Cabin leases good for territory Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, June 3, 2016
As early as next spring there could be a new recreation management plan in place designed to guide the GNWT as it considers how best to balance land use issues concerning lands designated as "Yellowknife periphery."
In particular, this includes land accessed off the Ingraham Trail.
Any special interest group, land lease-holder, mineral rights holder, trapper or even just the average outdoor enthusiast has a vested interest in how this plan is developed. This recreation management plan process will be one of the most closely scrutinized undertakings of the GNWT over the next year, and rightfully so.
Of particular interest is the possibility of new cabin leases up for grabs at the end of the consultation period.
There are many reasons why more cabin leases are a good idea.
First, there is incredible demand for recreational property as witnessed last year when 913 people paid $100 to enter a lottery for 22 available cabin leases on the Ingraham Trail.
Being able to get out of the city and onto the land is a big part of the attraction of living in the North. If the GNWT can show there are opportunities to move north and have a city lifestyle with back-country weekends, it just might slow our ebbing population and make Yellowknife a more attractive destination.
Land leases will generate tax revenue for the government at very little if any extra cost, while discouraging squatter settlements at the same time.
On the other hand, expanding cabin leases and etching out land-use plans on the traditional lands of the Akaitcho Dene (and the Yellowknives Dene in particular), Tlicho and Metis people may leave one wondering who the real squatters are if legitimate consultation with aboriginal groups is not the first priority.
This land use plan under development is expected to be completed by spring of 2017. It would be a shame if all the work over the next year were to come to naught thanks to a lack of consultation with First Nations and the subsequent social and legal fallout. It would make sense to make the Yellowknives the beneficiary of GNWT earnings on cabin leases.
The government has said aboriginal governments have been "invited to participate" in the development of this plan.
Every effort must be made to ensure this invitation is more than just lip service.
Wider consultation neededDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, June 2, 2016
Much has been said about the all-season road the GNWT wants to build between Wrigley and Norman Wells.
The expensive project is still on the block for funding from the federal government, although no word is yet forthcoming about whether it will be Infrastructure Canada's project of choice.
The project has been touted as the only shovel-ready project in the territory, which is widely considered to be a point in its favour.
Recently, during a speech at the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce's annual general meeting, Transportation Minister Wally Schumann urged community members and proponents of the business community to write to the federal government in support of the project.
Schumann said there are other regions putting intense pressure on the federal government to dip into its pots of infrastructure money.
The idea behind that was, if the Deh Cho makes enough noise, it will set the project apart from countless others that are vying for government dollars.
However, one of the most crucial voices is missing from the discussion: that of Wrigley itself.
One Wrigley woman felt strongly enough about the issue this month that she left a message for the Deh Cho Drum, although she did not leave her name.
That woman said something quite obvious but which has often been forgotten as discussion on the project progresses: the biggest impact of this road will probably be felt in Wrigley itself. She questioned why presentations would be made to the Fort Simpson business community asking for support, instead of being made to Wrigley directly.
To be fair, the business community of Fort Simpson has a lot to gain, potentially, should the road receive funding. All-season access instead of winter-only access could mean new businesses arise and old businesses expand.
But Fort Simpson has no more to gain than any other community affected by the road.
It is members of Pehdzeh Ki First Nation who should be lobbying the government for this road -- if they feel it is worthwhile. That does not mean other communities in the Deh Cho should be silent. However, businesses in Fort Simpson could be supporting voices, instead of being the loudest in the room.
But in order for that to happen, the businesses of Wrigley need to speak for themselves. If they did so, they would give extra punch to the territorial government's case.
In any case, if Schumann is serious about getting people to speak up in favour of the road, and to write their MP about it, he should be telling that to everyone instead of just one community. And Wrigley should be the first one the territory goes to, instead of having to read about the GNWT's wishes in their local paper.
Speaking out about studentsInuvik Drum - Thursday, June 2, 2016
This week's Inuvik Drum has its fair share of education stories. While it may seem overkill to some, they cover a wide range of issues - from the good and uplifting, to the bad and the ugly - that are fundamental to the future of Inuvik's youth and the community at large.
