Giant contract must profit Yellowknives Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, February 24, 2017
By including incentives to ensure indigenous involvement in the Giant Mine clean-up project, the federal government is hitting the right notes when it comes to recognizing the importance of including Tlicho and Yellowknives Dene.
The mine was one of the main pillars of the Yellowknife economy for decades but it was built without much consideration and benefit for the region's original inhabitants and land users. Today it is at least acknowledged that Yellowknife and its surrounding resources exist on the traditional territories of its first people.
In the early days of Giant, the arsenic by-product of the gold roasting process was belched completely untreated straight into the atmosphere out of a roaster stack.
According to a Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board document, approximately 7,300 kilograms of arsenic per day was released into the atmosphere, straight across the bay from Ndilo during the first year of mine production in 1948.
The 1951 death of a child in Ndilo after consuming arsenic-contaminated snow forced the mine to install emission scrubbers which eventually cut arsenic pollution to approximately 5,500 kg per day by 1954.
Improvements to emissions control continued. By 1978 arsenic emissions were approximately 30.5 kg per day but by then more than 24 million kilograms of arsenic had been emitted into the atmosphere and settled on the land and lakes in the vicinity.
The rest was collected and stored in underground vaults, 237,000 tonnes of it to be precise.
To be even more precise, that's 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide buried on the traditional territories of the Yellowknives Dene.
As then chief Fred Sangris said during a 1998 NWT Water Board hearing, "We were never consulted and we did not give our consent to have this mine built on our land."
The construction of the mine undertaken without the consent of the land's original inhabitants is something people today rightly acknowledge was wrong.
It won't be enough to merely include incentives for contractors to hire aboriginal businesses and workers.
Too often incentives in mining sector-related jobs is mere lip service that bears no appreciable aboriginal participation. TerraX Minerals, which hopes to revive Yellowknife's defunct gold-mining industry, complained to MLAs Wednesday about its difficulties recruiting aboriginal employees for its workforce.
The government must convince an already skeptical aboriginal community that participating in the cleanup of Giant Mine is something worthwhile.
The government should set up an office where Yellowknives Dene First Nation and interested members of the community can sign up, whether it be for subcontracting opportunities or employment.
A firehose of cash is about to be directed at Yellowknife thanks to this clean-up project.
It is incumbent on decision makers to ensure those who have suffered the most historical harm come away from this project with the most benefit, both in terms of rejuvenated land safe for future generations and financial and social benefits that flow to indigenous contractors, workers and their communities.
Parent pushback on cut classes inevitableDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, February 23, 2016
Educators in Fort Simpson recently announced a plan to cut up to one and a half Mondays of classes per month.
The cuts, which are being hailed as a pilot project, are part of a collective agreement between the GNWT and the Northwest Territories Teachers Association. That agreement allows schools to cut up to 100 hours of class time in favour of professional development.
The idea is that quality over quantity is what's needed for students in the territory.
At a meeting on Feb. 16, parents in Fort Simpson heard - some for the first time - that every school in the Deh Cho region had opted in for the project.
Most schools won't see the full 100 hours cut, according to Dehcho Divisional Education Council superintendent Terry Jaffray. In fact, some schools, such as Bompas Elementary School, will hardly see any instructional hours cut at all.
The cuts would also bring the Northwest Territories in line with the amount of hours taught elsewhere in Canada, say educators.
The logic behind the cuts is fairly cut and dried: students won't benefit from poor quality instructional time, even if they get more of it.
It's up to individual schools how the cuts will be rolled out, and how many hours each school will cut.
Some, like Bompas, will only see a handful of hours cut, while others may see more.
But the methodology behind the plan leaves plenty of valid questions for parents, who weren't consulted at any step along the way.
Chief among their concern is how educators can justify cutting hours when many of the students in the territory are already behind in their studies, and those who aren't still have a leap to make in order to reach the level of their peers further south.
Although consultation was not strictly necessary in order for educators to move forward with this plan, it is entirely understandable why the proposal is receiving such pushback from parents.
Despite the hours teachers currently put in, it must be incredibly frustrating for those parents to see cuts from a system that appears to have already failed their child.
It's worth mentioning that while Bompas students would only lose 11 hours of class-time when increased hours elsewhere in the week are factored in, the grim reality for parents is that there will still be an extra 10 days per school year when their children will be at home on Mondays when there is no class. For households with no stay-at-home parents this could be a tremendous hardship.
