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Food inspectors need closer inspection
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Does the territorial government really want Yellowknifer as its fail-safe in ensuring city food establishments are being inspected in a timely and efficient manner?

Unfortunately, that's the situation that appears to exist more than six months after a Yellowknifer investigation revealed several eateries had gone without inspection, in some cases, for more than two years. That initial story led to an order from Health Minister Glen Abernethy demanding inspections be carried out more regularly, which is at least once a year and up to three times annually for restaurants. It also spawned a report highly critical of the current practice.

Yellowknifer received a copy of the review Abernethy ordered at the time through an access-to-information request. The report tore into the inspection division, finding it didn't meet global inspection standards, didn't have comprehensive policies to protect public health and didn't have procedures to allow inspections to be carried out consistently and reliably, among other findings.

Yet months later, Yellowknifer discovered for the second time, a total inconsistency in the inspections seemed to persist.

Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief medical health officer for the NWT, confirmed - after telling Yellowknifer he had been assured the backlog of inspections had been cleared up - in fact, six locations hadn't been inspected in more than a year.

This total lack of consistency is unacceptable. Keeping up with restaurant inspections is critical to ensuring the public is safe when dining out in the city. It's worrisome neither a directive from the health minister nor such a critical report led to any obvious changes.

While it can be presumed it's in restaurants' best interests to comply with safety standards, the role of the territorial government as a regulator of the industry is to ensure, for the sake of the public, these standards are being adhered to.

It's imperative the GNWT keeps up with these inspections.

Yellowknifer enjoys a juicy story like any media outlet but when biting into that juicy steak at a city restaurant after work, we imagine everyone would be happier if it wasn't up to the newspaper to ensure our food establishments are being inspected on a regular basis.


Kudos to implementing life-saving measure
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Last spring then-city councillor Dan Wong called for ambulances to be equipped with one-time use epinephrine injectors, or EpiPens, the brand name the injectors are commonly referred to by. The devices provide relief from severe allergic reactions which can kill.

Ambulances were not previously equipped with the devices due, it was reported, to the relatively short shelf-life of the units and the cost associated with cycling through unused but expired devices.

Sometime last year the ambulance service obtained the necessary medical approvals to begin carrying the pens.

On New Year's Eve that fact may have saved a life when resident Lisc Daley was stricken with an allergic reaction to what she believes was shellfish cross-contamination in her restaurant meal.

She didn't have her personal EpiPen with her, and described herself as having difficulty breathing by the time an ambulance arrived and administered the shot of epinephrine.

It can't be said definitively if Daley would have met her demise that evening had there been no EpiPen available for medics to administer but it is no stretch of the imagination to say her life was in danger.

The city did a great job of moving forward on this front, and in particular the fire chief's office whose department oversees ambulance service in the city.

Without timely and efficient behind-the-scenes work to get the EpiPen implementation approved and ensure crews were trained in the use of the devices, Daley may not have lived to ring in 2016.


Tournament concept holds plenty of promise
Editorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Well, ready or not, tournament season officially gets underway this coming weekend in Arviat with the JLM Calm Air Cup senior men's hockey championship.

This year's lineup of events promises to be a great one, with the Challenge Cup junior 'C' championship making its way back to Rankin Inlet on Feb. 25 to 27.

It joins a stellar cast with the Arctic Atoms (March 25 to 27), Powerful Peewee (Jan. 29 to 31), Polar Bear Plate (Feb. 4 to 7), First Air Avataq Cup (March 9 to 13), Johnny Kook Memorial (April 1 to 3), Joseph Nakoolak Memorial (TBA), Arctic Circle Cup (TBA) and Kivalliq Cup old-timer's tourney (Feb. 12 to 14) all scheduled to go.

Kivalliq's tournament season could also receive a huge boost if Whale Cove recreation co-ordinator Chris Jones is successful in launching the High School Hockey Challenge on April 8 to 10.

The concept is a solid one in most areas, with the no-body-contact stipulation going a long way to alleviate the risk of boys and girls playing in the same event, as well as bantam-aged players sharing the same ice as those of junior age.

