Big cash-in from GiantYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 9, 2016
With $600 million worth of contracts up for grabs as part of the Giant Mine remediation project, there is a rare opportunity to make something positive out of what went so horribly wrong.
To Yellowknife, Giant Mine was critical to the city's economic prosperity over the 56 years it was in operation. To the Yellowknives Dene, it is viewed by many as a disastrous scourge that brought ruin to the land they called home since time immemorial.
As recently as last year, residents in Ndilo had dust blowing off of tailings ponds at the mine site into their yards, stirring up concerns over arsenic exposure - arguably the gold mine's darkest legacy.
And it's for this reason that the announcement of the federal money on offer for cleaning up the scarred site should benefit those people most affected.
Contractors will be required for drilling, blasting, environmental monitoring, as well as mine work and construction management. The jobs will be long-lasting and well paid, and no one deserves to be first in line for them more than the Yellowknives Dene.
Even through the mine's life, when many saw the benefits of a paycheque, few Yellowknives Dene were comfortable working underground, exposed to the hazards of the mine, Johanne Black, director of Yellowknives Dene land and environment department told Yellowknifer. And for those who were employed at the mine, there were no training benefits for First Nations to advance into management positions.
Now, with the site cordoned off and 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide buried below to be frozen in perpetuity, an opportunity has opened up. These contracts could mean a significant boost to the local economy where such a benefit has not yet been seen.
And what's good for Ndilo is good for Yellowknife as a whole.
The environmental degradation that resulted from Giant cannot be fully remediated and its impact on the fishing, hunting and harvesting in the region will not be rectified with any sort of official apology - though one is certainly in order.
These clean-up contracts are an opportunity to work toward not only rectifying what was done to the land used by Yellowknives Dene but to its people. The money belongs in the hands of those who lost the most. And then, finally, the Yellowknives may see a golden lining on what for the First Nation has been a black pit of controversy.
Twin Pine Hill trails an important resourceYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 9, 2016
People heading down to Old Town during any given day will likely see tourists marching up to the top of Pilot's Monument by the busload.
Every snapped photo proves its value as a tourist attraction and the same may be true of Twin Pine Hill if it is similarly developed to encourage pedestrian traffic.
Last year, broke records in the number of aurora visitors, according to the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, with 36,000 tourists flooding into the city to crane their necks up at the Northern sky.
The latest dollar figures available from the 2012/2013 aurora season show visitors spent $15.2 million in the territory, most of which was likely spent in the capital.
Compared to the value tourism brings to Yellowknife, the $500,000 the city has set aside for developing trails near condos being built on Twin Pine Hill is peanuts. The question now is what to do with it.
The view the hill offers of the surrounding lake and landscape from this elevated position makes it an ideal place to view the Northern lights a stone's throw from downtown, and who better to offer advice than the tourism operators who have already learned how to use the Northern lights to draw in business?
While the value of consulting the public is a must, the city should also consider what tourism operators have to say to ensure the city gets the biggest bang for its half-million bucks.
This will ensure the proposed trail system offers the best possible attraction for tourists and residents alike.
Nothing noble about Okalik stanceEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 9, 2016
I've long been a supporter of former premier Paul Okalik.
One careless mistake of a sexist profanity, spoken out of a combination of frustration and anger, brought a brilliant run as Nunavut's first premier to a screeching halt.
Okalik brought a quiet, confident demeanour to the table during his run as premier, and he put an open, friendly, but no-nonsense face on the territory in general.
While whispers of a dictator's mentality did slip from behind closed doors once and awhile during his tenure, I never once sensed that in my dealings with the man.
And, to this day, he remains the best we've had at the top for openness and accountability when dealing with the media.
That, at least, is the experience of this scribe.
There were few times during Okalik's time as premier that I didn't buy into his "vision" of where Nunavut was and where it was heading.
And I respected the man for overcoming his battle with alcohol.
Okalik owned up to his mistakes and never came across as a victim.
He took responsibility for his missteps, fought to correct them, and resisted pointing a finger of blame at this, that or the other thing for putting himself in the position of having to fight one of the most difficult battles of his life.
However, I do not respect his decision to resign from cabinet this past week over the possible opening of a wine-and-beer outlet in Iqaluit. I suppose, one could argue it was a display of my way or the highway (read: dictator's mentality) from the now former Justice minister.
