Spending starts at home Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, September 16, 2016
The mining and resource industry is the largest private sector contributor to the NWT's GDP, so when that sector stumbles the North shudders.
Speakers at last week's Opportunities North conference highlighted the importance of economic diversification in the development of a robust economy less tied to the vagaries of international commodity markets.
Tourism was highlighted as a shining star in the North's economic constellation.
It's well and good that tourism spending has been on the upswing. Tourist and adventure market dollars are certainly something all levels of government should be pursuing. But another core industry easily overlooked for the lack of glamour associated with it is government spending.
It is not easy to parse out exactly what the value of government spending in the North amounts to, but it certainly represents more than a billion dollars annually.
While much of that is absorbed in salaries, administration and upkeep of public infrastructure, some of it is spent on goods and services provided by the private sector.
The NWT Chamber of Commerce carefully tracks resource sector spending and does a good job keeping its finger on the pulse of the private sector economy. But it needs to expand its vigilant gaze on the who, how much, and where of government private sector spending.
For example, the GNWT recently award a contract for close to 40 modular homes to NWT-based construction facilities.
Previous contracts for modular homes, which have become widely used in the communities for the cost savings involved, had gone to southern contractors who took the money, built the homes, and installed them in communities while giving almost zero benefit to the Northern economy. For example, according to MLA Shane Thompson, southern contractors would even bring their own food, fuel and accommodations to the communities instead of spending locally.
It may be that some sections of the North's private sector are not ready to handle government-sized contracts.
If that is the case, those areas should be identified as potential sources of further northern economic diversification and immediately targeted for development.
Phone calls for seniors may be lifeline Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, September 16, 2016
Isolation and loneliness are well-documented triggers for a host of mental health problems, including depression.
Seniors can be especially vulnerable if they have limited mobility, they've lost friends or family or relatives spend less time with them due to busy schedules.
It can be especially hard for Northern seniors. Many young people move away to pursue jobs and schooling in larger centres down south, leaving elderly parents and relatives who may not be keen on picking up and moving, especially if they lived most of their lives in the city.
One way to help seniors connect to the outside world is with a simple phone call. The Status of Women Council of the NWT is launching the Friendly Calls to Seniors program, where volunteers can phone up elders to chat with them, even for a few minutes, depending on what the volunteer and client agree upon.
The idea, according to council executive director Lorraine Phaneuf, is seniors really do appreciate hearing another person's voice and talking about things they have in common.
To make this program work, like a conversation, it needs people to speak up and volunteer, to be the callers and the called.
Yellowknifers skilled in the art of conversation should consider signing up, as should seniors who could use a little social time, even over the phone.
This is a case where a simple telephone line can be a lifeline.
Solutions neededDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, September 15, 2016
Anyone who has lived in one of the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories for any length of time knows the story: a friend has been couchsurfing for years, or a relative spends their summers on the street and seem to vanish in the winter.
Where the government seems to have failed on the issue of homelessness, the people of the North find their own solutions.
Homelessness in the Deh Cho is largely out of sight, out of mind. It's well-known that the issue doesn't take traditional forms - you generally won't find people without homes sleeping out on the street in the middle of winter.
But they are there. To think otherwise would be a mistake.
In Fort Providence, the Community Advancement Partnership Society has been raising money for the better part of a year in an effort to aid the situation.
The organization wants to build spaces for people who have no homes. It would be transitional housing, with members of the society helping clients to eventually get a regular housing unit.
One affiliate, Pat Mazerolle's FP Management & Consulting, compiled the data he has seen over the past nine months into a document for the NWT Housing Corporation's perusal.
The figures he cites, if applied anywhere else in the country, would be staggering. Mazerolle estimates between six to eight per cent of Fort Providence's adult population is homeless, hard-to-house or underhoused.
They couchsurf, live in shacks and abandoned buildings or pile into the units of friends and relatives.
The society has 13 people registered in its waiting list for housing already, when not a single bed is yet available.
Mazerolle said he is tired of the issue being swept under the rug. Every winter, he says, he hears people talk about the problem of homelessness - only to have it forgotten a couple months later.
So how do you talk about an issue nobody really wants to discuss?
