Bait thieves with kindnessInuvik Drum - Thursday, June 15, 2017
As remarkably friendly as the people of Inuvik are, no community is free of troublemakers.
The John Wayne Kiktorak Centre, Inuvik Community Greenhouse and Aurora College have all been victims of break-ins in recent weeks.
It's hard to pick out worse places for people to deliberately damage. You've got a shelter for people in need, a beloved community resource and an educational institution. Maybe the hospital would rank well as the next target - really take out the pillars of society.
Often, people who steal and cause such mischief are in a poor state themselves, whether in a dire situation financially or subject to morality-altering drugs and substances.
Stealing from the John Wayne Kiktorak Centre, a facility specifically for such people who need help, is a bizarre and seemingly incongruous move.
Then again, hypocrisy might not be a thought on the perpetrators' minds, more focused on any opportunity to steal what they can.
The crimes may not all be related, but there is a clear common denominator: mischief is attracted to goodness.
Therefore, perhaps we could construct the ultimate trap for these troublemakers and misfits like them.
It has to be more supportive than a food bank, more educational than a college and more comforting than a homeless shelter.
No doubt it should serve the elderly, the youth, the disadvantaged, those who just need a friend and anyone who would like a hug.
However we shape it, it must be a bastion of pure support and community betterment, existing solely to improve the lives of people in Inuvik with no possible debate about its intentions.
Then, we advertise this fact. We sing its praises in the media, the streets and the coffee shops. We create a fake building with a big, bright sign. Perhaps we call it The Inuvik House of Happiness, Love, Freedom and Prosperity.
And below that sign, we list our business hours, conveniently ending at 9 p.m. each night.
The goodness within will draw thieves like flies to honey.
Once the prey enter the house, the door automatically locks behind them, trapping them inside, while a spring mechanism in the floor launches them across the room so they cannot use new entries to make their escape.
We could leave this going for a good week or two to make sure we catch all of the troublemakers in town. A few buckets of river water left inside the building will ensure the captives do not die in the meantime.
Surveillance cameras could live-stream the would-be thieves' compromising situation, creating something of Inuvik's own Big Brother show.
When it seems like the flow of inmates has trickled to a halt, the RCMP simply barge in and arrest them all. Or we just leave them there and go about our lives.
In times like these, ingenuity is needed in dealing with those who wish to dim the bright lights of our community.
If it can entertain us at the same time, that's two birds with one stone.
Good question, Mr. O'Reilly!Yellowknifer - Wednesday, June 14, 2017
"I tried."
This is all Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly could say for his efforts after asking several times why the Public Utilities Board exists if the territorial government is going to tell it what to do anyway.
The issue came up June 5, during a Standing Committee on Economic Development meeting. Glen Abernethy, minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board (PUB), was taking questions about the board and O'Reilly seized the opportunity to ask the million-dollar question.
In fact, this is a question Yellowknifer has asked many times in the past. The Public Utilities Board exists to consider power-rate applications from Northland Utilities and the NWT Power Corporation, the two entities that provide power to all NWT communities. But power corp. is owned by the GNWT, the PUB is chaired by a group of GNWT deputy ministers and the PUB's decision-making capacities are driven by GNWT directives.
One recent directive is to limit all power-rate increases to an additional one-per-cent change annually.
If the PUB can only adjust power rates by one per cent annually, why even have a PUB at all?
Abernethy argued the PUB has the ability to interpret directives.
Yellowknifer is interested to know what other interpretations there are to a one-per-cent limit on rate increases, because it sure seems like a straightforward edict from this vantage point. To cut to the chase, Abernethy is simply toeing the status quo, and the status quo is a Public Utilities Board with very little independence or power.
In the absence of the PUB, the GNWT could streamline power-rate decisions and save money for more important things.
MLAs could take complaints from communities served by the power corp. as they no doubt already do, considering how often the cost of energy comes up in the legislative assembly.
