Will revitalized fishery net profits?Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, March 20, 2017
At first, we weren't going to bite at the release of another GNWT strategy. Even if it was about revitalizing the NWT's commercial fishery, which isn't a natural resource that receives a lot of attention.
The territorial government has issued far too many reports, frameworks and strategies over the years that simply end up collecting dust.
Consider the NWT Agriculture Strategy, released shortly after the fisheries document. Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly told the legislative assembly March 9, the strategy - the territory's first, in the works since 2015 - lacks "any specific targets or goals, or actual resources to carry out any of this work."
O'Reilly said he had "hoped to see something like 'increase the value of agricultural production by 50 per cent in five years.'"
Now quantified goals such as that is something the smartly named Strategy for Revitalizing the Great Slave Lake Commercial Fishery certainly does contain. It aims to triple lake production and infuse $1.4 million to revitalize the fishery.
While it's exciting to hear in the agriculture strategy that there are approximately two million hectares of potential land that could be used for agriculture in the territory - especially in the floodplains of the Hay River, Liard and Mackenzie rivers - it's really more of a report than a plan.
Or as Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister Wally Schumann said, "We see it as an economic development agenda."
Now there is much more meat on the bone with the fishery strategy, also under Schumnann's purview.
"Now it's not talk," an excited Schumann told News/North's sister paper, The Hay River Hub ("High ambitions for fishery," March 1).
"Now we have something. We have an actual document that shows what we need to do. There's been a lot of work put into it."
The GNWT has committed $1.4 million to help revitalize the fishery, including the NWT Fishermen's Federation's Tu Cho Co-operative's plan to own and manage a new or rebuilt processing plant in Hay River.
The strategy, tabled in the assembly in late February, was developed by the GNWT in partnership with the NWT Fishermen's Federation. It aims to bring production back to historical levels by increasing production to 1.3 million unprocessed kilograms annually by 2021 from the 420,000 kilograms recorded in the summer of 2013.
The strategy envisions that 40 per cent of Great Slave Lake production will be targeted to the NWT market, either frozen or fresh fillets. And we applaud that goal, as the sharp increase in tourists to the North will have them looking for local delicacies on restaurant menus.
As the GNWT looks to support new types of businesses to cushion the economy from the boom and bust mining cycles, a modest fishery could certainly be a regional hit.
But the work isn't easy and attracting local people to the lake will be hard - especially since one of the strategy's goals is to revitalize the winter fishery.
It also hasn't helped that First Nations surrounding Great Slave Lake are angry as they claim the strategy was developed without "meaningful" prior consultation with them.
"This strategy was developed without meaningful prior consultation with the First Nations that are the rights holders with respect to the Great Slave Lake fisheries and therefore does not reflect First Nations' rights or interests," reads a statement signed by the chiefs of five First Nations and Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus.
We're not sure what "meaningful" consultation means but for some reason the GNWT failed to get the First Nations on side at the start.
Now it's time to mend some nets with them and get on with what could be a promising fisheries revival strategy.
Poor health care a fatal fact in NunavutNunavut/News North - Monday, March 20, 2017
Last week, the auditor general's office presented a damning report on Nunavut's health department, citing problems ranging from insufficient training to failures to protect staff from abusive workplaces.
For Health Minister George Hickes, "the report's recommendations did not come as a surprise."
While this may be true for Hickes and other department officials, we still have reason to be concerned about the problems in the system.
In the corrections system, complaints usually centre around inhumane conditions for inmates and staff. In other words, problems that can be fixed by throwing money at the situation to rebuild decrepit buildings, such as Baffin Correctional Centre. That money came through last month.
But Nunavut's health facilities themselves were not flagged as a concern - other than a shortage of office space and staff housing. Rather, the auditor's concerns almost exclusively focused on training, quality assurance, staff safety, human resource management and recruitment.
These are not easy fixes, although Hickes suggests the department has a plan.
That plan will need to include improving the way positions are filled. The process to fill a position in the department takes on average 18 months - starting with 222 days to decide the position needs to be filled, then 160 days to advertise the position, 21 days to process the request at Finance, and then 20 days to evaluate candidates. Imagine the number of bright minds who wanted to work on improving health for Nunavummiut but took other employment due to the long wait.
Perhaps the department is slow because it can't find housing. Or perhaps the staff have concerns about the safety of working at community health centres. There's no way for the department to know how safe they are, as it doesn't keep track of workplace safety incident reports, even when a patient assaults a nurse.
Pity those in important support positions in communities - X-ray technicians and clerk interpreters - for whom the department provides no base funding for orientation and training. We can't be surprised that X-rays taken don't help doctors outside the community to make a diagnosis, or that healthy people think they are going to die because an interpreter hasn't been told the correct word for a benign form of tumor.