Still, hockey is hockey and the officiating crew will have to be on its game to ensure nobody introduces unwanted aggression or fisticuffs into the proceedings.

It was also more than a little encouraging to hear Jones talk about the tournament enticing kids back into school so they'll be eligible to play.

A few years back, the Whalers hockey program run by two teachers in Naujaat produced the same effect.

Then Tusarvik School principal Leonie Aissaoui raved about the impact the program had on many Naujaat youths.

A number of youths were enticed back into the classroom by the Whalers program, and Aissaoui noted both attendance and grades took a noticeable swing upwards during its duration.

Ian Gordon and Mike McMillan earned the Local Hockey Leaders award, and had their photos hang in the Hockey Hall of Fame for a year for their efforts.

It was a shame the program was left to die after they left the community.

Should Jones's idea take root and the High School Hockey Challenge become an annual event, many kids may benefit academically, as well as athletically through their participation.

Jones was also bang on when he said the tourney would give more kids the chance to play in at least one major event each season, and the most important aspect of the challenge will be to ensure the kids have fun.

Whale Cove is by no means the only Kivalliq community that has trouble icing a full team in an age category in any given year.

The high-school team approach could bridge that gap considerably and help kickstart the minor hockey program in a number of communities.

Finally, Jones also hit the bull's-eye when he said many kids would take a great deal of pride in representing their school at the event. Some of the best hockey memories of my youth involve the Donkin-Morien High School crest on the front of my sweater.

It will interesting to see how things unfold with the concept during the next three months.

If Jones is able to pull it off, I plan to be in Whale Cove exhibiting equal parts of hockey fan, hockey referee and tournament cheerleader!


A good start to a long haul
Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, January 18, 2016

Ask and ye shall receive.

The federal government has approved work on an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, which is great news, but now what?

The federal Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs will have to determine what the inquiry will look like and how it will investigate why indigenous women are so grossly over-represented in murder and missing persons statistics.

This is where it gets complicated.

The amount of success the government sees from this exercise correlates directly with how carefully it listens to the many people across Canada who are affected by this violence.

After meeting with a group of indigenous Yellowknife women to glean some pre-inquiry advice last week, Indigenous and Northern Affairs minister Carolyn Bennett said she heard one of the most important things the commission will need to do is understand regional differences between Canadian First Nations and Inuit groups.

In other words, the commission needs to understand that the experiences of the Mi'kmaq in Millbrook, N.S. will differ from the experiences of the Mishkeegogamang Ojibway of Pickle Lake, Ont., and those experiences will differ from the Dehcho Dene of Wrigley. Every single one of Canada's indigenous communities are populated with people with different experiences, histories and stories that will no doubt lead to different perspectives on how to tackle the massive systemic problem that links these communities together.

That's the thing about systemic problems - they affect everybody but there are a million individual acts that cause them and another million reasons for each of these acts. It will be the commission's job to dig deep, get into as many communities as possible and listen without incredulity to as many people as possible.

Then, the commission will have to take all of this information and devise a comprehensive map of these individual, disparate instances of ignorance, incompetence, apathy and abuse and explain how they lead to the victimization of so many indigenous women. It will take a lot of work and a lot of money to get here but getting to this point only marks where the real work begins.

The Canadian government will then have to take all of this new information and devise a plan to combat this insidious problem. A comprehensive plan will no doubt affect the public and private sector, police, hospitals, schools, prisons, elementary schools and universities. If it is a Canadian institution, organization or private citizen, he, she or it will most certainly be culpable to do better.

But in order to get to this point, the commission will have listen.


No easy solution to incidents of dog abuse
Nunavut/News North - Monday, January 18, 2016

All living things owned by humans deserve to have food, water and shelter in the harsh climate of Nunavut.

That is why it is so distressing to hear a story about people belonging to an animal advocacy organization coming across the frozen body of a dog, still wearing a collar attached to a rope that goes to the front steps of a home so the dog couldn't wander off.

There are other horror stories, including the case of a dog that grew up with a tight chain collar around his neck.