O'Reilly is absolutely right to question the role of the PUB. It is clearly a redundant fixture and good on the Frame Lake MLA for recognizing this and challenging its existence.
Student cellphone ban a no-brainerYellowknifer - Wednesday, June 14, 2017
William McDonald Middle School's cellphone ban seems to be a popular proposal.
With 93 per cent of parents who responded to the school's survey on the issue in favour of it, the decision seems like a slam dunk.
As it is right now, Willie Mac students are allowed to use their cellphones during lunch and activity hour.
The ban, which would start in the upcoming school year, would relegate phones to student lockers from arrival at school until 3:20 p.m.
What possible downside to this could there be?
Cellphones are highly addictive devices for adults and youth alike.
Why should teachers be competing with Instagram and Snapchat for their students' attention? Parents can still get a hold of their children the old-fashioned way - by calling the front desk.
In fact, it's surprising more schools aren't doing this.
It's time for schools to put the hammer down on cellphones because there is no reason for students to be distracted by gifs when they should be learning geometry.
All Pepper was supposed to be, and more!Editorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, June 14, 2017
After what seemed like years (it was actually about six weeks) of waiting after pre-ordering my copy of the remixed 50th anniversary edition of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I opened my mailbox on June 5 to see a little white parcel card staring out at me.
Could it be? Dare I hope?
After handing over the card and waiting a few more hours (seconds), I knew as soon as our friendly post office worker came around the corner that Pepper had landed.
At exactly 4:49:45, I zoomed out of my office and was heading home to audio bliss when I realized I hadn't set the office alarm, or, for that matter, ensured the door was locked.
D'oh!!
After another 10 minutes of self-inflicted torture, I was finally home gazing apprehensively at my deluxe box edition (you never really doubted it, did you?). The packaging was immaculate and there were all sorts of little treasurers inside to grab my attention on another day.
You never really know what awaits with remixes, but I had faith in Giles Martin, son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin, and everything I had read on the remix up to that point was overwhelmingly positive.
But this is Pepper, an album I couldn't take the wildest guess at how many times I've listened to since its release. I know every song, every nuance and every riff upside-down, inside-out and all-around. So, really, how much better can it be?
My OPPO universal disk player gently welcomed Pepper inside, the laser spun and my Axiom M80 speakers sprang to life, and the music they produced was magnificent.
Martin did an incredible job pulling the stereo placement together. The sound was balanced, rich and full, if just a touch "loud." The lead vocals took centre stage and, for the first time, I heard the Beatles harmonies on Pepper wonderfully spread out, surrounding me in a way I'd never experienced before.
But, as each song danced past my ears and into my soul, I realized what was blowing my mind was the clarity the remix possessed. Paul McCartney's bass playing jumps at you from the speakers with a plucky, melodic weight that often demands your attention.
John Lennon's double-tracked vocals are pristine, and more soaked in emotion than ever on the new mix, with Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kyte being positively reborn in a swirling, cascading dance of hypnotic sound and captivating voice.
Martin has brought the drums a lot more forward in the mix, and everything from Ringo's high-hat swiping, to his light cymbal riding, and always incredible less-is-more fills and impeccably-timed rolls are so clear as to be almost downright vivid, at times.
Another thing Martin does with his remix is to place backing and secondary instruments smartly in the mix, where they add colour and warmth to the overall sound. They now help accent various parts of a track, rather than jar you with a shot of sound straight out of left field.
With Martin's new mix, their placement is subtle. He gets rid of, once and for all, the panned hard left or hard right placements that not only took away from the song they were supposed to help flush out, but were also one of the things that helped keep music purists on the outs with stereo sound for so many years, not to mention out of England for almost even longer.
I have always sworn by mono when it comes to the music of the Beatles, and I've never had a stereo mix come even remotely close to changing my mind, but this mix really stands out. Who knows? Maybe the clarity will becoming fatiguing after so many listens, but, for now, it's enlightening.