During last week's public meeting, Jaffray said educators don't need a buy-in from parents in order to move forward with their plan, although it would be nice to have parental support.
That's unfortunate because the insight of parents could be a valuable tool when looking at how to improve the education system.
Parents are also correct that fewer hours in the classroom will not necessarily guarantee better quality of education for students. That's largely dependent on the individual teacher.
Fort Simpson, without doubt, has some first-class educators. These are people who put in far above and beyond the required work in order to make learning fun and accessible for students.
But it would be naive to say that same drive applies to every teacher everywhere in the territory.
If parents could be assured the quality of their child's education would increase across the board, they may have an easier time swallowing a pretty bitter pill.
But such assurances are not possible. In lieu of that, the least educators can do is move forward with parental input every step of the way.
It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child. In the village of Fort Simpson, that means true collaboration between parents and educators. Both sides have insight into what's best for students in the community, and both sides need to be properly informed and consulted on decisions of this nature.
Good and bad a messy businessInuvik Drum - Thursday, February 23, 2016
When celebrating our country's history, should we include the bad parts too?
That subject came up twice in stories this week.
In my opinion, yes we should, but without losing sight of the triumphs of civilization.
There's a lot of Western guilt these days but no one has a clean history.
Today's society certainly didn't invent colonialism, murder or conquering weaker territories, and cultures elsewhere are not clean of human rights abuses or evil actions.
What we can be proud of is our ideals of freedom and justice.
Though there is no purity in the world and never will be, the West has blazed a moral trail in the modern age for human rights, women's liberation, rule of law, quality of life, free speech and democracy.
Even our ability to go on social media and chastise leaders of government is a power people of the past could not imagine.
At the core of what makes Western ideals so great is a fundamental belief in freedom.
That extends from the freedom to say as you please to the freedom to love whom you want, trade under your own terms, live how you desire and so much more.
With freedom comes the crushing responsibility that keeps humans productive, progressing and contributing. It is at once a controlling and liberating mix that has driven Western civilization so far forward.
It is through freedom that we find truth and improve.
Of course, society hasn't always acted in line with our ideals.
There is a lot for Canada to be ashamed of in its history. Its treatment of aboriginals in the 20th century was repugnant, along with putting thousands of Japanese into internment camps during the Second World War.
It can only be a good thing if our interpretation of Canadian history has a wider scope and incorporates both the good and bad. We're not better off deluding ourselves about the past, and nor are we better off self-flagellating about history's mistakes.
With a wider view, we can actually learn what went right and wrong and steer our future based on that knowledge.
Our same ideal of freedom should guide us in honestly and earnestly discussing our history and where to go from here.
To whitewash or smear it all would be doing ourselves a disservice.
A long path out of homelessnessYellowknifer - Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Felix Seiler is right. A crisis does indeed play out daily on Yellowknife's downtown streets, it has for years and Seiler can definitely be forgiven for his impatience on improvements.
Common sights downtown include street harassment, fighting, blood on the sidewalk, human excrement, liquor bottles, public fighting and people passed out in various locations.
This is why last year, the City of Yellowknife, territorial government, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, RCMP and several non-profit organizations released a comprehensive "road map" to combat these social ills. The plan is quite comprehensive, including the establishment of "community safety officers" who would act as bylaw officer/social worker hybrids, Housing First, extended shelter hours, a sobering centre and an alcohol management program.
All of these initiatives are at difference stages of implementation but work is being done. Yellowknife isn't going to see change overnight - it's important to stress this. But it will be interesting to see what downtown looks like after five years or so, if all of the plan's initiatives are functional by then.
One thing Yellowknifer is disappointed to learn, though, is that the RCMP has declined an offer to occupy a satellite office in Centre Square Mall. RCMP is an integral part of the homelessness action plan and specifically named as taking a lead role in recommendation #7 - the creation of street outreach services.
It would seem as though a police presence at Centre Square Mall would fall under this recommendation. It would definitely help deter harassment and abuse while providing outreach for vulnerable people who need it.
Centre Square Mall management offering this space for free is just gravy, so it's mind-boggling RCMP wouldn't jump at the opportunity.
