How to restore faith in senateNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 4, 2016
The credibility of the Canadian Senate has fallen under spotlight over the past few years in the wake of the Mike Duffy scandal and subsequent auditor general investigation into every senator's expenses.
Certainly Duffy's indiscretions have exposed a rot and the investigation has shown how deep it goes but NWT Senator Nick Sibbeston's comments on the $26,000 he is expected to pay back shows how the problem is systemic.
In defending an eight-day trip to Yellowknife he took in 2013 that he admitted was primarily to see his wife, Sibbeston said he was disappointed he'd have to pay back the $4,324 in claimed travel expenses because he holds "informal meetings" whenever he travels in the North.
"I see people," he said.
"I go to the hospital, I go to Tim Hortons and see people."
Reasonably yes, there is no doubt Sibbeston sees people and holds informal meetings whenever he is in Yellowknife but what a dangerous precedent to set.
Technically, he could justify coming up to Yellowknife any time, for any reason, because he is bound to run into people he can informally discuss issues with.
According to the auditor general's report into senate expenses, senators govern themselves when it comes to the way it functions, including travel.
"They design their own rules, choose whether to enforce those rules, and determine what, if any, information will be publicly disclosed," the report states.
This means before the auditor general came into the picture, Sibbeston was entirely reasonable to expect he wouldn't catch any flack for flying to Yellowknife to visit his wife and maybe run into some people and talk shop for a bit in order to make the trip seem legit. There was really no bar set for him to meet in order to prove the legitimacy of his claims.
Media spotlight on this issue has resulted in the reduction of public's confidence in senate, something that must be disheartening to all senators, but there is a silver lining -- paying back the money and instituting public oversight into the way Senate spends in the future will restore legitimacy and trust.
A success story for Fort SmithNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, April 4, 2016
Fort Smith social worker Jaleesa Paulette is proud to be living and working in the community where she grew up in.
When she was 18 she left the community to study at Aurora College in Yellowknife, earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Regina, then did something rare for people her age - she came back to share her skills in her home community. The territorial government offers incentives for NWT youth to study elsewhere and bring their skills back, an initiative that has proven notoriously hard to successfully implement. This is why Paulette is so valuable to the North.
Those who were born and raised in the NWT have an innate understanding of the land, the communities, the history and the people.
It is something that is invaluable to any profession, be it social work, engineering, health care or education.
Paulette is a shining example of how to take advantage of the opportunities the territorial government offers youth, and how taking advantage of these opportunities can also make the territory a better place.
Send a clear message for sustainable developmentNunavut/News North - Monday, April 4, 2016
If mining is your game, Iqaluit is the place to be from April 4 to 7 for the 2016 Nunavut Mining Symposium.
Under the theme "Balancing Our Investment," the 19th annual event draws industry professionals, Inuit beneficiary groups, regulatory agencies, representatives of various levels of government and mining industry delegates from all over the world.
The one-day trade show, gala awards evening and conference sessions are expected to attract people from across North America, Europe and Asia.
Mining plays an enormous role in Nunavut's economy and it continues to grow.
The government of Nunavut has been sending out signals to industry that the territory is open for business. And it's working.
Exploration spending increased to $202.5 million in 2015, up 28 per cent from the previous year's spending total of $158 million. And this is at a time when commodity prices could be substantially better.
There are calls for the federal Liberal government and the territorial government to do more to encourage more exploration spending. However, one has only to look at the success Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has had to find inspiration to do business in Nunavut.
The company has successfully extended the life of its Meadowbank gold mine by developing the Vault pit. Meliadine Mine, meanwhile, is very close to starting construction and its Amaruq deposit is in advanced stage exploration with operation anticipated within the next five years, ideally in time for Meadowbank's closure in 2018.
Agnico Eagle is an example of a company that has persevered and is now a major employer, a large contributor to the economy and a strong corporate citizen.
Other mining activity is promising, including Baffinland's Mary River iron ore project, Sabina's Back River gold project, TMAC's Hope Bay gold project, Arctic Copper Inc.'s copper play in the Kitikmeot region and the Pelly Bay diamond exploration project near Kugaaruk. Also on the horizon for diamonds is the Hood River and Muskox diamond properties located 245 km from Kugluktuk and the Stein diamond property located 85 km north of Taloyoak.
With mines comes infrastructure, and that means spin-off benefits for many people.
