More than just a bedYellowknifer - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
There truly is nothing better at the end of a long day than having one's own space to decompress and a warm bed to rest in.
This is why $600,000 to fund 15 new private units at the Centre for Northern Families and the Salvation Army's Bailey House transitional home for men is such a godsend.
While bricks and mortar are not going to alleviate homelessness by themselves, beds in private rooms will offer vulnerable people another step in the path to self-sufficiency.
At the start of this path are the emergency beds at the Centre for Northern Families and the Salvation Army. While these beds don't offer privacy - they are literally just a place to sleep - the Salvation Army does offer programming such as life-skills courses and anger management and literacy programs in conjunction with these beds. The Centre for Northern Families offers daycare and healthy baby and toddler programming.
The new private rooms offer people with a bit more self-sufficiency with not only a bed to sleep in but some privacy at the end of the day. It doesn't take a big of a stretch to imagine how much of a difference a private room could make in somebody's life.
Hopefully those who use these rooms will also take advantage of the programming.
This could lead to even more self-sufficiency, perhaps by graduating to Housing First, the new Yellowknife initiative that gives homeless people an apartment of their own in conjunction with access to health and social programming.
The hope is that people who use Housing First will get the means to become completely self-sufficient. This marks the end of the path.
It's pretty easy to see how health services and varying levels of domestic independence can help pull people from abject homelessness to Housing First and beyond.
The more our municipal, territorial and federal governments invest in quality programming to go along with this wonderful new infrastructure, the better chance society has of making that path easier to navigate.
So hopefully the next bundle of funding Yellowknife gets to fight homelessness will go toward robust programs and services to go right alongside these nice new beds.
Small business keeps the wheels turningYellowknifer - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
It's not easy running a business in Yellowknife but it sure makes life easier for everybody else.
For all the temptation to turn to online shopping or stocking up when travelling down south, most Yellowknifers would admit it would be impossible to get by if the only options they had required them to look south.
And it's not just shopping needs that must be considered but the multitude of other services Yellowknifers rely on: plumbing, dry-cleaning, computer technicians, bicycle repair and on and on.
This may be a government and mining support town but to support all of that are numerous smaller businesses. They literally keep the slats greased and the wheels turning.
Small businesses are an integral part of the civic web that provide taxes to build our schools, money for local charities, sponsorships for sports events at our arenas and employment for hundreds of residents.
Many people who run businesses in Yellowknife have deep roots, firmly planted despite all the challenges of operating in a Northern city - the high cost of transportation and fuel, staff turnover, and of course, competition with online services and southern retailers.
The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce boasts 345 members, most of which are small businesses. What better way to celebrate Small Business Week by giving them
our business.
Big voices, silent moneyEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
It has always been a struggle for me to understand the mindset behind the use of celebrities to further agendas.
Depending on what side of the coin you're on for any given issue, it just seems logical you're going to hiss at the celebrity going against your beliefs, or gush over the one supporting your opinion.
And it never ceases to amaze me how people can't separate the person and their art from their political views.
I am a huge Beatles and Paul McCartney fan.
So, when it comes to bashing the use of sealskin and not getting the difference between subsistence and commercial hunting, there are times I wish he wouldn't say anything at all on the matter.
But that doesn't turn me against the incredible six-decades worth of music the man is responsible for.
A bigger problem -- when it comes to the use of a celebrity, leader or peoples representative to add credibility to a stance on an issue -- is all too often we don't see what happens behind the scenes until way after the fact, if at all.
Our own Canadian music icon, Neil Percival Young, is one of the most respected people in the industry.
And, much like his fellow countryman Bruce Cockburn, Percival has never been afraid of voicing his opinion on topical issues.
From the song (Southern Man) that prompted Lynyrd Skynyrd to pen Sweet Home Alabama in response, to the political scorching that is Keep on Rockin' in the Free World, to his battle against the oilsands, Young always makes an impact when he decides to rage against the machine.
But even Neil Young can play a little dirty pool when it comes to pushing his own agenda.
And, as so often is the case, when there's money quietly (some would say sneakily) changing hands in the background, the whole issue is suddenly enveloped by a foul odour.
