GNWT tax bombNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 25, 2016
The territorial government has thrown a wrench into its ongoing land claim negotiations with the Acho Dene Koe First Nation by dropping a $1.6 million tax bomb on its band members.
Chief Harry Deneron was joined by several other members of the First Nation in speaking out against tax bills sent to residents a few weeks ago.
The First Nation says it was told the tax is a service charge for improvements to property. The GNWT sent a list of talking points to News/North on April 22 under the headline "Property tax arrears in Fort Liard, insisting that Treaties 8 and 11 do not provide property tax exemptions but it does not explain why people are getting these enormous bills now.
The accusations being leveled against the government are fairly serious. The chief says band members have never had to pay taxes before. Now some of them are facing bills for as much as $76,000, according to Deneron, with the chief himself saying that he owes $67,000.
As if the taxes weren't already enough of a surprise, Deneron said the band has been told land could not be selected as part of the land claim agreement until the overdue bills are paid.
Given that the government isn't bothering to publicly respond to the tax crisis it created all we can do at this point is speculate.
So why come for the money now given that land claims are still being negotiated? Could it be because the government is hurting for cash? Or is it trying to blackmail the Acho Dene Koe First Nation into coughing up money before it agrees to proceed with negotiations? Regardless of the motivation with land claims yet to be finalized the question remains: does the government currently have the authority to tax the Acho Dene Koe? The GNWT says it does in its unattributed memo from April 22. If that's the case then the government should explain why.
This isn't the first time the territorial government has been accused of coming to the negotiating table in bad faith.
Last year, Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian called out Premier Bob McLeod for threatening to break off negotiations with the First Nation over its land claim. Although McLeod denied this was the case, calling out the First Nation for being "the boy who cried wolf," Norwegian was able to produce a letter from the premier proving that he had done just that.
At the height of the Cold War, American President Dwight Eisenhower responded to the threat of a nuclear attack at the hands of the Soviets by calmly stating that "I don't believe responsible people should indulge in anything remotely considered ultimatums or threats."
If it turns out that the territorial government has told Acho Dene Koe band members it must pay taxes in order to gain an upper hand at the negotiating table, it would cause irreparable damage to the land claim process.
It would also expose a pattern of irresponsible behaviour which could have wide reaching implications for land claims negotiations with other First Nations.
Seize opportunities to explore outside worldNunavut/News North - Monday, April 25, 2016
"You don't know what you've got till it's gone" may be the lyrics to the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi. But the phrase also holds true for the many youth who have left Nunavut on an adventure and returned.
Again and again we have heard stories from young people who have returned to a place and have opened their eyes after living what they thought was a bleak existence.
It's as if they never before realized the vast beauty of their home community, the wonders of country food, the familiar support from friends and family and the opportunities that surround them in the richness of Inuit culture and traditions.
Filled with the knowledge of the wonders of modern technology and previously unheard of access to the entire world through the Internet, today's teenagers have at their fingertips the ability to communicate about their unique place on this planet, the skills and expertise they possess and the contributions they can make.
There are several programs which offer opportunities for young people to leave their home communities and explore.
The Ayalik Fund, established by David and Laurie Pelly in the aftermath of the sudden death of their beloved son in 2014, is a very new program with impressive intentions. Right at the outset, young people selected to participate are told why they get to go on a trip outside Nunavut -- to assist them with personal growth, to increase their self esteem and to have challenging and rewarding experiences.
Just the process of persevering through some of life's many challenges often results in one of the greatest rewards of all - the knowledge and confidence that a person can get through the obstacles and triumph.
The support from the Ayalik Fund helped two youth participate in a Rocky Mountain expedition with Outward Bound, which turned out to be a life-changing experience.
One teenager who participated was known for skipping school and not applying himself to his studies. Upon his return, he became a good student, became involved in his community and even signed up to a mentorship program so he can use his newfound knowledge and experience to help other young people.