With stories about science projects, graduation and attendance, the Drum spent a lot of time at East Three recently. The subjects were, however, entirely worthy of coverage.
The graduation ceremony May 28 was all about the support of the community and how a strong network helps get students to that stage. In a trick of good timing -- or perhaps poor timing, depending on where you stand -- officials also spoke out about the need to help the students who would not be similarly celebrated.
Small towns in general and the North in particular are rife with underlying problems. Everybody knows about them, everybody talks about them, but they are rarely brought to public discussion and debate. School attendance is one of those issues.
It's nothing new that high school students aren't going to class when the weather warms up and the end of term is in sight. This problem is hardly unique to the Beaufort Delta or even the North, but it does sting more here, where the burden of history and other current challenges are so great.
High school, no matter how much we celebrate its completion, is about learning skills that will be essential later on in life. Of course people can get work and live their lives without completing Grade 12, but for the vast majority of jobs, it's the most basic requirement. Whether further academic pursuit or workplace training is the goal afterward doesn't matter.
So while we may be covering school stories, they are also more broadly community stories. What goes on in that school truly affects the town in so many ways, not least in that the students are hardly a separate segment of the population, whose challenges and achievements are somehow less deserving of attention.
A community is only as strong as its young people, who are so often the focus of speeches and promises on the part of people in leadership positions. Clearly those promises are not being upheld because more than 60 per cent of senior high students are falling through the cracks.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then we have to accept that the failings of these students are the failure of the community.
So as we celebrate the dozen or so graduates -- or rather, those leaving high school with a piece of paper and pride in their accomplishment -- we also need to remember the dozens more who, as a result of their own choices and myriad other factors, weren't there.
Lots of fat in GNWT budgetYellowknifer - Wednesday, June 1, 2016
In the lead-up months to this year's budget debate, there has been a persistent grumbling about the need for budget cuts coupled with speculation as to where they will come from.
What everybody seems to agree on is that the budget needs to shrink. In the past 10 years alone, spending has grown every year, culminating in an increase of a half-billion dollars over this period of time. Earlier this year, Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod announced a goal to cut spending by $150 million - a move in the right direction. Putting mind to practice likely isn't easy for a government accustomed to an ever-growing bureaucracy but ought to come easier once the GNWT actually moves in this direction.
There are definitely redundancies across departments, there are jobs sitting empty that could be removed from the books and, as Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green pointed out to Yellowknifer last week, many of the departments are top-heavy, meaning a ton of money is being spent at the senior levels of bureaucracy. Green offers a figure that supports her point - the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's budget is made up of 75-per-cent spending on school board budgets and educational district authorities, while a whopping 25 per cent stays in at the department headquarters in Yellowknife.
The territorial government has already begun slashing from the top of its ranks as cabinet minister Louis Sebert recently announced he was dissolving the Northwest Territories Power Corporation's board of directors and downloading these responsibilities to deputy ministers.
The move is expected to save approximately $1 million in travel expenses and honorariums. This is where leaders should be focused in their quest to identify redundancies and waste.
Yellowknifer also reported last week the government is looking at consolidating departments in order to shrink the budget.
This is a great idea. Taking a fine-tooth comb to the departments and determining opportunities to amalgamate will naturally lead to the elimination of redundancies. Obviously one part of this whole process is the possibility of layoffs, which the government has announced may happen to some extent. Hopefully, those in power will reserve cuts like these to the last resort in order to get to their $150-million goal.
Cutting down a government budget can't be an easy process, especially for MLAs such as Green and Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne who want to preserve badly needed government programs and services.
That said, there has got to be a certain amount of satisfaction in trimming the fat from a budget that is definitely bloated and in need of the sort of examination it is getting this year.
Who is going to build the new Stanton Hospital? Yellowknifer - Wednesday, June 1, 2016
A really good question was glossed over in the backlash over a 250-person temporary work camp proposed for Kam Lake last week - who exactly is going to be building the new Stanton Hospital?