It is estimated by the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines that each dollar spent on Northern economic infrastructure has the potential, if invested wisely, to generate $11 of economic benefits for individuals and $11 of fiscal benefits for governments.
Mining means prosperity and the future of Nunavut depends on responsible development of resources. What Agnico Eagle has done at Meadowbank shows the impact one mine can have. Many more projects have the potential to become mines and deserve support.
Symposium delegates need to hear that Nunavut supports the environmentally responsible and sustainable development of the minerals industry.
Police cams protect public Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 1, 2016
In a world where cameras are as common as the birds in the sky, disputing the merits of whether police should be filming their interactions with the public is like talking about using a pasta strainer to stop a windstorm.
So, when information and privacy commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts expressed surprise that dashboard cameras are already in use in the city by the municipal enforcement division that itself was a surprise. Several well-publicized cases in recent years have showed why such devices are important.
One followed a woman's complaint in 2012 alleging a municipal enforcement officer had assaulted her while trying to stop her in her vehicle at that year's Santa Claus Parade. It was later learned that the dashboard cam and the officer's audio lapel mic had been turned off prior to the incident, which is too bad. Had they been turned on, the recordings may have helped shed light on what actually occurred.
There is an obvious benefit in ensuring law enforcement is recording their encounters with the public - and, for that matter, the public is recording their encounters with them. These recordings don't lie, change their story or present a narrative that makes one side look better than the other.
They protect the police from false accusations of abuse just as much as they protect the public from false charges.
While what they show is often open to interpretation that is not a bad thing when it comes to the justice system. What is seen or heard can be debated for their merits or lack thereof in open court.
In 2014, senior Gary Jaeb was charged with assaulting a peace officer after getting into a scuffle with a bylaw officer over a seat belt ticket. Both cellphone footage from witnesses and dashboard camera evidence was recorded.
From the cellphone footage it's unclear who is at fault. After all the evidence was taken into account, including a dashboard video, prosecutors felt there was "no reasonable prospect of a conviction on the assault charge" and stayed the charges, which appeared to be the right call given what the public had already seen.
What would have been the prospects for a stay of charges in the years before cellphone cameras and dashboard cams? No one can say for sure but one thing seems certain, the justice system treads a little more carefully when the incident has been recorded for all the world to see.
Keenan Bengts is right to point out that the city municipal enforcement division isn't covered under territorial privacy legislation.
But, while the public has a reasonable expectation that they will be free from unreasonable search and seizure as people go about their business they shouldn't expect to not be videoed or photographed while walking or driving down the street - especially if they are getting pulled over by police.
If this happens people should take comfort in knowing the truth of what's being recorded may ultimately set them free.
Diverse representation pushes diversity Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, April 1, 2016
The NWT minister responsible for the status of women is back in the NWT following an "amazing" experience at the United Nations, equipped with some encouragingly progressive remarks about gender and diversity.
Caroline Cochrane attended the UN's Commission on the Status of Women in New York last month and returns determined to help end gender stereotypes in the territory.
She says this can be accomplished by focusing on children.
"It's the youth that are actually going to save us and it's the youth that we need to focus our efforts on," she told Yellowknifer upon her return.
These are significant remarks coming from a territorial minister. She suggested moving away from the idea that only boys should play with trucks/only girls should play with Barbies. While this isn't necessarily common thinking, it should be. Many young people are born into rigid definitions of gender, and with that, certain expectations for how men and women should behave can become ingrained.
For example, men should be tough and women accommodating.
To have a minister stand up in an attempt to shatter such stereotypes is important.
There is power in politics but the fact remains, Cochrane and Yellowknife Centre Julie Green, who also attended the UN conference, are the only female MLAs in the territory.
Embracing diversity is easier with diverse representation and ideally this will improve in the future.
But for now, Cochrane is doing a good job in promoting equality.
Federal budget falls shortDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, March 31, 2016
Aside from an increase to the Northern Residents Deduction, the federal budget falls woefully short for taxpayers in the North.
Increasing the deduction to $22 from $16.50 per day to counter the cost of living was the budget's only boon. But while that will put much-needed money back into the pockets of Northern taxpayers, the government failed to address other funding areas the North needs even more - particularly housing.
Aside from declaring a $30-billion deficit, the Liberal government is only putting $12 million of an estimated $739 million devoted to housing toward the Northwest Territories.
