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Pipe dreams nightmare
Northwest Territories/News North - Monday, May 29, 2017

It's only a 2.5-kilometre length of pipe. It represents a minuscule amount of the approximately 50,000 kilometres of pipeline operated by Enbridge Pipelines Inc. across Canada and the United States.

But this section of Line 21 under the Mackenzie River near Fort Simpson - that for decades carried light crude oil from Norman Wells to the Alberta pipeline network - is being pulled in different directions by differing factions.

Is it about eliminating fossil fuels? Genuine concern over potential pollution? Or a chance to right a wrong and maybe see a cash settlement?

Whatever motivation that might exist for the Dehcho, this situation is a bit different than the usual pipeline flare-up - of the political nature - as the well-being of a neighboring Sahtu community is at stake.

In January, Imperial Oil suspended production at its oil field in the Norman Wells area due to the continued shutdown of Enbridge's Line 21. The pipeline was closed after the ground started to shift near the riverbank.

With the pipeline not operating, storage facilities in the community began filling up. The field produced about 11,000 barrels of oil per day in 2015. Imperial employs about 60 people in day-to-day operations in the community.

Enbridge applied in March to replace a 2.5-kilometre section of the Line 21 pipeline by horizontally drilling under the Mackenzie River about nine kilometres east of the village at an estimated cost of $53 million.

Enbridge also applied to abandon in place a section of pipeline under the river it is replacing. Enbridge hoped to begin construction this summer and conclude by fall.

Premier Bob McLeod in a May 16, said the GNWT viewed the replacement as a "maintenance effort" and would not normally refer it for environmental assessment.

"We certainly differ in that," Liidlii Kue First Nation Chief Gerry Antoine said about McLeod's 'maintenance' statement.

He is also at odds with the mayor of Norman Wells, who desperately needs the oil to start flowing again.

Alas, no decision will likely come until well after August when the National Energy Board will hold a hearing, which could last a week.

In a project this size, a hearing normally isn't required, however the board decided it would be in the public interest to hold one.

Dehcho First Nations, the regional aboriginal government, Imperial Oil, Liidlii Kue First Nation and Sambaa K'e First Nation will be intervenors at the hearing, which means they can submit written evidence, ask questions at the hearing, submit and respond to motions and make final arguments.

The board will have until Aug. 18, 2018 to make a decision.

A May 15 news release from the Council of Canadians states 80 per cent of Line 21 crosses unceded Dehcho territory, "and Liidlii Kue never consented to the construction of the original pipeline in the '80s."

So is it about protecting the environment? Or perhaps is it about finding some way to make some profit from Enbridge?

In any case, it's a pretty raw deal for the Sahtu people in and around Norman Wells. Sure, the fields are coming to the end of their productive lives but there are still a few good years left in the ground. And what if oil prices start to rebound in the next year? That would have had Imperial eagerly sucking oil from Norman Wells and sending it south - except there won't be a pipeline.

This is an unusual situation that is pitting NWT communities against each other.

Had the Dehcho First Nations been properly involved in the development and the profits from the pipeline in the first place, all parties would have an interest in getting the pipeline operational as soon as possible.


TB victims deserve a speedy response
Nunavut/News North - Monday, May 29, 2017

Over the past two weeks, you've read in these pages the stories of Nunavut families travelling to Ontario and Manitoba to find loved ones lost after being taken south for tuberculosis treatment in the mid-20th century.

Of all the colonial atrocities against Inuit, one of the hardest to reconcile is the effective discarding of tuberculosis victims in unmarked or undocumented graves.

Nanilavut is a working group that is creating a database to help families discover where their loved ones are buried. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed told a media outlet last year that the federal government has a database for those who want help finding their loved ones but no money to help people travel south to find the graves and pay their respects.

During his February visit to Iqaluit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to healing these wounds.

But action is too little, and could come too late for many families. Many elders who witnessed the removals in the 1940s, '50s and '60s may never see closure if it doesn't come soon. For their families, this family history risks extinction as the affected generation passes. And in Nunavut, one family's history is often the community, the region, and the territory's history.

It's about time the federal government put a serious effort into helping bring closure to the pain Inuit experienced.

Step one is to make its database public, and make it useful.

Or perhaps it's time for the government to give the information to a different caretaker, as the feds have shown from the start and over the past 70 years they are not interested in this reconciliation work.

We publish Project Naming photos to identify the people recorded in history only as an Inuk. TB victims could be linked with their E- or W-numbers and their gravesites using a similar crowdsourcing application.

But attaching names to graves is not enough. The federal government needs to set aside funds to either fly south any families that find graves, or to repatriate the remains of the victims.

Reuniting TB victims with their families is an important act of reconciliation. And frankly, it requires a relatively small investment. But each day that the federal government takes to find a solution is another day family members have to wait.

For the many who will go their own graves not finding the graves of their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and others, it will be one day too late.


Visitors centre needs proper funding to succeed
Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, May 26, 2017
Last week, things went from bad to unemployed for workers at the not-for-profit Northern Frontier Visitors Association.