And then there are the problem employees. Nunavut is an attractive place to work for those whose quality of care would not pass muster elsewhere in Canada. This problem penetrates deeper into the bureaucracy though, with officials accepting incompetency and unethical behaviour within their ranks.
The patient is not priority one, and outcomes prove this point. Compared to the rest of Canada, life expectancy is 10 years shorter, infant mortality is four times as high, smoking rates are three times as high, and there are six times as many suicides.
Regular MLAs have to start demanding action. Front-line workers need real supports and those who are complacent in their acceptance of these failures need to go. Nurses need their association to demand proper security and support staff training.
The department could empty its pockets throwing money at this problem. That's why Nunavut needs the federal government to recognize that Northern health care as it is presently funded and administered is an embarrassment for the country and a fatal fact for too many Nunavummiut.
Good time to seed city tourism growth Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 17, 2017
The City of Yellowknife is thinking big and into the future with its plan to develop a tourism marketing organization tasked with promoting the city.
A similar organization, NWT Tourism, is doing a fine job of promoting the territory in its Spectacular NWT campaign, and has increased tourist numbers to prove it. But it's not NWT Tourism's job to promote the capital specifically.
That's on Yellowknife itself.
The federal government, through the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor),could give the city approximately $560,000 toward developing a Yellowknife marketing agency.
The city plans to use this funding, with a top-up from city coffers, to seed a $700,000 two-year marketing agency and advertising campaign.
A permanent marketing agency would eventually be funded through a hotel tax administered by the city should the territorial government grant it the legislative power to levy one.
In 2014, visitors spent $98 million in Yellowknife.
This is an impressive number and puts the sub-million dollar cost of setting up a marketing agency into perspective. A five or 10 per cent increase in visitors could mean $5 million to $10 million in extra spending annually in the city.
Tourism dollars demand a diversified economy with opportunity for artists and purveyors of entertainment, dining and retail establishments. More spending by tourists means a more vibrant city for all Yellowknifers.
There is a lot on the line for Yellowknife. It's not enough to pin the city's future on mineral extraction, government jobs and government spending.
While it's premature to suggest Yellowknife has entered a "post-diamond economy," as Coun. Julian Morse did in December there is no doubt tourism will play a key part in maintaining future prosperity for the city.
Promoting Yellowknife through a dedicated marketing body is such a good idea the only concern should be whether or not the city is putting aside enough money at the start to give this program an honest chance of making a difference. This is not the time for a furtive half-measures.
It is rare that a proposal should have so little, if any, downside.
The city should pull out all stops in moving forward with this opportunity.
The real danger here is that the territorial government will rest on its heels when it comes to approving legislation to allow the city to introduce a hotel tax.
It would be a shame for the city to launch this campaign only to find out there's no way to fund it beyond its first two years.
Budget proves MLAs are listening Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 17, 2017
Despite loud criticism from two regular MLAs over the 2017 territorial budget, the other 16 voting members were happy enough with it to stamp their approval March 3.
There's no denying it was a rough road for this year's $1.7 billion operational spending budget, with several changes being made along the way.
Those include adding $5.5 million in top-ups to program funding, as well as Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod announcing another $4.8 million for home care, an anti-poverty fund, youth in crisis, freight costs for the fishing industry, the Mineral Incentive Program and the Community Access Program. He also promised to defer $669,000 in reductions to Aurora College funding after public backlash arose to the college's proposal to cut its teacher education and social work programs.
The two dissenting voices raised some good points. Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly said significant cuts to environment, education and economic diversification funding remain in place.
These cuts will lead some losses in jobs, programs and services. Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson called the retooled budget an improvement but pooh-poohed it nonetheless, saying the cuts went too deep and would impact smaller communities in particular.
No government budget is perfect. However, the last-minute and timely changes to this one show MLAs are paying attention to their constituents and doing the job they were voted to do by working to make changes where they think they will do the most good.
This is how democracy is supposed to work, with give and take from everyone involved in the process.
Don't dismiss wellness options out of handDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, March 16, 2016
Looking through the past 25 days MLAs have spent in the legislative assembly, it's easy to get riled up about one or two issues.
It was a tough assembly all around, and both Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson and Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli took their fair share of lumps.
For Thompson, those lumps came with the territory of being one of two MLAs to vote against the budget. But even more controversial was a proposal he put forward that public service employees receive five wellness days per year.
To support that idea, Thompson referenced an increasingly hostile work climate for employees due to layoffs and lack of job security as factors leading to added stress on employees.
The idea was met dubiously in the assembly, with Finance Minister Robert McLeod stating the GNWT is not looking to expand its leave provisions. McLeod also said the government will have wellness specialists research the topic of wellness days.