Young was part of that game about two years ago when, in a tirade against the oilsands during a Toronto appearance, he was joined on stage by Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
Of course, having Adam -- a genuine First Nations chief who actually lives next to the oilsands -- next to Young pushed the authenticity/credibility factor off the charts for the event.
What wasn't known, however -- until the American left wing lobby group the Tides Foundation sent its 138-page filing to the U.S.A.'s Internal Revenue Service -- was the Tides Foundation had deposited $55,000 into the account of 8500450 Alberta Ltd.
That company was owned by another company, Acden Group Ltd., of which Adam and a few other band notables were directors and shareholders.
A deeper look into the matter soon uncovered the Tides Foundation had paid out well over $1 million to Canadian anti-oilsands activists in 25 payments over one year.
So, was Chief Adam on that stage with Young because of his opposition to the oilsands, or did he have 55,000 other reasons to be there?
Food for thought, with a number of issues gaining in importance and prominence here in the North.
Everyone has an opinion, whether informed or not, but some resonate a lot louder with people than others.
The thing is, in these modern times, sometimes you still have to pull back the curtain to see the wizard.
Carbon tax must not price out NorthNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, October 17, 2016
There are very few assurances available to us that the Liberals' carbon tax won't make it cost more for people to live in the NWT.
It's also apparent that our political leaders are finding it difficult to speak out of both sides of their mouths on the issue. The brothers McLeod - Premier Bob and Liberal MP Michael - both hope Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes allowances for the unique circumstances the North faces in regards to using fossil fuels.
They both also agree that global warming is a serious issue that's causing change to the NWT's traditional way of life.
But neither man has put forth a real solution to that conundrum.
"We are prepared to work with our federal counterparts to create an NWT approach to contributing to achieving the objectives of a pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change," Premier McLeod stated, without elaborating on what, exactly, an NWT approach means.
Said MP McLeod: "We in the Northwest Territories understand that a carbon price is an important measure to get people to stop using the fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions but the very high cost of fuel in our communities is already an incentive to reduce consumption."
Trudeau has announced a national plan that will see a carbon price imposed starting in 2018 of $10 per tonne for provinces and territories that don't have their own carbon tax or cap and trade system already in place. The price would rise $10 per tonne to $50 by 2022.
The government claims the tax will be revenue neutral, with funds - some estimates peg the figure at $225 million - returned to the jurisdiction they came from. MP McLeod has suggested corporate taxes could be reduced to account for the carbon price. He said the details will come over the next two years as the national plan is worked out and implemented.
Isn't that really just shifting around taxpayer dollars? Where is the overall vision for the future of the North? Are businesses - especially those that are very energy dependent - expected to forestall making firm financial plans for up to two years?
MP McLeod also suggested an approach would include greater federal funding for switching to more environmentally-friendly power generation, such as solar, wind and hydro.
What is needed, we suggest, is a massive investment in solar, wind and hydro to make Northern communities energy independent. We see the feds make this kind of investment in southern Canada all the time, for railways, ports and airports.
With talk recently about so-called micro-grids, the investment needed to set up those diesel/renewable hybrids must come from new federal funding - not necessarily just on the backs of fuel-dependent industries.
If there was such an investment - even through a number of public/private partnerships - we could reduce the need to ship food and fuel North, reducing living costs and the carbon footprint along with creating thousands of sustainable jobs.
Trudeau is clearly going to keep his green election promises to satiate his southern urban base and to keep the NDP in check with little thought expressed to date on how the North is to survive any higher costs of living.
Just allowing Ottawa to impose the carbon tax without demanding this vision/commitment be put on the table simply perpetuates the welfare state. We hope the brothers McLeod will soon have some more reassuring information on this matter.
Carbon tax positive if it promotes investmentNunavut/News North - Monday, October 17, 2016
At the beginning of the month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau surprised many - including Canada's provincial and territorial environment ministers - by standing up in the House of Commons to announce a national carbon price to fight climate change.
Nunavummiut will be most affected by such a tax - Premier Peter Taptuna's word for it -- when flying, sending and receiving items by air, travelling by automobile or snowmobile, using fuel to heat their homes or by using diesel-generated electricity. Essentially, the cost of everything people do here will increase.
Provinces and territories must charge at least $10 per metric tonne of carbon dioxide by 2018, and $50 per metric tonne by 2022. Some are already doing this but now every province or territory will be required to collect a tax on carbon emissions.