If you're a Beatles fan, or you just like the Sgt. Pepper album, it would be well worth your while to add Martin's remix to your collection. It's definitely a keeper.
Scheer's views on North unclearNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, June 12, 2017
It appears the freshly minted Conservative Party of Canada leader knows far more about cows than caribou.
In fact, Regina-Qu'Appelle MP Andrew Scheer didn't have much to say about the North, or its indigenous people in the run-up to the May 27 leadership convention.
It's actually quite impossible to determine the Tories' stand on the North, or really very much on its view on handling relations with Canada's First Nations people.
The last Conservative government passed the First Nations Transparency Act, which compelled the leadership of the more than 500 First Nations to have their financial statements published.
Scheer's policy page states the disclosure requirements of the First Nations Transparency Act must be enforced so that First Nations can once again hold their leaders to account. That's it. That's all News/North could find.
And that's sheer nonsense if that's the only policy the Conservatives are going to have when it comes to Canada's indigenous people and the North.
Sure, there isn't a very prominent Tory presence in the NWT - our political playbills usually feature Liberals or New Democrats - but the current crop of right wingers need to look beyond Ottawa and help us keep the true North strong and free.
While the last Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, was not without fault, Northern development appeared to be a priority for him.
For example, Harper made possible the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk highway, an all-season road that finally connects communities in the Beaufort Delta to the rest of Canada's road network.
Having that connection would be much better utilized if Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hadn't imposed a five-year ban on oil exploration and drilling.
In fact, that's another sign that many, many politicians in the south have no clue about the needs of people in the North.
Common wisdom holds that Scheer narrowly edged out Maxime Bernier as he was the safer pick. Scheer's support from grain farmers in the Prairies and the Quebec dairy industry is strong.
News/North may support Scheer's vow, if elected prime minister, to cancel the Liberals' carbon tax should the Liberals fail to offer up some mitigating measures that address our high cost of living - largely caused by our heavy reliance on diesel energy.
That tax could see prices skyrocket in the already expensive North.
Scheer also deserves kudos for a policy to reduce the cost of airfare in Canada. While it was likely written with southern Canada in mind, there would be intense lobbying from the North to get cheaper flights as well.
So we encourage Mr. Scheer to come up to the NWT for a visit. Not to just settle into a hotel meeting room in Yellowknife but to travel to some of the many communities and meet the people.
Get to know what life is like up here and develop some policies that will help us have better lives as we hold down the Northern fort for Canada.
Tiny blips on federal radarNunavut/News North - Monday, June 12, 2017
Last month, the Auditor General of Canada tabled a report stating that Transport Canada was neglecting remote Northern airports, and anyone who has visited their share of Nunavut airports would not be surprised by this fact.
Poor planning in the early days of Nunavut's communities means today we are stuck with Pangnirtung unable to handle planes large enough to fly in an emergency generator in the wake of the power plant fire. In Kimmirut, planes have to land on and launch off the side of a cliff in such a perilous way that the government calls it one of the most challenging airports in the country; there is no room for error. And as communities grow and infrastructure ages, risks increase each year.
The auditor general noted a great many Northern airports without proper runway lighting, and without the technology to help pilots know whether they are landing too high or too low.
The airports in Pangnirtung and Kimmirut are too short to accommodate large turboprop planes, and the runways can't be expanded. MLAs have been fighting for new airports in those communities for years.
In addition, hamlets with gravel strips - meaning all except Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet - limit the airlines' ability to bring in larger, more cost-effective planes, leaving smaller communities on the hook for higher travel and freight costs. As if getting by isn't hard enough in these hamlets.
Federal governments - past and present - have done nothing to improve the situation.
The feds have kept the annual pot of $38 million available for airport projects across Canada at the same level for the past 17 years. To put that figure in perspective, the new Iqaluit airport is costing an estimated $300 million.