Mazerolle's report puts the blame on the NWT Housing Corporation for a failure to address the needs of the homeless population.
The corporation's rules, he says, do not fit the Northwest Territories.
Need rent support? Fine, say the rules. Just apply to be on the public housing wait-list and you qualify for a subsidy to tide you over. Of course, those who owe money to public housing don't qualify for the list. Funny how people suffering from chronic ailments be they related to physical or mental health would be the most likely to fall behind on their rent, and therefore more likely to need a helping hand and yet less likely to receive the help they need.
Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head, whether they are in the grasp of an addiction or have simply fallen on hard times.
It is up to everyone who knows these people to turn up the pressure on the government.
Role on the team impacts later lifeInuvik Drum - Thursday, September 15, 2016
When I was young, gym class was an easy 'A,' a small hope for floor hockey and a brief respite from the stress of regular school.
As an adult, I see how much youth sports influenced my development and correlate to how I operate in the workplace.
Now I can't evangelize it enough, and I was glad to check in with East Three Secondary School's running club this week.
It could be my own bias, but I also see a correlation in my peers between dedication to youth sports and future professional success.
As a disclaimer, not everyone takes to sports naturally and many develop a similar foundation through other venues.
In school, I was good at grammar and struggled through everything else. I didn't want the teacher to ask me questions, put in just enough work to pass the class and let the dedicated students take the lead in group assignments.
In sports, I was the complete opposite: a leader, the one calling out the plays, extremely competitive and committed.
It was through sports that I learned how to operate in a team, follow a coach's command, run plays, guide teammates and set up each situation for success.
Sports taught me how to find and play my role in the workplace.
I grew up playing baseball and hockey, and in both I was defensively minded. I took care of my own end before going on offence.
In baseball, I was a lead-off batter with a high on-base percentage. I was not a big hitter.
For hockey, I was a defenceman entirely focused on getting the puck out of my end. I wasn't cherry-picking for breakaways.
And at work, these same instincts run true. I take a defensive, low-risk, high-percentage approach to get my job done, and I don't go swinging for the fences if it's going to leave me exposed.
I see in colleagues the big hitters, closing pitchers and other role players that all help make a good team.
In so many young people, I see a real passion during sports that might not always be on their face.
Far from an easy 'A' or simple extracurricular activity, sports are a key developmental experience for youth.
Poisoning children must stopYellowknifer - Wednesday, September 14, 2016
In the list of pressing issues facing the NWT today, fetal alcohol syndrome should be at the top.
Caused by drinking during pregnancy, fetal alcohol syndrome (FASD) occurs when alcohol damages the fetus, putting the future child at real risk for cognitive impairment, intellectual disability, mental-health, behavioural problems and physical disabilities.
People with FASD are likely to struggle. They will find it harder than the average person to maintain relationships, be successful at school and keep a job. The territorial government does not keep FASD statistics and not everybody with it has been diagnosed. There is no definitive way to diagnose a person with FASD, unless a mother is open about whether she drank during pregnancy. This means there are people living in the NWT with FASD who don't have access to the support they need. Too often the tragic result is a troubled child shunted between foster care, the police, the courts, the corrections system and homeless shelters.
This is why the Yellowknife Association for Community Living's project to distribute 500 pregnancy kits to bar bathrooms and liquor stores across the city is such a vital step forward.
The kits include information about FASD, a condom, a helpline for more information and a pregnancy test. It's a valuable resource for people to learn what FASD is and how it happens, and provides a discreet way for women to see if they are pregnant.
But initiatives to combat FASD shouldn't end with a project for FASD Awareness Day. The rest of us have the opportunity to utilize this project as a way to get comfortable talking about alcohol abuse, family planning, safe sex and sexual health.
The government also plays a role in making sure women across the territory have easy access to family planning tools such as birth control, condoms, pregnancy tests and abortion procedures. Once women are armed with knowledge, feel confident enough to get past the taboos and receive tools to proactively manage their fertility, FASD rates are bound to go down.
So start talking about it. The Yellowknife Association for Community Living has opened the door - let's join the conversation.
Ordinary MLAs an untapped resourceYellowknifer - Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Two MLAs who want a greater role for standing committees at the legislative assembly are revealing the flaw in wrapping consensus government in a parliamentary cloak.
Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly and Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart shared their thoughts with Yellowknifer last week, both pointing to untapped opportunities provided by standing committees that regular MLAs can use to provide more oversight over cabinet work and engage the public.
Sitting across from all-powerful ministers backed by a standing army of 4,000 bureaucrats, they can only snipe at policy decisions made behind closed cabinet doors. Hardly a shining example of consensus.
Through standing committees, MLAs can hold public engagement sessions, go on fact-finding missions, study issues in depth and critically review departmental programs. Those bureaucrats serve them in that setting.
Anything that leads to MLAs becoming more informed about ongoing government work is a good thing. More public engagement about these issues is also a good thing, as is committee oversight into cabinet business.
In the end, the ordinary MLAs are all that stands between democracy and a five-year-long dictatorship.
Safe-sex message still unheededEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, September 14, 2016
The fact of the matter is, the ongoing trend of people having unprotected sex in Nunavut, especially in the Kivalliq, dictate we're damn lucky the AIDS virus has not become prevalent in our neck of the tundra.
As of Aug. 1, the Kivalliq has 49 confirmed cases of syphilis according to the Department of Health. This is more than halfway to the 94 syphilis cases recorded in all of Nunavut during the 2014 outbreak.
And, the region is more than two-thirds of the way to the total number of cases (68) recorded in the entire territory in 2015.
The two culprits behind the Kivalliq outbreak are bad decision making and consenting to unprotected sex.
Our youth take most of the blame for syphilis's return with a vengeance, but the sexually-transmitted infection seems to be just as rampant among 20-somethings as our teenage population.
Any worker on the front lines of public health will tell you the confirmed cases do not represent the whole picture when it comes to dealing with sexually-transmitted infections.
And that can be especially true with syphilis, as there are an unknown number of people walking around with the bacteria infection who haven't been tested yet, while still others don't show any sign they've been infected.
Syphilis can be diagnosed with a blood test and can be fairly easily treated with antibiotics, but, left undiagnosed and untreated, the infection turns especially nasty and can cause a number of severe problems in the body, eventually leading to death!
Having unprotected sex in this day and age is mind-baffling enough, but it's even more brain numbing to realize how many people realize there's a huge breakout of syphilis in the region, know they've been sexually active without protection, and still adopt the it-can't-happen-to-me attitude and refuse to have themselves tested for the disease.
In those cases, this is not a matter of only harming themselves.
Although their future partners live just as risky a lifestyle by consenting to have unprotected sex with them, they unwittingly contract the infection, risking health problems in their own bodies, and can pass it on to other partners before becoming aware they've been infected, keeping the cycle going in the region.
Nunavut is not alone in this battle.
The number of sexually-transmitted infections such as syphilis, chlamydia and resistant gonorrhea has been rising steadily across Canada since the late 1990s, with outbreak levels of gonorrhoea and syphilis reported in Alberta, syphilis on the rise in Manitoba, and Ontario seeing 5,932 confirmed cases of gonorrhea in 2015 alone.
And, while still mainly a problem of the young, the numbers of confirmed cases in people middle-aged and older are rising at an alarming rate.
With the advances in condom technology during the past decade, which has led to sexual intimacy feeling a whole lot less like one washing their feet with their socks on, there is less reason than ever for people to knowingly, and willingly, put their health -- or even their very lives -- at risk by having unprotected sex.
The message, for whatever reason, is still not being received effectively, and communities everywhere continue to deal with a major problem that should have been resolved decades ago.
Birth of a new governmentNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, September 12, 2016
As drum beats fade away and dignitaries are flown out of Deline after days of celebration last week, the real work now begins for the newly minted Deline Got'ine Government (DGG) and its leader, Raymond Tutcho.
Self-government is now a reality in Deline, with Tutcho leading Canada's first combined indigenous/public self-government. Deline is also NWT's first community-based indigenous self-government for the 450 residents in the community and some 1,000 or so living away.
This is a big step for a small community that took some 20 years to take.