Of course the chain didn't expand as the dog grew and it eventually became embedded in the dog's neck.

The dog was put on a plane and flown to a veterinarian in a southern city, where surgery was performed to remove the collar.

Stories of neglect, abuse and over-population get people's attention. No one wants to see an animal abused.

Many people own dogs and look after them properly. Some people prefer small dogs, exotic breeds not suited to a Northern climate that should be kept indoors. The owners of these dogs, who spent money to purchase the dog and made the effort to bring it North on a airplane, must also be prepared to care for the animal properly.

Large-breed dogs, such as huskies, are suited to the North, must also be cared for properly.

Historically these have been working dogs, animals that are relied upon to pull a qamutik laden with supplies for a hunting trip or a journey to a neighbouring community.

Although sleds dogs are still widely used in some places, they have been largely replaced by snowmobiles.

Sled dogs require food rich in nutrients, coverings for their paws depending on the terrain and harnesses, usually in a fanned out style so they can more easily cross pack ice.

The owners of working sled dogs know to maintain their teams.

Aside from undernourishment, lack of shelter and other basic care, over-population causes dog problems in a community. One female dog can have a litter of several puppies, all becoming large dogs within a year. Some communities have many stray dogs running loose.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact there are no permanent veterinary practices in Nunavut. With only sporadic access to spaying or neutering, having a dog "fixed" is low on a dog owner's list of priorities, even if the cost is subsidized or free.

There are many people in Nunavut who place high value on the welfare of dogs. But the lack of spay and neuter services has to change if Nunavut communities are to get a handle on the overall dog population. We encourage pet owners to take advantage of spay and neuter services when a veterinarian comes to town. Stopping the dog population from spiking will go a long way toward preventing incidents of neglect and abuse.


Signs of danger
Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, January 15, 2016
Stranded tourists far off the beaten path may elicit guffaws from Northerners conditioned to life on ice but it shouldn't.

Any one of the recent incidents of visitors to our city trapped on ice could have ended tragically, especially the pair who managed to find themselves stuck 10 km south of Dettah after dark in -30 C weather.

It's easy to understand how such a thing can happen. It's natural to want to escape city light pollution to take in the northern lights. As winter progresses, more and more trails sprout up along winter roads. Some are made by truck and plow but to the untrained eye, a trail made by a snowmobile or Caterpillar may not look much different. In late winter, snowbanks make it more obvious where maintained winter road ends and snowmobile trails begin. In early winter or a low snowfall year it is less so.

For a tourist seeking a uniquely northern experience, having already driven their rented vehicle onto an ice road without trouble, why not take a side road as well and head out across an empty expanse underneath the northern lights? Someone cleared a trail for them to follow after all. A summer boat launch now covered in tracks may also be quite inviting.

The problem, of course, is that it is difficult to appreciate what it's like to be in trouble in the subarctic outdoors without some experience living in it. And it's even more dangerous if there is no signage to warn about the dangers.

Fortunately, the Northern Frontier Visitor's Centre is taking tourist safety seriously. It's hired a full-time translator to produce signage to advise visitors in their mother tongues.

Centre staff are posting those advisories where they will be seen by all who come through the centre's doors.

But what of those who do not stop by the visitor's centre before excitedly rushing out for a day or evening of adventure?

The city and the territory must team up to install adequate signage that deters the unknowning from random excursions off maintained roads.

It is certainly incumbent on visitors to err on the side of caution when it comes to venturing forth onto open ice on frigid winter days but it is municipal and territorial responsibility to make it obvious where caution ends and more risky adventure begins.

If those tourists on Yellowknife Bay on Christmas Eve had crashed through ice over hundreds of feet of water never to be seen again, Yellowknife's reputation as a premier aurora destination would quickly be asterisked with its own warning sign.

If the city is to be the first choice in international aurora tourism, municipal and territorial governments need to follow the visitor centre's lead and ensure effective signage is in place to prevent what could be a future tragic incident.


Fiscal responsibility key to success
Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, January 14, 2016

Fort Simpson council recently passed its operations and maintenance budget as well as a five-year capital plan.