It's a long road from where we are to the place we want to be, as a city. Many organizations are coming forward to help us get there, which is exciting. Yellowknifer encourages RCMP to show they are planning to provide help along this road as well.
Suboxone program simplifies recoveryYellowknifer - Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Prescription drug addiction is a specifically insidious problem because of the way it can blindside anyone.
The addiction can start with something as simple as a post-operative prescription for painkillers, or a teenager rifling through his or her parents' medicine cabinet. Wherever it begins, it can be extremely difficult for some to end the dependence.
Now that extremely dangerous fentanyl pills have made an explosive entrance onto the drug market, the territorial government is responding by getting serious about withdrawal management.
In December, the Department of Health and Social Services made Naxolone, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, available for free over the counter from pharmacies. Now, the department is considering expanding access to opioid maintenance therapy, which is basically a prescription to methadone or Suboxone, which helps manage addiction. Right now this program is available in Yellowknife but the territorial government is considering expanding it to communities across the territory.
When a person is experiencing addiction issues, they are vulnerable. It's important to make sure therapy is available to them as easily as possible.
According to Health and Social Services spokesperson Damien Healy, nurse practitioners, physicians, addiction counsellors and other health-care professionals can provide referrals to the program. The easier it is to access treatment, the better.
Time to lighten upEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, February 22, 2017
I have to come straight out of the gate on this one and admit I laughed, and rather heartily, when I read a Facebook post by a local RCMP officer describing the attempts of a very intoxicated male trying to break into the RCMP station in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.
Who knows where the poor guy thought he was, or if he came up with some sort of liquor-induced plan for regional dominance one cop station at a time, but being drunk enough to be trying to break into a cop station kind of leaves this poor soul off of Nunavut's criminal mastermind list.
The officer included absolutely no information in his post that could have revealed the identity of the man, and, in fact, asked that no one post any names on Facebook.
Well, to put it bluntly, all hell broke loose in the comments section over the post.
While there were more than a few posters who told some folks to lighten up, and others who simply stated they found it to be a funny story, many folks immediately reached for their poison quill and attacked the integrity of the officer on numerous levels.
Some called for his badge, and others threatened to take the post to the media or have it forwarded to his supervisor so he'd be disciplined for what they considered to be an extremely offensive post.
I'll leave my opinion out of this on the media outlets that grabbed the Facebook post, word for word, and presented it like a story.
Journalists and editors who lift things directly from Facebook and put them into their paper and/or online editions can make life difficult for the rest of us, and it adds fuel to the misconceived notion that writers, just like police officers, are never truly off-duty.
My only complaint in all my years of living in Rankin Inlet are the folks who can't tell the difference between referee Darrell, newspaper guy Darrell, and just plain old Darrell.
So, it's a subject I don't mind admitting being more than a little sensitive to.
I had a hard time understanding the viciousness of some of the comments thrown in the officer's direction, although I was not surprised at the use of mental health, stereotyping (even though the post gave no clue as to what colour the man's skin was), insensitivity and so on, and so on and so on, as the vehicles to carry their indignation and outrage over the post.
We are quickly becoming a nation of humourless victims; painfully oversensitive and serious at all times, just waiting for someone to offend our values or to make a mistake while trying to enunciate their own feelings or beliefs so we can humble them into silence with a steady stream of politically-correct jargon.
Some things are just plain funny.
Believe it or not, sometimes people are just trying to put a smile on your face with what they say or post, with no underlying messages, hidden agendas, political statements, or social statements involved whatsoever.
To many these days, that seems to be a terrifying concept.
And, of course, once the cat is out of the bag, we immediately have to deal with what type of cat it is, what types of cats it's speaking to, what other animals may be privy to the information and not understand how it relates to them, and who, exactly, is trying to exert their authority in an attempt to prove they are the alpha male of the neighbourhood, whether it's actually their neighbourhood or not.
It's enough to make your head ache!
It's time we learn to lighten up again and not be so easily offended by every little thing.
Sometimes, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is actually a duck, no more, no less.
Food for thought.
PM can't substitute substance with selfiesNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, February 20, 2017
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is politically astute enough to know that taking his lumps in public plays better on nightly newscasts than his predecessor's tightly scripted events where ordinary voters were kept well at bay.