Understandably, the federal budget needs to provide enough money for all of Canada. However, the federal government is tragically underestimating the need for housing stimulation in the Northwest Territories by devoting just 1.6 per cent of its housing allocation to the entire territory.
Perhaps before declaring the budget, the federal government should have noted there are an estimated 800 people territorywide on the waitlist for public housing, who are considered to be homeless.
Unfortunately, by offering the Northwest Territories what effectively amounts to scraps, the federal government has ensured the territory's needs will once again fail to be met.
Other unmet needs include education. One point in the government's favour is $3.9 million over the next year to extend the Northern Adult Basic Education Program. However, compared to previous funding of that program, the dollar figure is not that impressive.
If the program's funding formula holds up, that means $1.4 million will come to the Northwest Territories, down from the $2 million it received annually for the past five years.
With the money the government has now committed, proponents of the program will need to figure out how to run it with less money.
Unfortunately, as that pot of money shrinks, so do the opportunities for residents of the Deh Cho, which has an estimated high school graduation rate of 47 per cent, according to a speech Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli gave in the legislative assembly on Feb. 18.
Of course, money does not grow on trees. It has to come from somewhere.
But one would think a government that feels comfortable running a $30-billion deficit with no plan to return to a balanced budget during their elected term could dig into their pockets a little further and offer up a few more pennies.
An extra few million is a drop in the bucket compared to other pots of money the government has established, but those drops could make a big difference for education and housing in the Northwest Territories.
At the end of the day, any funding is better than none at all. However, the government could have - and should have - done better by the people of the North.
Jail time is not enoughInuvik Drum - Thursday, March 31, 2016
An Inuvik man has been sentenced to one year in jail plus a five-year driving prohibition following convictions for his eighth and ninth drunk-driving offences. This is, by all accounts, a stiffer punishment than most face for the same crime.
The judge, who has more than 20 years of experience on the bench, said it is a miracle John Gully hasn't yet killed or hurt someone and that the list of convictions merits a heftier sentence than usual.
Obviously drunk driving is a serious offence. Not only are people who do it endangering themselves, they are essentially operating a one-tonne weapon against an unsuspecting populace.
While Gully was fortunate not to have injured anybody in his decades-long drunk driving crime spree, there are many horrifying stories that show how easy it is to become a grisly statistic. Earlier this week, an Ontario man, Marco Muzzo, was handed a 10-year prison sentence after killing three children and their grandfather in a drunk-driving accident last fall. It was his first criminal conviction.
Impaired driving is particularly problematic in the Northwest Territories, which, according to Statistics Canada, is far above other provinces and territories in terms of impaired driving rates with more than 1,400 police-reported incidents per 100,000 people compared to the national average of 262 incidents per 100,000 people.
Combine that with the rampant alcohol abuse and general disregard for the significance of the infraction in the North, and all of a sudden a one -year jail term doesn't seem all that severe.
Unfortunately, as Gully's case illustrates, the threat of going to jail clearly isn't working as a deterrent.
The judge said Gully has faced fines, jail time, and driving prohibitions before -- all apparently to no avail.
While there is an argument for treating alcohol addiction and drunk driving as separate issues -- people are addicted to drinking but no one is addicted to driving, after all -- common sense should prevail. Obviously the two are linked and when a person can't seem to stop drinking and still needs to go to work, or a buddy's house, or wherever, it becomes an easy step to get behind the wheel.
Judging from the number of impaired cases in one day of court, it's a step people take fairly often. So clearly, the system isn't currently working to deter anyone from committing or recommitting the crime.
I don't know the answer to this conundrum but an obvious suggestion would be mandatory counselling, perhaps in a setting that doesn't include incarceration. There are equally obvious problems with that as well, as there would be with every solution anyone could come up with.
One thing, however, remains obvious. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is not a solution.
Liberal's quick fix not enoughYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Yes, the federal Liberals made good on the their pre-election promise to increase the Northern Resident's deduction.
A 33-per-cent bump sounds impressive, resulting in a $22 a day tax deduction.
This is a welcome help to the pocketbook of average Northerners but it only begins to address the much higher cost of living in the North.
As Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly points out, the deduction has not been indexed to match inflation. This means the deduction will be worth less every year as the cost of living rises remorselessly upward.
There are cost-of-living measurements readily available that suggest the cost of living in the North, especially for a family, outstrips the Northern Resident's deduction. According to the most recent Statistics Canada consumer price index report, the cost of food continues to rise in Yellowknife year after year.