If you've been following Yellowknifer's ongoing coverage, you know association's visitors centre shuttered earlier this month due to structural issues with the building. Years of frost heave have rendered it unsafe to occupy.

There has been a lot of soul-searching in recent weeks as the visitors association, the territorial government and the city figure out how to replace the tourist-welcoming centre months after reporting a whopping 50,000 people had come through its doors in 2016 -- mainly aurora tourism visitors from Asia.

In this respect, the visitors centre is a success story. Alas, it is teetering over a swamp - both figuratively and literally - and its governing association faces the prospect for the foreseeable future of greeting tourists from a kiosk at the museum with no ability to generate revenue through rent and selling merchandise.

The visitors association received $161,000 from the GNWT and $86,723 from the city last year but its primary revenue comes from merchandise and renting office space in the visitors centre - $1.09 million. Now that money is gone and up to $5.25 million will be needed to build a new building.

This speaks to the most critical problem the visitors association faces aside from losing its building- namely that it is at the mercy of an uncertain revenue stream.

For some reason, the city and GNWT decided it only needed to top up funding for the city's primary tourism promoter and leave it to the association to do all the heavy lifting. This was a huge mistake. The visitors association has been set up to fail at a time of exponential growth for tourism.

The problem should be obvious now that the city's tourism needs are being handled by a makeshift greeting desk at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre.

And as far as constructing a new building is concerned, the visitors association is clearly in no position to take on the task itself. This must be a project by government and time cannot be wasted dithering about who will fund it and when. It is critical that plans be developed for a new visitor's centre immediately. The question then becomes, what next? With no disrespect to the hard and valuable work performed by the visitors association over the years, recent events causes one to wonder whether it is appropriate to leave a non-profit in charge of promoting the city.

Board members come and go and none are immune to the frustrations that come with trying to keep a non-profit afloat.

When Kyle Thomas, the visitors association's president, admitted "he was at the end of his rope" trying to navigate solutions with city and territorial government representatives after endless board meetings, not a lot of imagination is required to understand what he is talking about.

If the government won't provide adequate funding, the best solution may be to bounce the ball firmly back into the government's court. Therefore, the pressure is on the politicians who are elected - and get paid - to make big decisions and not on volunteer board members trying to dig their way out of a multi-million dollar mess.


Forging a new energy identity
Inuvik Drum - Thursday, May 25, 2017

It was surprising to hear that finding interest for the Arctic Energy and Emerging Technologies conference and tradeshow has not been too much of a challenge for Vicky Gregoire-Tremblay, the town's economic and tourism manager.

In fact, people were coming to her before she could reach out to them, eager to be part of the show and get involved in the region's energy future.

There's no current booming alternative energy industry in Inuvik for the show to centre itself on in the way the old Inuvik Petroleum Show focused on oil and gas.

Money isn't flowing in the area in renewable technologies, at least compared to the oil and gas boom.

But what it does highlight is the power of shifting public opinion.

The Arctic has emerged as something of a mascot and recurring personality in the shift from oil and gas to new technologies.

In a similar way to the Arctic being used as an example of the ills of climate change, many people look longingly to it as a possible banner bearer in new ways going forward.

Though anyone declaring the death of oil is speaking far too prematurely, the wave of public support and investment money opening up for new energy sources is equally undeniable.

People want to make it work, and humans have the ability of almost willing their demands into existence.

Of course, the main challenge of the Arctic isn't going away: the lack of infrastructure and harsh environment, combined with low population, make many large-scale projects untenable.

With hope, Inuvik can reimagine itself and become an economic hub again.

The south can keep the north's traditions alive

The idea of hunting whales by qayaq is a childhood dream for many.

It's hard to imagine a more intimate and wild experience than taking down a sea monster with nothing but a qayaq and sharp spears. Guns help in the modern age, but the idea is the same.

Kevin Floyd and the Inuvik Qayaq Club are trying to keep that tradition alive, or at least continue the interest and skills involved, if not the actual beluga hunting.

Floyd and Jennifer Lam will be down south this weekend at the Pacific Paddling Symposium, teaching some Inuvialuit qayaqing skills.

Perhaps one of the best ways to keep Northern traditions alive is through southerners, many of whom value and respect these ways of life highly and wish to find a connection with them.

Cultural tourism is a growing industry, and there are a lot of different ways to capitalize on that demand, including passing on traditional skills directly to non-indigenous people.

Cultural appropriation is the controversial phrase of the day, but spreading these traditions is cultural celebration more than anything, and Canadians have a high appetite for these experiences.


Embrace transparency
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Louis Sebert, the minister responsible for transparency, is very confident in the transparency of his government.

"I think the government is already pretty open," he told a GNWT employee - who complained to him of a general lack of information, rumours flying and MLAs having to read the newspaper to find out what is going on in government - during a public meeting about the creation of a new open-government policy.

"I'd say politicians in this jurisdiction are more open than anywhere else," Sebert went on to tell a member of the public who complained of having trouble securing meetings between politicians and clients of the Safe Harbour Day Shelter, where he works.

It seems the only thing Sebert, who is in the process of developing a new open-government policy, was willing to assert at this meeting is that things are already A-OK.