McLeod also noted the current round of negotiations with the Union of Northern Workers includes a proposed memorandum of understanding that the employer and union work together on recommendations for improving mental health in the workplace.
The existence of that memorandum is already a positive
step forward when it comes to mental wellness.
The specific notion of wellness days had a less generous reception outside the assembly, with people taking to social media to ridicule Thompson for his idea. But whether public sector employees deserve more days off is not really at issue here - rather, the question that should be addressed is how the GNWT can most effectively bolster the mental health services it provides to employees. Whether that comes in the form of extra days off or something else altogether remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, mental health is still not taken as seriously as it should be. It is still not seen as equally important to physical well being.
That's not a territorial issue. That's a nationwide issue, and it needs to be addressed everywhere. But there are certainly challenges unique to the North when it comes to mental health, especially when factoring in long periods of darkness and isolation.
In any case, Thompson got the ball rolling by opening up the conversation about employees' mental health needs. And as someone who worked for the GNWT for decades, Thompson likely has an intimate knowledge of what these employees need.
The memorandum of understanding McLeod alluded to is a great first step in the conversation about mental health. But it's all too easy to let something like that fall by the wayside during and after negotiations without actually addressing it properly.
Thompson is looking for real-world solutions to help people. Hopefully this is the start of a conversation that keeps moving forward.
Greenpeace's fear mongering is unfairInuvik Drum - Thursday, March 16, 2016
Inuvialuit harvesters should soon be able to market their sealskin products to the European Union, a goal the Inuit in Nunavut recently achieved.
The crash of the sealskin market worldwide was initially caused by fear mongering from Greenpeace and other organizations that painted the practice as barbaric and cruel.
Greenpeace has since apologized, long after leaving a trail of economic devastation, but their modus operandi today hasn't changed.
Greenpeace is more a rabid political group than innocent, pro-nature charity.
Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products Inc. sued Greenpeace last year after years of attacks on its forestry practices.
In its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Greenpeace admitted its attacks on Resolute "are without question non-verifiable statements of subjective opinion and at most non-actionable rhetorical hyperbole."
It's safe to assume that goes for many of the organization's campaigns.
These organizations get a lot of rope to smear industries they don't like. They tug at heart strings to pit good versus evil.
Their rhetoric centres on pitting faceless, ravaging Big Business over the innocent, life-giving environment. Or in the case of the seal hunt, the supposedly greedy and cruel human slaughtering the cute puppy-eyed seal.
The fact that human lives and economic sustainability are at stake doesn't matter. Those people can just get some other job, maybe building greenhouses.
These organizations jet set around the globe in planes, cars and boats to shake their fists at the very industries affording them that luxury.
Devastation abounds. Apocalypse is near. We must repent for our sins. It's pure environmental fear mongering.
Greenpeace slipped up going after a traditional indigenous practice. Best stick to the faceless corporate entities. They're harder to sympathize with.
Today, Greenpeace is still very active in the Arctic, now heavily involved in the Clyde River seismic drilling debate. They get a lot of play. It makes a good story: little hamlet vs. industrial giant.
Time, courts and history will decide which side of that debate has it right.
It's a win for the Inuvialuit to be on the path to getting their industry back.
The moral of the story is to be equally skeptical across the board. The world is made up of infinite shades of grey and actions have consequences.
The fact we all want a healthy environment and ecosystem is a given.
But the same skepticism shown to a corporation claiming its practices are environmentally friendly should be shown to the boy crying wolf repeatedly.
Where there's smoke ...Yellowknifer - Wednesday, March 15, 2017
One time is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. What do seven confirmed trucking incidents - four of them involving spontaneously burning vehicles since Feb. 20 suggest?
It suggests the Department of Transportation should be taking care to make sure trucking companies and drivers are following safety protocol on the territory's roads and highways.
In the legislative assembly March 6, Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne asked Transportation Minister Wally Schumann to find out why there have been so many mishaps lately.
Schumann told Vanthuyne he has met with officials from the Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto winter road joint venture, whose executives assured the minister they are having ongoing meetings with contractors to determine the problem.
The Department of Transportation has a mandate to make sure the territory's roads are safe. In its 2015 Road Safety Plan, the department states collisions involving commercial trucks are more likely to result in fatalities and serious injuries than those involving smaller vehicles.
The report also states there are publicized carrier safety ratings available to the general public, which is determined by evaluating a company's safety record in terms of collisions, convictions, inspections and facility audits. Yellowknifer is interested to see these ratings in light of recent events but as of press time the Department of Transportation has not said where they can be found. Luckily, nobody has been hurt after these incidents. But there is nothing guaranteeing the next accident or fire won't lead to extensive property damage, a trip to the hospital or death.