The Government of Nunavut could spend the money to build wind turbines or solar power plants. But the announcement also suggests it can be used to give back to consumers or support workers or families.
When the details are delivered, expect the feds to insist the money be used to address the problems caused by greenhouse gases.
Trudeau's surprise comes less than a year after Finance Minister Keith Peterson predicted a budget deficit for the first time in five years as federal transfers - which make up 90 per cent of Nunavut's budget - fell short.
A carbon tax in Nunavut would be unique, by design, in that it would generate little from those who are not reliant on government support. Here, it's basically a tax on government.
The Government of Nunavut is - on the ground - the largest producer of greenhouse gases as it pays Qulliq Energy to heat and power government buildings and homes for most of Nunavut's population. Consider, too, how many people are flying Nunavut's skies on the government's dime for duty or medical travel.
The Nunavut government will be forced to find money for green initiatives, whether it can afford to or not.
Premier Taptuna is against the plan. It will have a "negative impact on Nunavummiut" but do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he says.
He could be right. At first glance, the plan promises to worsen the government's ability to provide the services Nunavummiut so desperately need.
But looking at the long term, this should be a spark that lights a fire under his government to insist on the federal government's support for projects that could meet the tax's intent: to reduce emissions, stimulate innovation, create jobs, and move Canada to a low-carbon economy.
The territories are promised special treatment under the plan. This is Nunavut's chance to push for more money to make social housing units more energy efficient. To push for hydro to replace the Iqaluit diesel power plant. To push for hydro lines from Manitoba to the Kivalliq region.
And the feds may get their own surprise from this announcement. One of worst offenders in the carbon debate is air travel. Once Nunavut's food prices go up - as this tax hits air cargo rates - expect Nunavummiut to put even more pressure on the federal government to make serious improvements to the Nutrition North program. This could be good - providing Ottawa keeps its word.
Children's education needs to come first Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 14, 2016
Giving teachers time to prepare report cards and improve skills is a great thing.
No doubt it must be stressful to carve time out during school hours or stay late into the night to get it done. This is why a new contract agreement signed by the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association is a positive step for the well-being of teachers.
But it is worrisome these changes are coming at the expense of student well-being. In order to give teachers more time to do these things, NWT schools will be foregoing 100 hours of class time - which works out to about two weeks per year.
According to Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), research that assesses development in areas such as physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development and communication skills, almost 30 per cent of Yellowknife children are vulnerable in at least one of these domains. This means that in at least one category, these children are sitting at under 10 per cent of what researchers consider to be a normal rate of development. The number of vulnerable children in one or more of these areas only goes up for children in NWT's regional centres and small communities.
So it really is unfortunate to see more administrative time for teachers come at the expense of students. For some NWT youth, most of the structure and cognitive stimulation they receive happens in school. If the territorial government is going to see success in bringing NWT children on par with the rest of Canada, students are going to need as much class time as they can get.
This will put students in a better place when they graduate and hopefully go on to develop career skills.
So if giving teachers extra time is a good thing but taking that time from students is bad, the department is going to have to look at providing more resources to schools so both teachers and students get what they need. This could be done by bringing in more support staff, such as substitute teachers, to keep children engaged during these times.
Yes, this costs more money. But who wouldn't agree children are the NWT's greatest resource? Obviously they are worth it.
Invest to keep Yellowknife a hot destination Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 14, 2016
Aurora driven tourism is up by almost 50 per cent over last year ("Aurora tourism up nearly 50 per cent, Oct. 3, News/North).
Not surprisingly, spending is up by the same amount. That means $39.7 million aurora tourism dollars spent in the NWT, and Yellowknife in particular.
This is an increase of $12.9 million over the previous year.
Overall, tourism spending is up by 14 per cent over last year across all tourism sectors and represented $167.1 million in spending last year.
The North and its natural, isolated, barren splendor seems to be something Japanese and Chinese markets cannot get enough of.
City hotels are booked solid, giving impetus to a minor construction boom in the city, while cafes and restaurants are putting their best foot forward in a bid to win a portion of tourist spending.
The private sector everywhere is doing its part to respond with capitalist verve.