No doubt the plan so far is to bring skilled tradespeople up from the south to do this job, but Yellowknifer wonders how much initiative is being put into scouring Yellowknife and NWT communities for people who could fill these positions.
Aurora College offers trades programming so there are people in the North who could do the work. It's just a matter of finding them and making sure the opportunity is extended to them first.
The new hospital, just like any public infrastructure project, should be a community-building initiative. Using local labour whenever possible is part of this ideal. It's probably easy to post job ads to the south, especially Alberta, where there are definitely many people with tons of experience ready to work.
It's probably more difficult to reach people in the communities but these people are the ones who should be given the exclusive opportunity to fill these positions first. Our government had a choice when it awarded this contract: maintain the present status quo, watching as these jobs are given to people who will inject a little bit of money into the economy for the two years it will take to build the hospital while sending the rest of their earnings down south, or insisting they be given to people who live here and will continue to benefit our society and economy as NWT residents for years to come.
Wherever this camp ends up, Yellowknifer hopes there as many jobs going to Northerners as possible.
The lesser of two evilsEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, June 1, 2016
And still the debate rages on when it comes to fundraisers in the Kivalliq.
Let's face it, nothing has changed in the past 18 years and nothing is going to change for the next 18.
We still have hundreds, if not a thousand or more, students and athletes each and every year who need to raise a lot of money in order to travel within the Kivalliq, across Nunavut, to the NWT, and to a number of southern locales in order to take part in any number of tournaments, academic sessions, musical events, traditional activities and competitions of all types and descriptions.
And we still have precious few ways to raise those hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
At the top of the list in every Kivalliq community is, of course, the ever popular bingo and Nevada games.
Bingo is, in fact, the stereotypical doubled-edged sword in the Kivalliq.
On one edge, there's no way in the world any more than 10 to 20 per cent of the needed funds would be raised annually if not for bingo.
The sharp edge of that sword is, there is no other activity in our region that takes more money out of the pockets of those who can least afford it than our weekly bingo games.
All the Go-Fund-Me accounts folks can come up would have a herculean task to replace the amount raised annually by bingo in the Kivalliq.
So, despite the obvious downside, and for lack of a tangible alternative, bingo gets put in the lesser-of-two-evils category, and will carry forward as the number-one fundraiser in the region for the foreseeable future.
In communities where alcohol is allowed, dance-styled fundraisers involving beer continues to come under close scrutiny by those who would rather have no alcohol in their communities at all.
It's an unfair situation, given the underbelly of bingo to say the least, but those against the beer dances continue to try and have their voices heard against them.
And when you need council approval for every beer dance application, some councillors prefer to listen to the voice of dissent rather than the voice of reason.
An average dance in Rankin Inlet can raise upwards of $10,000 for travelling athletes or students, and that can often be the difference between our youths taking part in the activity or staying home.
And $10,000 equates to a lot of baked goods or penny-sale items having to be sold to reach the same goal.
Like so many things in our region, fundraising is a long way from being a black-and-white issue.
Does the money being raised for those trying to lead healthy-and-active lifestyles outweigh the fact too many who can least afford it are contributing to the pot?
Does having beer attached to a fundraising effort undermine the good being done by the money raised due to the stigma attached to alcohol in the Kivalliq?
Daunting questions, indeed.
However, the fact remains, without the bingo and the dances, many of our youths are going to miss opportunities taken for granted by many of their counterparts in the south.
And, let's be honest, the vast majority of these athletes and students represent the best of our next generation.
When put in that context, grab your dabbers and your dancing shoes and support the kids who are truly deserving of that support!
Planting the seeds of Northern agricultureNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, May 30, 2016
Interesting placement of headlines in last week's News/North.
On Cece Hodgson-McCauley's column (page 9) the headline reads: "We don't need any greenhouses in NWT!" The headline on page 11 read: "Commercial greenhouses in the works."
Hodgson-McCauley was lamenting that various levels of bureaucracy and institutions are throwing money at community gardens.