Meat, fish and poultry saw an 8.4 per cent increase compared to 1.6 per cent nationally. Overall, food prices are up 6.2 per cent since this time last year, the second year in a row that brought increased Northern food costs.
Add to this the inflated cost of fuel for both transportation and heating, as well as the high cost of real estate or rentals in the North, and the deduction looks more like a token acknowledgment of the cost of living up here instead of an wholehearted attempt to encourage Northern residency.
Rookie MP Michael McLeod entered last fall's election promising more than his party was willing to deliver but at least has shown himself capable of getting results. He and the other Northern MPs swept into office during last year's Liberal wave should forcefully make the case that tax deduction increases are only really fair to the North when they are indexed to inflation to ensure the deduction maintains its value over time.
On the infrastructure front, the big ticket item in this year's budget is the $120 billion earmarked for spending over the next 10 years on capital projects nationwide.
Exactly what this will mean for the Northwest Territories is not clear yet but hopefully it will include spending on a much-needed all-season extension to the Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto winter road, one of Canada's so-called "roads to resources."
It would be a boost to mineral exploration in the North to have an all-season road running from Yellowknife to the mineral rich zone that currently hosts all of the NWT's operating mines.
If Yellowknifers want to continue to enjoy the benefit of active diamond mining and mineral exploration a mere few hundred kilometres northwest of the city, they should support funding for this crucial transportation link.
It is ironic that O'Reilly, who prior to becoming an MLA, built his career and earned his living on the back of active mineral exploration and mining - albeit as an environmental monitor of mining -- would insist roads to resources should be ignored and lofty goals, such as a university in Yellowknife, should be championed instead.
No doubt a university would be an attractive addition to the city but we suggest its foundation would be on firmer ground if government ensured the NWT's number one economy driver had a reliable road link to the resources corridor in the Barrens.
Still bones to pick with federal budgetEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 30, 2016
The Liberal govenment's recent federal budget does have some good news for Nunavummiut, but the glossy dollar figures being bandied about for the ill-fated and highly-flawed Nutrition North program don't amount to a hill of beans to those of us who purchase most of our groceries locally.
The best news in the budget for most Nunavummiut is the increase in the Northern residents tax deduction.
The maximum daily residency deduction is rising to $22 from its previous $16.50, which is a significant, if long overdue, improvement.
And while $76.7 million over two years should result in about 140 new "affordable housing" units, that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the territory's true housing needs.
In fact, as sexy as that $76.7 million may appear on the surface, $38.35 million per year is a long way short of the $105 million a year over five years the Government of Nunavut wants the feds to buy into.
It's a start but make no mistake, it's baby steps.
And that brings us to the headline grabbing, spotlight stealing amounts of money being dumped into the Nutrition North cesspool during the next five years or so.
The base amount of $64.5 million is no increase at all to the program, and the vast majority of the extra $13.8 per year (ongoing) will be going to remote communities everywhere but here.
But, hey. Fair is fair, right? We mustn't be greedy with the sweet deal we've been enjoying since this program came into affect.
The only hope we have, at this point, of Nutrition North ever paying any significant dividends to who it's supposedly in place to help (read: consumers, not retailers), is the mandatory providing of a retailer's profit-margin information to independent auditors to make sure the fox doesn't have the henhouse totally locked down.
But that's still just one kernel on a very large ear of corn.
The Nutrition North program will never be fixed by throwing money at it.
It was fatally flawed from the moment it was dreamt up by a Conservative government overreacting to a few speed bumps with Canada Post over the old Food Mail program, and then acting on a lot of input from a bunch of former Bay boys, directly and indirectly, with shiny new titles.
It has done nothing but produce record profits for retailers, ever-escalating prices for consumers on all but a small number of items, and the Lord only knows how many tonnes of rotting fruit and vegetables in Nunavut landfills.
It also resulted in the all-too-surreal scenario of Company A turning a profit while paying Company B to transport plane loads of its goods to various locations.
If the Liberals are not willing to wipe the slate clean with Nutrition North and say, "Oops, sorry about that," and tear it down completely, then it must stop focusing on ways to make the retailers more accountable in passing along the subsidies and focus on ways to put the subsidies in the hands of the consumers.
It's been done rather effectively in other countries, so surely we can figure it out here.
The Liberal government's first federal budget is definitely a step up from just crumbs going to Nunavut, but, as far as Nutrition North goes, there's still more than a few bones to pick!
