobs, training programs, spinoff businesses, beneficiary agreements, a share in profits, a stake in the company or a combination of all the positive aspects industry can offer.
Without primary consideration for Inuit interests, industry must be told that they can look elsewhere to do business.
