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A three part series on suicide in Nunavut by
freelance journalist Jennifer Tilden:
TODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
YELLOWKNIFE - Finance Minister John Todd delivered what he called the toughest budget in the history of the Northwest Territories this week.
The budget outlines how the government plans to chop another $100 million in spending this year, lay off hundreds more employees, and by the end of the next fiscal year, have about $8.9 million of the $1.16 billion budget left over.
But some MLAs asked why the government must close down vital facilities like the Delta House addictions treatment centre in Inuvik while it boasts of a multi-million dollar surplus.
In interviews and in assembly debate, Todd stressed that it was a only a "projected" surplus, and people shouldn't make too much of it. The government can spend that much in three of four days, he said, or one bad fire season could eat up the surplus.
Any surplus will be used to pay down the government's
accumulated deficit that now stands at about $65 million. The
GNWT's deficit for 1996-97 alone is expected to be about $38.3
million.
Not on backs of employees
In an interview with reporters in the budget lock up before he made his budget address, Todd also said his surplus budget wasn't achieved solely by cutting wages and benefits for government employees.
"We didn't balance the budget on the backs of the employees," he said.
Part of the savings come from a major drop in capital spending. Last year, the GNWT spent $193,722 on capital projects. In 1997-98, the government will spend only $139,377 - the lowest capital budget in many years.
In 1994-95, the government spent more than $200 million on capital projects, and $191 million the year before that.
But Todd said that while slashing capital spending offers
"short-term relief," that can't continue without there being
some long-term implications.
Seeking new funding deal
Todd says his federal counterpart, Paul Martin, has now agreed to talks between federal and territorial finance department officials on changing the formula financing agreement that determines how much money the GNWT gets from Ottawa each year.
He says he hopes to convince Martin to establish a "floor" that will help protect NWT revenues if other provinces decide to slash their spending. Todd said that's why he hasn't signed the formula financing agreements from 1995-1999.
Todd said he thinks he was able to explain to Martin that the territorial government has taken "unprecedented" and "dramatic steps" to reduce government spending.
"My intent in the meeting was to try to get him to understand on
a one to one basis just how far we've gone. I'm comfortable that
he recognizes that we've made some dramatic steps and there's
not a heck of a lot more we can do," Todd told reporters.
Review health spending
The finance minister reiterated his explanation that the government had to make tough decisions because it was getting less money from Ottawa, and because costs in areas like health and social services are spiralling out of control - growing at a rate of about $40 million per year.
Instead of slashing those costly departments now, Todd said Health and Social Services Minister Kelvin Ng will chair a new
steering committee with the chairpersons from the Inuvik and Baffin health boards and the NWT Health Care Association.
That group will look at the current system, and try to figure out how to create two affordable health care systems for the new territories.
Todd said the government will continue selling assets they don't need, and continue with privatization initiatives.
The government will also keep trying to market the NWT as a good
place to invest because of its low corporate and personal tax
rates, and continue to welcome mining exploration and
development.
A tough sell
The finance minister says he's had a tough time trying to convince residents of the Northwest Territories that the government is doing the right thing, but he said he thinks more people now support his government's cost cutting measures.
Todd said he will try to convince people to "stay the course" and to follow its deficit fighting tack.
He said if the government hadn't put the brakes on its spending habits, the two territories could have been stuck with an accumulated debt of $300-400 million left to fight over.
"I'm not about to leave any large deficit for future generations," he told reporters.
But he admits the sales job hasn't been an easy one. He said of his more than 30 years living in the Arctic, the last was his toughest.
"I like being liked," Todd said.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsNunatsiaq News
YELLOWKNIFE - Here are the highlights from the GNWT's $1.15 billion dollar budget, unveiled this week in Yellowknife:
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Abandoned military buildings in the Northwest Territories known to contain old PCB-laden paint have been put up for auction by the Department of National Defence.
In so doing, the defence department may be in breach of federal environmental regulations for the safe storage and disposal of hazardous waste.
Eleven former Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line sites scattered across the Arctic were put up for sale by the Public Works Department two weeks ago.
Recent environmental studies show many of the buildings on the sites are covered in paint containing high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
"Basically we found that in areas where people were interested in preventing fire, you would often have PCBs added to paint," said Ken Reimer, a researcher with the Royal Roads Military College.
PCBs are a carcinogenic substance and a potential environmental hazard. Handling and disposal of materials containing PCB concentrations higher than 50 parts per million is strictly governed by regulations in Canada's Environmental Act.