Another program, Northern Youth Abroad, offers a chance for Nunavut youth to live and work in another community in southern Canada after completed preparatory courses in Ottawa.
The North West Company sponsors a youth leadership program which rewards nominated young people for being role models, volunteering and being active in their communities.
School counsellors have a wealth of information about opportunities for youth to get involved in programs and activities.
Being a part of sports teams or other organized groups, like the cadet corps, also opens up opportunities for youth to expand their horizons.
We encourage young people to seek out opportunities to expose themselves to the rest of the world as a way to help themselves and their home communities.
Yellowknife's water is safe Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 22, 2016
Yellowknife's drinking water is safe. Eating fish caught in the Yellowknife River or on Great Slave Lake remains part of a healthy diet. Swimming or playing in the water on any of the beaches in the Yellowknife area is perfectly safe from a water quality point of view.
Each of these facts bears repeating in light of a recent university study that found elevated levels of arsenic in many of the tiny pond-like lakes within a 25 km radius of the former Giant Mine. The largest of the 25 lakes studied is less than a quarter of the size of Frame Lake and therefore has no water worth drinking or fish to catch.
The study's findings are hardly surprising. After all, as the study pointed out, these ponds have negligible drainage. Any contaminants that may have fallen into the water over the years has nowhere to go.
Andre Corriveau, the NWT's chief public health officer, said he is planning a health advisory based on the new information. That advisory will, we are told, recommend people not eat fish or drink water out of these small bodies of water.
But nobody drinks from that water. Anyone with the barest set of outdoor survival skills already knows not to drink untreated water from small, stagnant ponds lest he or she come down with any number of digestive ailments.
As for fishing, local and visiting anglers are not going to spend their weekends discovering the fishing potential of shallow backwaters off the Ingraham Trail where the only thing that bites are mosquitoes.
The real danger here is that people who may be considering a fishing trip to the North, or standing on lake ice to view the aurora, will get tripped up by misleading headlines or health advisories that suggest there is a problem with the water up here.
Last year, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment made the mistake of issuing a unneeded warning concerning local mushrooms whose only real effect was to enter the word "arsenic" into Google search results for NWT mushrooms. No doubt, international morel mushroom marketeers will take note when researching the territory's potential in this lucrative trade. Never mind that none of the bumper crop harvested last year was anywhere near the city.
No health advisory should be issued where there is no real danger to the public, and especially where the advisory could have a serious negative impact on Yellowknife's tourism and commercial industries and the people who depend on them for their livelihood.
This is not to make light of the study's findings.
The long-term effects of mining related contamination certainly needs to be understood. But alarmist and misleading headlines or health advisories about arsenic contamination do no one any good when that contamination is confined to relatively insignificant pools of water which are only contaminated precisely because they do not form part of the larger watershed where people draw their water, catch their fish and go swimming on the weekends.
The area's lakes and rivers, whether Prosperous, Prelude, the Yellowknife River or Great Slave Lake, are some of the cleanest waters in the world and are rightfully the envy of many.
To suggest otherwise is false, creates unnecessary fear, and needlessly damages the reputation of Yellowknife and its pristine back-country in the eyes of the world.
There is no way Corriveau can issue a health advisory on area water quality without needlessly tarnishing the entire watershed. He should stand down on his threat.
Celebrating womenDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, April 21, 2016
The recent nomination of the legendary Catherine Bouvier Beaulieu Lamoureux to the Bank of Canada is a tribute to the lives Northern people have lived for generations.
Lamoureux was nominated by the Fort Providence Metis Council this month to appear on a bank note. She is one of thousands of nominations across the country.
Everyone whose ancestors lived in the North should be proud.
In the words of descendant Bob Norwegian, Lamoureux's nomination is symbolic - a way to honour all our grandmothers and great-great grandmothers, the ones that history remembers and the ones the history books have forgotten.
The stories that circulate about Lamoureux paint a picture of a fearless Northern woman who stood strong on her own two feet - a woman who was intent on getting the task at hand done, regardless of weather or season.