One thing it most definitely was not was respectful to the very foundation of this great nation of ours - democracy!
The people of Iqaluit had spoken on the issue. And, at 77 per cent in favour, they did so in a very loud voice.
It was also a slap towards the traditional Inuit way of consulting with the people and accepting the majority's voice.
Yes, we have problems with a small percentage of the population in Nunavut when it comes to alcohol and yes, we have a sad lack of addictions treatment in this territory.
But let's not pretend there's not all sorts of alcohol readily available in Iqaluit to anyone who wants it now.
From licensed establishments, to illegal gambling dens and bootleggers a plenty, it's a relatively moot point with two exceptions.
First, it's been proven time and again having a liquor store puts a huge dent in the amount of illegal hooch being peddled.
Second, you cannot fight alcohol abuse by making it unavailable through a legal outlet.
Do our politicians close their eyes and ears when they visit dry communities, or are they simply that naive?
With no legal outlet, the criminal element rakes in the profits.
And what do criminals do with large amounts of profits? They reinvest it into other criminal activity that brings even more temptation into a community.
There was nothing noble about Mr. Okalik's stand on this issue.
It was a horribly outdated and overly-emotional response that did nothing but weaken our government by removing an experienced and effective minister from its ranks.
Not a bad cullNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, March 7, 2016
In the face of ever dwindling Bathurst caribou numbers, the Tlicho Government and GNWT have settled on a new plan of action - a wolf cull.
According to a joint-submission, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources plans to offer incentives to Tlicho hunters who harvest wolves. An intact wolf carcass will net $200, good quality wolf pelt $450 and a prime, properly prepared pelt with a processed skull will bring in $800. The hope is hunters will take around 50 to 100 wolves out of the ecosystem, and that this will result in regeneration of the Bathurst herd, which has shrunk by approximately 96 per cent since 1986.
According to Yellowknives Dene First Nation research and regulatory specialist Alex Power, the First Nation has engaged in predator control for generations. In the more recent past, the territorial government has managed it, and it has apparently at time resulted in situations like the one Gameti resident Madelaine Pasquayak warned of during a public consultation on the proposed cull two weeks ago. She told the room how her father nearly ate poisoned caribou meat intended for wolves. Today's proposal is a collaborative cull, a win-win effort. The trappers have an opportunity to make some extra cash and the government can in turn save money because surely, it is more frugal to pay trappers than it is to fly helicopters around looking for packs of wolves.
But do culls work? According to Yukon biologist Bob Hayes, they do - but the results are temporary. According to a 2011 Yukon News story "Lose wolves, lose the wilderness," a territorial culling program from 1982 to 1997 where helicopter teams shot wolves resulted in moose and caribou explosions but that gain would be lost within four years or so, when wolf populations revived. Hayes, who designed and executed the culling program, looked back on it as a waste of money.
Plus, it was an extremely unpopular endeavor and one that drew the ire of southern activists.
"They burned tires on the Alaska Highway, chained themselves to the Yukon legislature, damaged our aircraft, followed me to work and stalked my house," he wrote in his memoirs. Here in the GNWT, the territorial government will simply be giving indigenous trappers an economic incentive to carry out traditional activities they already do, which alleviates the burden on the taxpayer that Hayes regrets from his experience.
But there will always be people out there who morally oppose predator control. The GNWT and Tlicho Government will probably need to brace themselves for some bad publicity. One way to get ahead of that game would be to publish educational material on what wolf culls are, how the Tlicho and GNWT plan to do it and what they accomplish.
In her Dec. 21 News/North column, "The beauty of the wolf hunt," Fort Reliance resident Libby Whittall Catling did some rough math on what the 13-wolf harvest her partner Roger Catling pulled in would mean for the Bathurst herd.
"Biologists say each wolf will kill about 100 caribou over its lifetime, so by removing this pack of 13 from the equation, the hunters saved up to 1,300 of the most beautiful, gentle creatures the Creator put on this Earth," she wrote.
"And that is a job well done, don't you think?"
Optimistic outlook for sealskin product salesNunavut/News North - Monday, March 7, 2016
Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson looked especially dashing in a sealskin winter jacket with fur trim during his visit to Iqaluit last month when he spoke about his push to change worldwide perceptions toward seal products.
Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo, as well, looked fabulous in a stunning sealskin coat during his visit to the Kitikmeot Trade Show, featured in a photograph on the cover of Nunavut News/North on Feb. 15. Tootoo makes a point of wearing a sealskin tie or other sealskin articles to public events.
Selling the benefits of sealskin products to people in Nunavut and across the North is like singing to the choir. Everyone knows that sealskin coats, kamik and qarlik (sealskin hunting pants) are the warmest and most durable for extreme cold. And, they are fashionable, too.
A qarlik-making program in Coral Harbour has proven popular and more potential participants are anxiously waiting to see if the government of Nunavut will provide funding in the next fiscal year, starting April 1, to hold another program. More than a dozen pairs of qarlik were made in the past few months after a kamik-making program was expanded to include teaching more residents how to make qarlik.
There is no question that there is a market for sealskin products domestically. Now, Patterson is setting his sights on changing perceptions worldwide by introducing a bill that would mark May 20 as National Seal Products Day. He recognizes there is a large market for sealskin products and wants the House of Commons to move quickly to establish the day and increase the profile of products hunted by Inuit that can now be exported to the European Union.
Gone are the days when Newfoundland sealers hunted and slaughtered animals on the sea ice of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a spectacle that was an easy target for animal rights groups and the celebrities who supported them.
Consumers in Canada already recognize that sealskin products from Nunavut are different. They are a vital part of the territory's sustenance hunting. All of the animal is used. Patterson, in a speech to the Senate, recalled the first time he ate fresh-cooked seal meat and the feeling of well-being and energy he received from it.
Now, sealskin coats are an elite garment in their own right by virtue of their beauty, durability and cost. Canadian retailers fetch thousands of dollars for tailored jackets, constructed with seal leather cuffs, linings, pockets and fur collars. We see the potential for fashionable sealskin products to become popular all over the world, provided seal hunters can keep up with the demand for pelts.
We recognize Patterson's efforts to create a special day is largely symbolic.
However, we also see more and more people in prominent places wearing seal products and suggest that there is a growing recognition of the comfort, beauty, uniqueness and quality inherent to sealskin products, far surpassing similar products such as leather.
We are confident that the future of the sealskin products industry is bright and is getting brighter.
Artists need a home Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 4, 2016
The Yellowknife Artist Run Community Centre only got off the ground in 2011 but rapidly became a key note in the symphony of Yellowknife's vibrant arts community.
But from its earliest days finding a permanent home for the not-for-profit organization has been a struggle.
Its first home, the old Pentecostal Church on 49 Street, was demolished just six months after YK ARCC opened its doors.
More recently, the society had to vacate its studio and gallery room space when its lease ran out last July. Home is now in Old Town but only until the end of this month.
It must be incredibly distracting for the volunteers who run the organization to be ever searching for a permanent home to meet its mandate, which is to provide space for Yellowknife artists to work, show their work, host fundraising events and generally boost Yellowknife arts.
The city would be well-advised to make a space for YK ARCC a key part of any deliberations regarding the 50/50 lot, along with a cultural centre.
This organization's resiliency to date demonstrates the need and demand for what it brings to the city.
If the society had a permanent home built to meet its needs, there is no limit to what this group would be able to accomplish.
There should be no doubt that tourists check out the arts and cultural opportunities available in Yellowknife when they consider a visit here, even if their primary consideration is aurora viewing or fishing.
Yellowknife has always been strongly defined by its artist community. Finding a permanent home for YK ARCC would go a long way toward solidifying this important part of Yellowknife's diversity.
In the meantime, do keep your eyes and ears open for events YK ARCC may be hosting and participate as best you can. Yellowknife needs its artists but its artists need Yellowknife as well.
Flawed count still a win High school extends helping hand - Friday, March 4, 2016
Without a plan, challenges not addressed can snowball beyond manageability - especially for young people trying to navigate the journey toward adulthood.
Stress at home turns into missed classes and then students find themselves falling behind, resulting in more stress.
It is an uphill battle but a helping hand can mitigate that.
Students at risk of missing their graduation at Sir John Franklin High School are finding help thanks to the high school's counselling department.
The department has identified 93 students in need of a helping hand. This requires tracking their credits and monitoring their progress, even visiting their homes.