For securing a balanced budget, senior administrative officer Beth Jumbo deserves some praise. Balance was possible despite some expensive new projects and a shift in focus toward maintaining and repairing buildings that have arguably been neglected.

One of those buildings is the recreation centre.

It is past time for the village to focus on its current infrastructure. The fact the village is doing that, while still planning for new buildings -- the proposed fitness centre, in particular -- is laudable.

It is equally commendable that the village buckles down to find savings, scrutinizing upcoming lease agreements for its buildings -- as long as that scrutiny is tempered with reason.

At the Jan. 11 Committee of the Whole meeting, that discussion turned to the community groups who use the recreation centre on a regular basis -- namely, the Open Door Society, and whether they pay enough rent.

For years, the Open Door Society has rented a space upstairs in the recreation centre for a fee of $500 per month. For that fee, they offer programming that benefits any and every child who wants to partake.

As a non-profit organization, the society often operates on a fairly tight budget.

On Jan. 11, committee members recommended a rent increase to $750 per month. No final decisions are made during committee meetings.

The rationale behind this recommendation could be sound, if it weren't for the paltry extra money the increase would bring in.

For instance, committee members felt since the village needs money to maintain the facility, people need to pay for it -- and, in the words of one member, if people aren't paying, where will the money come from?

Raising rent for Open Doors would bring in an additional $3,000 per year for the village's budget.

That sum hardly seems worth the undue pressure it would put on the society. With a tight budget, the society may not have $3,000 to spare, whereas the village has other ways of making up that revenue -- from tax dollars, for instance.

Instead of trying to claw back rent from a non-profit organization, perhaps a better solution would be to prioritize the recreation centre more in the operations and maintenance budget.

While it is important for the village to find savings and revenue streams, committee members should be asking themselves if it is feasible to see the recreation centre as a break-even facility.

And while raising rent may be a more palatable option than, say, introducing a user fee or charging more for tournaments, it still puts the strain on those who cannot pay.

Luckily, discussions are still ongoing and Jumbo will be in dialogue with the society about its rent.

It may be wise, also, for council members to invite the society to council during one of their meetings, to give them a better idea of the situation the society is in.


Looking back, standing tall
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, January 14, 2016

Putting together the feature for the 50th anniversary this week has thrown some things into sharp relief.

First off, some things have changed in a big way. The paper started when the oil field was still in play and the military maintained a base in the community, adding not only to the population, but the disposable income floating around town. Inuvik was the bustling centre of an exciting region with many eyes from both southern Canada and abroad trained on it.

Tom Butters saw the need for an alternate voice -- one that represented the people on the ground -- and made it happen, despite the uncertainty of the newspaper business, even when the economy was trending upwards. Dan Holman took over before he knew what he was getting into (his words, not mine) and kept it going until hard times truly began to hit, when the oil dried up and the military pulled out. To give it the best chance of survival, he sold the Drum to Northern News Services Ltd., the company that employs yours truly today.

More important are the things that haven't changed. Inuvik is still a fiercely independent community that stands on its own two feet in so many ways. The youth centre and two facilities serving people experiencing homelessness are not government-run, although they do depend largely on government money. People here help each other.

In an advertisement in the 1966 Sir Alexander Mackenzie School yearbook -- the year the paper was founded - Butters wrote simply "we are small people in a big land. So stand tall." I am a relative newcomer to the North and an actual newcomer to Inuvik and even I can see that sentiment still has merit. The Drum was founded on that principle, not as a place for higher-ups to speak down to the general population, and we hope to continue that tradition today.

In the same way it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to make a newspaper.

You have seen a revolving door of journalists from the south traipse through this office over the last two decades -- more in the last few years -- and that the paper still exists and people still agree to speak to the likes of me is testament to the strength of the community, as well as the importance of such a publication.

Over the next year, we will be printing select stories from the last 50 years of the Drum. We hope you enjoy them and the memories they stir up. But more than anything, we hope you reach out and make this newspaper your own moving forward.

Now more than ever, we need to stand tall.

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