Trudeau's national town hall tour has opened the lid on a well of public dissatisfaction, whether it be over skyrocketing hydro rates in Ontario, backtracking on electoral reform, or the prime minister's uncertain support for oil sands extraction in job-strapped Alberta.
But it also allows Trudeau to play to his strongest suit; as a man of the people bedecked in blue jeans and open collared shirts, among us, listening to our concerns. We must give credit to Trudeau for entering the lion's den so willingly. Stephen Harper would never have allowed himself to be exposed in such a manner.
Alas, Trudeau's town hall visit to Yellowknife confirmed some of our worst fears about him - that he doesn't particularly know much about the North, nor, as a politician, seem to place much importance on the people living here.
His North is the one his daddy used to visit in buckskins for canoe trips down the Nahanni River - majestic and beautiful but peopled with no one of significance.
Tuktoyaktuk mayor Darrel Nasogaluak, who undoubtedly appreciates the beauty of the land as much as anybody, knows which side of his bread is buttered and it's not by idealistic minds sipping lattes in Toronto.
Nasogaluak told the prime minister people in the region were upset with his unilateral decision to place a five-year ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, while reminding him of the importance Trudeau has placed on consulting aboriginal people on matters of interest.
Trudeau lamely answered about the "need to work together" on ensuring doors are opened to "economic opportunities" without identifying a single one.
Trudeau also drew chuckles from the crowd when he suggested there is no black market for alcohol in the North, part of his defence for legalizing marijuana.
He did offer his support for the construction of deep-water ports and an all-season highway to the diamond mines but the prime minister has given no indication to date that he is at all serious about funding such projects.
Love him or hate him, Harper took pains to emphasize the North in his vision for the country.
Under his leadership was born the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency which boasts of $222 million in investments for northern projects during his reign. His government contributed a further $200 million to build the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway that would have serviced the oil and gas industry Trudeau has killed.
Economic development, plus social development, were key planks in practically every Throne Speech delivered under Harper. Go to the section on Canada's North on the Liberal Party's website and you will find its commitment to increase the Northern Residents Tax Deduction by 33 per cent - no doubt much appreciated - and a $40 million increase over four years to Nutrition North, but pure bromides about economic development, which is kind of key to ensuring a strong and successful territory.
This is where the Liberals falter time and again with the North. Trudeau talks a good game and looks good doing it but doesn't appear ready to break from this mould any time soon.
Youth voices must be heardNunavut/News North - Monday, February 20, 2017
It was fitting to see a child eager to ask the first question at the town hall during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to Nunavut.
As evidenced elsewhere in our pages, youth are not only taking the lead in our communities but are also being encouraged to do so by hamlets, schools and community groups.
Take the example of Gjoa Haven junior Canadian Rangers doing the hard work of mapping out local travel routes. Or the Mamaqtuq Nanook Cooking Club, which gave children a chance to share their skills preparing food at Iqaluit's soup kitchen last month.
With a population now greater than Yukon, and more than half under 25, Nunavut needs to consider that youth need to be taken more seriously and given more agency in their futures.
The recent creation of the Cambridge Bay youth council - under the direction of the mayor - is one of the best recent examples of real power being put into the hands of youth in this territory. It's great to see the proceeds from this month's Kitikmeot Trade Show auction are going to help support youth programs in the region, with the bulk going to support Cambridge Bay's youth council.
More hamlets and the government should follow Cambridge Bay's example. Create youth councils with budgets to run programs they believe would make a difference. Send representatives as emissaries to share the concerns of local youth.
The territorial government's youth parliament holds the promise of such an idea but falls short as it is promoted more as a fun learning experience than a chance to have a say. Youth from across Nunavut come together in the capital for three days every other year to learn what legislators do. Considering the cost of bringing students from each constituency into Iqaluit, it would be a better investment to give these youth some real power.
The government is currently recruiting assistant deputy ministers through a Toronto recruitment firm.
Imagine if the government put the same effort into preparing young people for their inevitable roles as Nunavut's future leaders.
Imagine putting aside money for a student - paid part-time wages - in each consituency to make a long-term youth parliament that meets alongside Nunavut's legislative assembly.
Imagine legislation enacted by adult legislators as the direct result of engaging with those representing the other half of the territory's population.
It's wonderful to imagine and come up with ideas such as this. It's another to see the long-term value of listening to the concerns of our youth in a way that makes them believe their voices can and will be heard.