Schumann could certainly be more proactive than accepting a reassurance that commercial carriers are looking into these incidents.
In light of the fact there have been seven reported incidents, the Department of Transportation should at the very least do a review of commercial transportation over the past month to identify areas where drivers need to use more caution on the road.
Here's to five years of FOXYYellowknifer - Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Three years ago, now former Alberta judge Robin Camp looked down from his bench at a 17-year-old sexual assault complainant and asked why she couldn't just keep her "knees together."
This weird, retrograde attitude toward sexuality is unfortunately pervasive within the country's police and court system, so in light of the fact sometimes the grown ups just don't get it, it's important to teach youth about healthy relationships.
FOXY, or Fostering Open eXpression among Youth, does just this. The organization was borne of a need to teach the territory's young people about positive sexuality and healthy relationships.
Young women who take these workshops learn how to build relationships on a foundation of mutual respect, have a chance to ask anonymous questions in a non-judgmental atmosphere, get information about sexual health, and instill the concept of consent.
Last year, the organization expanded to include boys with SMASH (Strength, Masculinities, and Sexual Health), where young men are taught similar things. These groups have reached more than 1,800 youth across the North.
There is a definite need to teach youth how to approach difficult, embarrassing subjects -- such as sex -- with maturity, so they know their rights, how to articulate their boundaries and reduce risk when getting into relationships.
And hopefully when these FOXY and SMASH alumni go on to become teachers and judges themselves, they will help create a healthy world for tomorrow's youth.
Seeking answers and praying the bet is rightEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 15, 2017
I'll be the first to admit there are a fair number of occasions throughout the year when I feel like a human out of time.
I'm a dinosaur, if you will, during those occasions, wondering why I'm still intellectually roaming around when most of my breed has long gone extinct.
However, never being one intimidated by self-reflection or examination, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of the traits that qualify me for dinosaur status are actually quite positive.
Where I struggle is with my ability, or lack thereof, to comprehend much of what goes on in today's world.
I have long reached the point where I wish I could simply ignore most happenings or, much like headline scanners and quick-fact readers, only absorb the most basic points of information.
The world, or, at least, their inner sanctum, must be so much quieter and far less cluttered for those who can accept the pop philosophy of haters gonna hate and leave it at that.
No need to ponder the dark complexities of hate for hate's sake, hate for the sake of Christ, love and hate for the sake of Allah, or how anyone, with a single ounce of intelligence, can think hatred brings back anything but hatred.
Theirs is a world governed by the definitions of the Urban Dictionary, where every jock owns a ricer and spends most of their time online.
In today's world the concept of right and wrong has grown increasingly thin in substance, like too little butter spread over too much bread.
So, as well, have the veils of governance and leadership been stretched so thin, and rendered so ineffectual, that the darkness now hides easily within the light.
I still cling to my Christian beliefs, though I have also come to believe we are, indeed, shuffling willingly toward the end of days and, truth be told, I'm no longer as confident I put my money on the right entity, but, alas, no changing horses mid-rapture.
As Canadians, we were forced to lay our airs of moral superiority aside this past week with the news Senator Don Meredith (appointed by Stephen Harper) breached the Red Chambers ethics code by engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a young woman that started when she was but 16 years of age.
The Red Chamber's ethics code? How about every moral decency and ethical code that not only once used to exist but actually played a prominent role in our society and helped define who the people of trust were supposed to be?
You can pretty much rule out any fear of fire and brimstone on Meredith's part, considering he first met the teenager during a Black History Month event being held at an Ottawa-area church.
Our religious community should be morally outraged by Meredith's behaviour.
And it probably would be, if not for the inconvenient sexual allegations of priests being involved in sex orgies, pornography videos and prostitution in Italy at roughly the same time as Meredith was telling everyone in the Twitter universe what a lucky guy he was to have such a wonderful wife in his life.
I'd like to think I won't give any of this another minute's thought during the rest of my week, but I'd just be kidding myself.
The first order of business will be to pull my thick dinosaur hide on nice and tight, and try to shield myself, once again, from the doubts trying to push their way through after almost a lifetime of belief.
It's comforting to know the early years of my life – the formative years – were enjoyed in a simpler time and place, where the difference between right and wrong was far more definitive.
Abusers and racists will always affect me the same way too much pain in the world stung John Coffey in the movie The Green Mile; like pieces of glass in his head, all the time, and the absolute lack of a discernible endgame surrounding so much of the useless rhetoric and political correctness in today's world will always threaten to drive me a little bonkers.
Yet, the majority of us carry on and continue to believe, leaving the haters to their hate and the sinners to their sin and hoping, nay praying, we have it right.