More important than the walk across the stage before friends and family for a hard-earned diploma, these students are learning how to overcome adversity, where to find help and when it is necessary to accept it.
That's an important lesson at every stage of life.
In this case, it has been the guidance team at Sir John who have worked to bridge the gap between the school and at-risk students.
A less flexible group of educators might have decided students falling behind should simply drop out.
By choosing a more hands-on approach, the counselling team has demonstrated a more nuanced understanding of the situation.
For that, they deserve kudos.
The system worksDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, March 3, 2016
Every so often, a government's people are treated to a display of defiance from their elected officials toward the governing elite.
In the Northwest Territories legislative assembly's consensus government model, that display takes the form of regular MLAs standing up to cabinet ministers and the premier.
Residents witnessed such a treat this past week in the assembly when MLAs pushed through 25 amendments to the government's proposed mandate. The amendments expand on some of the more vague sections
One of those amendments, moved on Feb. 23 by Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson, would see the government commit to erecting emergency shelters along remote highways.
For Thompson -- who started off his term as MLA in November by helping someone out of a ditch -- emergency shelters would mean the territory could lend a hand to people who break down on the land or highway, while at the same time increasing tourism and travel due to safer highways.
Thompson said highway shelters were one great concern brought up to him by Nahendeh residents.
Contesting Thompson's motion, Premier Bob McLeod tabled an amendment to Thompson's amendment to remove reference to emergency shelters. That amendment, which had full cabinet support from all ministers, was shot down by a united vote from regular MLAs.
In speaking against the shelters, McLeod said the territory already has roadside pull-outs for travellers, and that past installation of emergency shelters has "promoted vandalism and other misuse."
However, Thompson's original amendment passed despite all of cabinet voting against it.
A similar theme played out throughout the other amendments, with regular MLAs pushing through what they wanted.
If that isn't good governance, then nothing is.
Seeing MLAs, many of whom are new, exercise their power in the house is remarkable because it seems so unusual. In other provinces and territories, and even in the NWT, leaders often fall in line behind those with more experience and authority.
That is one of the factors contributing to political fatigue, as residents expect less and less from their government. In those situations, the government eventually stops working for the people and instead starts working in its own interests, while the people they are elected to represent lose faith in the political process.
Hopefully, discussion on the mandate told the cabinet loud and clear that regular MLAs are seizing their spot at the decision-making table. As for those MLAs, it will be necessary for them to keep up a united front in the future on decisions they feel strongly about.
Government works when leaders hold each other accountable. They are not enemies, but rather should see themselves as partners working for a better NWT.
Cabinet and regular MLAs must move forward as equals in order for consensus government to truly work.
On the importance of scienceInuvik Drum - Thursday, March 3, 2016
Last week, during one of the two brief interludes where media were allowed into the beluga summit, I chose to instead to attend the elementary school science fair.
While no doubt the opening comments from traditional leaders and government scientists were interesting -- I have certainly only heard good things coming out of the summit from people who were there -- so was a massive group of students getting together to show off their projects. Despite rather significant disparities in results and impact, the two are quite clearly linked.
The strength of conferences like the summit is that they bring together two aspects of observation that are rarely seen as complementary -- scientific inquiry and traditional knowledge. In the usual narrative, you have hunters on one side arguing for their traditional way of life, and government (and their scientists) on the other, trying to force change for their own reasons. Participants in the summit said they felt their input was not only heard, but valued.
But all that interest has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is often across the road at the school, where classes in Grades 4, 5 and 6 presented their projects. While disappointingly few students I spoke to were able to talk about the underlying scientific principles that governed their experiments, they had all learned about the scientific method and hopefully had fun doing so.
The school this year also changed how they run the fair, allowing more students than previous years to take that extra step up from doing a project in class to showing it off at the fair. While this did make for a wider range of results than one might expect in a top-three-per-class system, hopefully it also helped more students light the spark of inquiry and take pride in their work. What both the beluga summit and the science fair proved is that science isn't exclusively something done by people sitting in labs far away from Inuvik and the North. Children (and adults) complain about how so much of what we learned in school isn't applicable to real life. For instance, I can personally tell you all about the Pythagorean Theorem but am incapable of calculating my grocery bill in my head. Last week was an obvious example of where a pursuit of a scientific career can lead, namely right back home.