Her nomination is a reminder to celebrate the women of the North both historical and living. She represents the ideals of the true North strong and free.
Her descendants, the residents of the Deh Cho and those who live across the Northwest Territories, should swell with pride that someone took the initiative to put her name forward.
Catherine Lamoureux has many names behind her - names that are now very prominent in the territory. She is tied to the Norwegians, the Sibbestons and the Antoines; the Villeneuves, the Laffertys and the McLeods - to name a few.
Her descendants have become leaders and have gone on to make a name for themselves.
It is always exciting when women of note are given recognition for their work but more so when they are so vastly deserving of that recognition.
Not only is it a celebration of the Northern spirit, it also shines a spotlight for the rest of the country to see. It showcases the tremendous sense of history that dwells in the territory as well as providing some understanding into why the people of the North often take their heritage so seriously.
The nomination is something to be proud of, and it is something everyone should be celebrating, regardless of their ties to Lamoureux.
It is also a step in the right direction for the Bank of Canada to seek female nominations in the first place.
There are so many ancestors of the North who deserve recognition. To begin with a Metis woman who lived much of her life in the Deh Cho would be a great start indeed.
Development good sign for futureInuvik Drum - Thursday, April 21, 2016
In the North, and in a town like Inuvik -- especially in these tough economic times -- any news of development that isn't driven by government is a good thing.
While many have been pushing the Inuvik International Satellite Facility as a beacon of hope for some time, now a group of private companies is getting in on the action, making that hope that much closer to a reality.
We learned this week that a new site is being planned for at least nine more dishes, owned and operated by companies who have not found the federal-run facility to suit their needs. Proponents are talking about it being a move towards making Inuvik a centre for innovation and technology, blessed as we are geographically.
We agree, insofar that it's great to see growth not driven by the public sector. It instills a bit more confidence that this is truly a viable industry and not just another project to throw infrastructure money at in the hopes of keeping the region afloat.
That being said, cautious optimism is perhaps the best way to move forward. While the Mackenzie fibre optic line is an exciting development, allowing residents to get better access to faster Internet -and hopefully cheaper - it is also an easy and obvious pipeline for data to be moved from the horrendously expensive Arctic to places where analysts are far less costly and far more prevalent.
We're not convinced the presence of satellite dishes will definitely lead to the creation of data processing centres in the community to employ our young people who, while no doubt tech-savvy, don't have the specific training to allow them to work for space agencies around the globe and their industry counterparts.
But these are solvable problems and the satellite sites are a great start. If Inuvik can parlay its existence into lasting benefits for the region, including but certainly not limited to increased infrastructure while igniting young people's passion for the science and technology industry, so much the better.
In the meantime, it's estimated that about half the money spent developing the current site has stayed in town. Hopefully the same will be the case for the new facility as well.
Housing shouldn't necessarily be firstYellowknifer - Wednesday, April 20, 2016
The mayor of Yellowknife is calling the so-called homeless situation a "crisis" and is demanding immediate action, specifically from the territorial government.
After coming across a woman passed out in the middle of the McMahon Frame Lake Trail on his way to city hall, Mark Heyck told Yellowknifer this is the worst he's ever seen it.
Although the situation is indeed a crisis, it is debatable when it reached that point - one may argue it's an ongoing crisis, and people's ears are just perking up now due to a perceived lack of action.
Nevertheless, the mayor is indeed correct in his assertion that immediate action is required.
Yet the city and the territory - both working to address this issue - seem to be somewhat at odds over just how to roll out the Housing First program, which requires both levels of government to work together. The city receives the federal funding but it needs the GNWT to fund the clinical services necessary to the program's success.
In the rush to get roofs over people's heads, Coun. Linda Bussey - the councillor spearheading Housing First for the city - seems to be satisfied with using existing apartment spaces, saying the first person will be housed through the program this summer. This idea seems to stem from a southern consultant who gave a presentation to city council earlier this year saying the multiple apartments model is the ideal one.