Looking past Sebert's suggestion that while creating a new transparency policy, nothing apparently needs to change, Yellowknifer is left wondering what evidence lies behind his assertions that the government is already transparent?

The people who shared their concerns with Sebert only echo what many MLAs have complained about before in the legislative assembly - cabinet shrouds its work in secrecy, leading to a proliferation of rumours and eventually the indignity of having to read about developments in the newspaper rather than simply being kept in the loop.

Yellowknifer can certainly sympathize with cabinet's instinct to protect information.

The stakes are high. If an elected official says the wrong thing or releases half-baked plans, the public can really push back at the possible cost of that cabinet minister's job.

That said, it's important to remember that when the public or media want information, they aren't necessarily searching for a smoking gun.

Most of the time people just want to know what's going on. The way it is now, newsworthy information inevitably gets leaked, meaning it probably isn't complete or in proper context, leading to misinformation and confusion.

The best way to mitigate this problem would be for Sebert to listen when regular MLAs, GNWT employees and members of the public are singing the same chorus - the government is not transparent enough.

Stop being so afraid of controversy and just open up a little bit.


Next winter is coming
Yellowknifer - Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Last winter, the Stanton Territorial Hospital lobby became a place of refuge for the city's vulnerable population.

There was no action plan, no strategic framework, no report with a list of recommendations.

Based on the simple direction of Colin Goodfellow, the hospital's then chief operating officer, the lobby simply opened.

This was a good decision made out of desperation, and it got vulnerable people through last winter during times when other alternatives were limited. Last week, the NWT Health and Social Services Authority announced it was suspending the lobby policy as of May 21.

It's probably safe to assume this is an indefinite suspension, considering the force behind its implementation is an executive who, for reasons that remain unclear, is no longer with the health authority.

Winter is going to come again and health officials should acknowledge this problem is not going to magically go away.

Hopefully, there will be other choices in place for people who need shelter, such as a sobering centre but either way the territory's leaders need to acknowledge homelessness in Yellowknife is a big problem and simple, innovative solutions like leaving the lobby open to people who need to keep warm at night could be the difference between life and death.


The magic of Pepper
Editorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, May 24, 2017

It was 50 years ago, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. Well, at least, it will be come June 1.

With the Kivalliq summer music festivals just around the corner, what better time to revisit the album that changed the face of popular music forever.

Released on June 1, 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth studio release by The Beatles and, arguably, represented their finest hour as studio musicians, transcending popular music and being accepted as art.

The album spent an astonishing 27 weeks atop the British charts and 15 weeks at No. 1 in the United States.

As regular readers of Kivalliq News realize, I am both a rock music and Beatles fanatic.

And while there are numerous groups deserving of fame and admiration, The Beatles have crossed so many generations with their music, which continues to sell astonishingly well in 2017 that to argue against the group being the best of all time by a country mile borders on foolhardiness, if not absolute madness.

One of the great things about The Beatles, is that no matter how much you love their music, and no matter how many books you read on the group, it is, without fail, comments from regular music lovers that continue to startle all these years later and eclipse everything ever written by critics, or placed on the liner notes of a Beatles album.

So it was for me two weeks ago, for possibly the hundredth or more time in my life, while chatting with a teacher friend of mine from the Kivalliq when he sent me a message concerning The Beatles that read, "Their body of work probably covers every emotion and experience of the human condition."

Just doesn't get any better that that!

The most avoided question among avid Beatles fans is to name their favourite Beatles album.

But Sgt. Pepper was a ground-breaker on so many different levels that there is sparsely a recording artist today that doesn't owe something to the album.

It has sold more than 32-million copies worldwide, and that number is going to get a significant bump later this month with the release of the remastered Pepper, as well as deluxe and super-deluxe versions of the album that contain a number of outtakes and song variations that have either never been heard before, or haven't been heard at this high a quality.

The Beatles used so many musical styles, and incorporated so many recording techniques onto the making of Pepper, that it is really quite mind boggling.

The album's play list is incredible, stretching from the -at the time -recording genius of Sgt. Pepper itself, to the every-man's voice of Ringo Starr bellowing out the hit, With A Little Help From My Friends, to Paul McCartney's overly dramatic, but unflinching, She's Leaving Home, to one of the best Harrisongs (George Harrison) of his career, Within You, Without You, to the John Lennon/Paul McCartney magnum opus, A Day In The Life, and, also, to Lennon's Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.

With that being said, another interesting side note to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is that although it already boasts an incredible lineup of songs, the first two songs the Beatles meant to put on the album never made it.

That's because The Beatles label, Parlophone, and their engineer, George Martin, were pressured into releasing a new Beatles single by the parent company, EMI.

Since the first two songs intended for Sgt. Pepper were almost completed, Martin convinced The Beatles to release Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane as a double A-side single.

In those days, songs released as singles were rarely, if ever, included on an album.

Martin is renowned for his work on Lennon's Strawberry Fields Forever, producing the magic splice that linked two takes of the song together. That is, two takes of the song recorded in different tempos and pitches.

But, then again, magic is what Sgt. Pepper is all about!

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