The DGG assumed responsibility Sept. 1, when the Deline K'aowedó Ke, or main council, had its first meeting and passed core laws and an inaugural budget. Over time, the government will assume jurisdiction over community affairs and local services, including education, health services, and social housing.
Band members and beneficiaries will also have more control over how government money is spent on programs and how services are delivered. In addition to DGG Leader Tutcho, there is a six-person council, an elders council, a justice council and a beneficiaries board.
So all of the checks and balances of a democracy will be in place. To ensure the DGG receives the respect and support of the people it governs, it would be wise to take advantage of those tools and avoid any perception of bias or nepotism - especially with financial matters.
The Deline Got'ine Government promises to safeguard language, culture and customs. It will be wise for it to guard the safe with as much zeal.
The new leaders have the potential to set a proud example for First Nations if they manage to avoid missteps and scandals that come with the trappings of power.
Territory's raw beauty enticing, treacherousNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, September 12, 2016
The NWT benefits from tourism and welcomes tourists from around the world. Hunting season is underway and the Northern lights are spectacular.
However, news of two recent visitor deaths underscore the importance of staying safe while on the roads, or in the wild.
A Chinese tourist died in a single-vehicle accident on the Dempster Highway near the Peel River on Aug. 27. Four people were in the vehicle travelling on the rugged, hard-packed gravel road, which at times can rattle the nerves of even the most seasoned residents.
While three people - one adult male and two adult females - survived, an adult female was found dead inside the vehicle. Police attributed driving conditions as a possible factor.
In a separate incident, a one of three hikers from the U.S. died after being swept away in the Little Keele River on the Canol Trail on Aug. 20.
Three American hikers, all male, were on the Canol Trail when they attempted to forge the river. Sadly, one didn't make it. RCMP were called in. His body was found Aug. 28.
Reports of people - residents and visitors - gone missing on the land or on the water are commonplace in the NWT. Luckily, most people are found safe.
Visitors don't want their adventures in the NWT to become misadventures. Take safety precautions and consider the use of local guides and outfitters.
Education needed so all workers feel safeNunavut/News North - Monday, September 12, 2016
It is 2016. And yet there is a group who feel they must meet in secret for fear of retribution while they review the sexual harassment policies of some of Nunavut's biggest employers.
Only Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern has the courage to go public and, as a respected elected official, call for more to be done to prevent women from being disrespected in the places they must go to make a living.
The other people in the group, while passionate and engaged on the topic of workplace harassment in all its forms, fear reprisals and repercussions if their identities are known. In this day and age there are people in Canada who are genuinely afraid of standing up and being counted on an issue that to most reasonable people shouldn't even exist.
Who bullies co-workers in the workplace? Who makes suggestive sexual advances on women who are trying to do a job? Apparently, lots of Canadians.
A 2014 poll by the Angus Reid Institute found three in 10 Canadians, or 28 per cent, say they have been on the receiving end of requests for sexual favours, sexually-charged talk while on the job or unwelcome sexual advances. More disturbingly, one in seven adults, or 14 per cent, have experienced sexual touching or serious unwanted sexual contact in their careers.
Because the poll found that women are about four times more likely to be harassed than men, let us presume that the vast majority of offenders are men. Logically then, we must ask, why don't men understand that it is wrong to make sexual advances on women, particularly in the workplace?
Perhaps they have been told about a company's policy against such things but don't fully understand. Maybe the perpetrators of these actions don't realize that their behaviour is unacceptable.
Maybe it is because many of them are getting away with it. Four out of five people do not report the behaviour to their employers.
Perhaps some employers don't know what to do when complaints are made. Then, in this environment of ignorance, very little happens. There are no real repercussions.
We don't think men who are guilty of harassing others in the workplace are necessarily bad people. Perhaps they are just ignorant, the product of conditioning in their home environment that makes them think such behaviour isn't wrong. In some cultures, men don't achieve a high level of education because they need to find work and earn money at an early age. Those who are innocent of mind and guilty of action need to be educated.
That requires more than being told about policies that prohibit such behaviour.
They need to be told why the policy exists and that all people have the right to work without fear of intimidation, harassment or being subjected to sexual advances.
Drawing attention to this widespread issue is vital so steps can be taken to protect the right of all workers to feel safe while they are on the job.