Maybe this would work in other places but it will have a tough time succeeding in Yellowknife.
This is a population with complex needs who require a facility with around-the-clock supports and most, if not all, would be ill-served to just be granted a regular apartment to call home - even if people came to check up on them regularly with clinical support.
Caroline Cochrane, minister responsible for homelessness, seems to agree, saying the GNWT doesn't have the money to provide high-level support services to supremely needy people in market housing units scattered about the city. But this statement sounds suspiciously like an excuse to do nothing.
The minister is organizing a meeting next week that brings together representatives from the GNWT, city and social-issues advocates to decide on an immediate plan to address the "homelessness" situation. Attendees must not accept a plea of poverty from the minister, and if she doesn't like the city's plan, she should present a better proposal.
Attendees would be wise to remember what is really at play is an addictions issue, mostly involving alcohol. If the issue was strictly about homelessness, then simply putting roofs over people's heads would be a viable option.
In fact, many of those dubbed homeless in Yellowknife, as learned from past reports, are not even from the city - much of the population comes from the smaller communities. Some are here for days, weeks, months and years, and while relatively stable in their home communities, fall to pieces after arriving in Yellowknife.
Either way, even with only $150,000 committed from the territorial government to date, the respective leaders appear to understand the required immediacy of the situation - hopefully meaningful solutions will develop from next week's meeting.
As a nation with a First-World standard of living we owe it to these people to help them. Punting the issue down the road on a pillow of warm and fuzzy talking points is no way to deal with a crisis.
The power of programmingEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, April 20, 2016
It has been quite uplifting to see the numerous programs being held across the Kivalliq in support of cultural learning and traditional skills during the past few years.
And, as wonderful as they are, it doesn't have to be big-budgeted, multi-month programming to be effective.
Every Kivalliq community has hosted one program or another recently to cultivate and promote traditional sewing skills.
And whether you're talking mitts, kamiik, parkas or wind pants, the courses almost always bestow among their participants a set of valuable skills that will benefit their families for decades.
Also never to be overlooked are the positive personal benefits these programs can instil in the students.
They have the inherent ability to increase self-confidence and boost self-image through a newfound skill in being able to contribute even more to the family unit.
Instructors, the majority of whom are elders, often receive a little extra income for their efforts, as well as the personal gratification of knowing they've effectively passed along some of their vast traditional knowledge.
It's a win-win situation for everyone and kudos must be given to the hamlet councils and funding agencies that see the wisdom in approving as many of the programs as the budgets allow.
The programming also helps boost the sense of community, and in many cases, the programs include a strong social component.
Having a safe-and-secure space to listen to, and talk with, others who share the same challenges in life is one of the most underestimated aspects of these programs, especially ones that focus on sewing skills.
Cooking skills have also seen a revitalization in the Kivalliq during the past year.
Many feature modules focusing on budgeting skills -- an important skill to master these days -- and all of them focus on healthy choices when it comes to what hits the dinner table or feast-style cardboard.
The Young Hunters program in Arviat takes youth out of the community and out on the land to be taught how to provide healthy country food for their families.
The program has become so popular among Arviat youth, organizers cannot meet the demand and there is a lengthy waiting list of youths waiting to participate.
As was the case with a short square-dancing program in Chesterfield Inlet this past month, the youth tend to clamour for more upon the program's completion.
That's a sure sign cultural-and-traditional learning is still very much alive and well with many of our youth, despite what the doom-and-gloom prophets and naysayers would have you believe.
We have also seen success stories evolve from the programs, including fashion designer Victoria Kakuktinniq.
Originally from Rankin and now residing in Iqaluit, Kakuktinniq had her creative spark lit while sewing in a Nunavut Literacy Council program in her home town.
We have our struggles, but, given the opportunity, we also have a vast reservoir of untapped talent waiting to shine.
And, contrary to the beliefs of some, we still have a deep pool of love for all skills cultural and traditional in nature in our region.
And that bodes well for the future, while keeping a firm grip on the past!