The city has done well in the past few years with improvements to Government Dock and Pilot's Monument but now is the time to invest even more into ensuring Yellowknife remains a top draw for foreign visitors.
Erecting downtown street signs or other tourist markers printed in Japanese and Mandarin would be a simple but lasting gesture of goodwill.
The city also should not forget how popular the summer Dene Nahjo hide tanning camp was this year.
There has been talk in the past of a permanent downtown facility where Northern indigenous culture and craft could be on display year round.
It's time for the city to take this beyond talk and put shovels into the ground.
Perception key in conflicts of interestDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, October 13, 2016
At the Aug. 2 meeting of Fort Simpson's village council, Coun. Mike Rowe had enough. He told his fellow councillors he no longer wanted to be questioned on whether he should declare a conflict of interest in relation to the companies of one of his relatives.
He was tired of being the only one singled out by council regarding declarations of perceived conflict.
Now, with the Village of Fort Simpson facing a lawsuit for allegedly interfering in a territorial government contract process, which includes a demand that Rowe be removed from council, the question of what constitutes a conflict of interest has become vital.
Ever since Rowe was elected to council on Feb. 4, questions of conflict have pervaded discussion at the council table.
As the son and employee of businessman Pat Rowe, Rowe found himself facing regular questions from fellow councillors on whether he should be declaring a conflict of interest in items related to his father's companies.
"Declaring an interest" is the term councillors use for issues in which they may have a conflict. At the beginning of every meeting, they are supposed to declare whether or not they have a potential conflict with any of the agenda items.
But what does being in conflict really mean?
That question was so pressing that council met with representatives of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs at the end of August.
A slide show presentation from that meeting was included in the Sept. 6 meeting package and makes for interesting reading.
The presentation put a number of questions to councillors that they should be asking themselves before declaring an interest: primarily, whether they have a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a decision and whether their employer has an interest in the decision, among other such questions.
There are, of course, exemptions to the Conflict of Interest Act - namely, "community of interest" - which stipulates an exemption if the member's interest is the same as the portion of the community affected by a decision.
The act also does not deem a member to necessarily have the same interests as family members they do not live with.
But according to the presentation councillors received, a member has an indirect pecuniary interest in matters that their employer has an interest in - and the member cannot claim no such interest exists.
The effect of this legislation upon village council should be that declarations of interest are made left and right. After all, most of the village's representatives, if not all, have jobs outside their responsibilities as public officials.
Clearly, the perception of a conflict is important regardless of whether a member feels they are actually in conflict.
Aside from keeping councillors from using their position to benefit themselves financially, the importance of declaring an interest lies also in maintaining public trust.
Going forward, it is important for council to truly consider the perception of its involvement with matters at the council table - and whether being involved opens the village up to liability.
Our hands are not tied when it comes to teaching positive valuesInuvik Drum - Thursday, October 13, 2016
One can certainly sympathize with the complaint that social workers feel their hands are tied when trying to manage the difficult situations their clients often find themselves in.
Seema Allahdini, victim services coordinator, was right that a community approach would be far more effective than sticking to the silos of different departments while ticking off the ABCs of our job descriptions.
It is a delicate game to balance what one person may think is right for a client and how much power that person should have in pursuing that conviction.
But no matter what department is working on it or how much power any person has, we will never be able to cleanse our cultural and community ills through policy alone.
Those changes come on an individual, human, community level. What stops violence is individuals not wanting to turn to violence, not laws, bureaucrats and policy advisors.
Crucially important is the foundation young people have growing up, from their family unit to the wider community.
The students in East Three School's leadership class are a good example of the right way to raise youth.
They are keen on making a positive difference in the lives of people around them and seek to achieve happiness for themselves and others. A lifelong pursuit of those values is as good a defense against misfortune as possible.
As mentioned by teacher Abe Drennan, this is the development of good citizenship values in school that goes beyond textbook knowledge.
This program or one like it not only makes for good citizens, but also develops skills transferable to later careers, such as event planning or marketing.
There is no future where all our problems are solved, but making a leadership club member out of every youth and having every person engaged in good citizenship practices is a positive goal.
Government departments might have difficulty balancing laws intended to help while watching they don't overstep the boundaries of patient privacy and confidentiality, but we are all free individually to pursue the world we want to live in.