In the good old days, people -- missionaries, RCMP, traders and regular folks -- cultivated their own Northern gardens without a grain of funding from anyone, she insists. They got their hands dirty, bent their back to the earth and relied on traditional storage technology in the shape of - as Hodgson-McCauley describes - a root cellar under the bedroom floor to keep the goodness for winter.
The main difference between 'the old days' and now is that people have a choice. They can labour spring, summer and fall to grow their own vegetables or they can go to the Co-op or Northern store and buy them.
With most people, when first given that choice, convenience wins out.
Enjoying the fruits of progress and modern transportation, the cultivating skills Hodgson-McCauley recalls have largely been lost.
Now there are little sprouts of garden culture coming up again as people make the decision to trade some sweat for good quality produce for their families.
Bringing vegetables from California, Mexico, points in between and beyond to tables in Fort Good Hope and Inuvik requires multiple forms of transportation over thousands of kilometres of road, sea and air, a feat only made possible by various preserving chemicals applied to the distant crops.
Even then, despite the grocers' best effort, the produce suffers and tastes less like the real thing, never mind diminished in vitamin benefits to human health.
With heightened consumer consciousness, people are altering their food choices and governments are listening.
In 2014, the federal government funded the Northern Farm Training institute for two years at $1 million a year.
The territorial government has contributed more than $200,000 over the past couple of years, all of this to help dozens of Northerners from 28 communities regain the skills needed to rejuvenate the culture of agriculture.
According to Opportunities North, soon coming out in June, the Institute employed five full-time and 15 part-time staff in 2015 and graduated 58 students, double the year before. And let's not forget the 80 animals on site - cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens.
Community gardens have sprung up across the NWT, from Lutsel K'e to Gameti to oil rich Norman Wells which has proven itself to be good potato growing land.
Hodgson-McCauley is right that all the money in the world can't replace a hoe and a shovel in a determined pair of hands.
But the funding can pay to educate people about the benefits to their family of growing their own food, not to mention the planet, and the most efficient way to do it.
Better yet, any surplus could be sold to local stores if the consistency and quality is there, generating an income comparable to the heydays of trapping.
Living off the land is a long and proud tradition in the North. Time for a comeback.
Hospitality industry in the driver's seatNunavut/News North - Monday, May 30, 2016
Adding a destination marketing fee to the hotel room rate has the potential to make a real difference in attracting visitors and ensuring they have an experience worthy of telling their friends and relatives.
The funding method the city is considering could very well trigger some real think-outside-the-box initiatives. That's because the money won't go into general revenue but will instead be used to create a marketing plan developed in concert with the hoteliers and others in the hospitality industry.
We've seen situations in which organizations come to the table with their own money and discover various levels of government will match or increase their funding commitments.
An integral part of the plan must be communication -- by hotel staff to visitors so there is an understanding of where the money will go, and by hospitality industry players to tourism operators so that it is used for specific new initiatives that benefit the capital city and surrounding area outside of the tourism industry's overall marketing campaign. Work will continue to attract conferences, conventions and corporate retreats.
But who better to decide where more attention is needed than the private sector, those businesses who derive their livelihood from money spent by visitors either on vacation, coming to visit friends or relatives, business travellers who are interested in enhancing their experience or adventurers passing through on their way to smaller communities.
Currently, it is the people who get off an airplane at the Iqaluit airport who should be the target of any specific marketing campaign. That means hotel, restaurant and tourism business operators have to know their customers and sell them something that they want. This is not as easy as some would think.
People will pay money if there are options for interaction, especially if the end result is a unique and enjoyable experience. Weather, infrastructure and transportation are all challenges to success.
The skills required to interact with tourists don't come naturally for many people. Just like any other craft or trade, it requires training, knowledge and desire. What is needed is a warm welcome from a person familiar with Iqaluit's vibrant and diverse offerings, the territory's rich history, captivating scenery, strong traditions and inspiring culture and arts.
The future looks bright with a recently completed hotel renovation, a new airport under construction and approvals pending for a deep water port.
Putting the pieces in place now will allow the tourism industry to perfect its pitch for many profitable years ahead.