The Nunavut government stated 2014 that it needed $463 million over 20 years to get the territory's airports up to standard.
That's almost the amount available for the entire country. All Nunavut can do with its budget is focus on fixing the highest risk airports and runways.
The federal government says Nunavut can tap into infrastructure funding apart from the airport fund. But that requires Nunavut to pitch in a significant share, typically 20 to 25 per cent.
The suggestion that Nunavut is to blame is a slap in the face when you consider the plurality of infrastructure needs in Nunavut. If the money is so easy to access, why is so little of it coming North? Nunavut has identified its infrastructure needs. It shouldn't be so hard for the feds to identify projects that it can back.
And yet our fly-in communities sit waiting for funding to secure the infrastructure that connects residents with the outside world.
The feds may say otherwise but the fact is these communities are simply not on Ottawa's radar.
Tourism cash cow needs to be fed Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, June 9, 2017
The irony of the NWT having both record-breaking tourism numbers and a capital city visitors association that feels it has no choice but to poach from the private sector to stay afloat appears lost on the city and territorial government.
The number of visitors seeking the Northern lights in the NWT nearly doubled in 2015-16, according to the GNWT. Tourists spent a whopping $40 million on aurora viewing alone during that 12-month period.
This bonanza capped another bumper year for tourism overall, with an 11 per cent rise in the number of tourists and a 14 per cent rise in their spending over the previous year.
The blight at the center of this rosy picture of a healthy, growing industry is the 'closed' sign taped to the door of the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre when it was shut down May 15 after the building was deemed unsafe to occupy.
After the closure and layoff of staff, things actually got worse for the visitors centre last week when a letter from a group of gallery owners accused the not-for-profit association that runs the centre of taking their customers away.
Clearly frustrated, the letter-writers pointed to the conflict of interest in an association running a competitive visitors gift shop at the same time it is supposed to be promoting tourism and local member businesses, including stores catering to tourists.
Given merchandising sales account for nearly two-thirds of the visitor centre's $1.09 million in revenue, it's hard to deny that the association put itself in direct competition with the members it serves.
But it's also hard to deny that the GNWT and city got into this ridiculous boom-bust position by underfunding the visitors association in the first place. Funding from the GNWT last year amounted to $161,000; $86,723 came from the city. Is it really a surprise that board members chose retail when no other options were on the table?
In a perfect world, the government would be fully funding the association but Yellowknifer will settle for a fair-ish world where it simply gives the association what it needs to service the increasing demand.
Surely, properly funding the visitors association is in the territory's best interests. We are staring the success of the tourism industry in the face and government stands to let it fail if it doesn't act now.
Learning the art of compromise Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, June 9, 2017
Nobody wins when bureaucrats hold onto rules that make no sense.
And it seems like NWT Brewing has suffered the brunt of this attitude as of late. For example, pub owners Fletcher and Miranda Stevens are saddled with a $1,500 cap on giving any donations or sponsorships in the territory.
But out-of-province companies are not burdened by these rules, which is why Labatt is able to sponsor the First Air Rec Hockey Tournament and Big Rock Brewing is allowed to sponsor Folk on the Rocks.
This loophole renders the original intent of this law totally moot and holds NWT Brewing back from contributing to the community. How crazy is that?
Also, minors aren't allowed into the brew pub, which serves brunch, lunch and dinner, because it is a liquor primary establishment.
The Stevens would like their brew pub to be a family-friendly establishment, and why not? Certainly people want to bring their children there to eat - the establishment does turn families away.
Other jurisdictions, such as B.C. and Ontario, have relaxed their liquor laws to allow minors on these premises during specific times during the day. There is no reason this rule wouldn't work here, too.
The territorial government needs to take a serious second look at some of its more draconian rules and reassess why they are needed. Unless there are safety issues, government shouldn't be inhibiting business, residents and the community, it should be helping them prosper.