Reimer's Environmental Sciences Group has been conducting extensive environmental tests of all DEW Line sites slated for clean-up since 1989. It was his group that confirmed the presence of the PCBs.
That discovery has brought clean-up of the buildings to a halt.
In addition to laying out in minute detail how PCBs must be stored, Canada's chlorobiphenyls regulations prohibit the sale of material containing PCBs.
Ed Collins, the head of environmental engineering at Environment Canada's office in Yellowknife, confirmed that Department of National Defence officials have requested exemptions from the legislation.
"We said, well, that's not an option, because we can't
voluntarily break the law," Collins said. "Unless the
legislation is changed, they're going to have to live up to what
the existing legislation says."
Removal too costly
One option for compliance with the legislation would require demolition of the buildings and their removal to an appropriate facility for hazardous waste. The nearest site is in Alberta.
"Now, National Defence's position is that it's physically impossible, that the DEW Line clean-up is dead in the water if they have to go to those costs," said Bruce Gillies, environmental manager with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the organization charged with administering the Inuit land-claim agreement.
"But I guess that, by their actions, we can see that they're not just sitting waiting for legislation to change."
Public Works has advertised for bids on 11 former DEW line sites in local newspapers.
No alternative method for decontaminating structures coated in PCB paint currently exists. Rob Martel, project manager for the DEW Line clean-up, said the Department of National Defence is working with Environment Canada to come up with ways to amend the law.
"The current plan was to landfill all material that was non-hazardous," said Martel. "Now with this PCB paint, our preferred method would be a secure landfill on site."
Up until the mid-1970s, PCBs were commonly added to paint because they enhanced resilience and increased resistance to fire. PCB paint was also used extensively as a marine coating on concrete surfaces, such as swimming pools.
The existence of PCBs in building materials across the country is thought to be widespread and not just concentrated in the North. The sale of the structures doesn't break any laws, Martel said, since the PCBs form an integral part of the buildings in question.
"We intend to do full disclosure of the contents," Martel said.
"I would point out that we're not looking for an exception to the law. We believe the law perhaps doesn't consider this fact. It's a problem for all Canadians demolishing houses that were painted before the mid-1960s."
Use of PCBs in Canada was banned in 1979.
Liability transfer
In the meantime, buyers of old DEW Line sites beware. Given full disclosure of the existence of the PCBs, new owners will likely assume full liablility for any potential environmental threat.
"We've been working with Environment Canada and Health Canada on this issue, and we do know if it's in an intact state, the PCBs do not come out of the paint and they don't leech out into the environment," Reimer said.
In other words, because they are locked in, the PCBs are considered inert - unless the building burns or someone eats the paint.
Reimer advised anyone thinking of taking the federal government up on its offer to give careful thought to any remodeling.
"The main thing is you would want to avoid a fire because the low temperature burning would release PCBs," Reimer said. "And also, PCBs at low temperatures will convert to dioxins."
Although the environmental assessments were thought to be complete when clean-up crews began working last year, Reimer says his team overlooked the fact that U.S. military personnel at the sites in the 1950s and 1960s would have likely used PCB paint.
They returned to the sites last summer to examine the extent of the PCB paint coverage. When contacted last week, Reimer said he was unaware that Public Works had proceeded with the sale of the buildings.
"I believe that what's happened is we've got a wheel that's turning independent of other activities," Reimer said. "In fact Public Works was asked to (sell the sites) some time ago."
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsANNETTE BOURGEOIS & DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Claims of unsafe environmental practices at the Nanisivik Mine have prompted the Qikiqtani Inuit Association to ask for a full review of its operation.
The QIA wants the NWT minister of resources, wildlife and economic development, Stephen Kakwi, to conduct a full investigation under the NWT Environmental Rights Act.
QIA Lands Manager Terry Audla said the request was made after two land-claims beneficiaries filed formal complaints with the association about high dust levels and contaminants spillage.
"The level of fear in the community is real," said Audla.
Mine manager John McConnell was surprised by the QIA action, given it comes just days after the association's first board meeting of the year held in nearby Arctic Bay.
"We toured the chief land officer and legal counsel around and I met with them, and certainly none of these concerns were ever brought up," said McConnell. So they kind of caught me blind-sided with this."
In particular the QIA cites complaints of tailings dust in wildlife habitat downwind of the zinc mine, and allegations that lead and zinc concentrates are released into the environment when ore is loaded onto ships.
"Zinc is how we make our money so it's obviously in our best interest to make sure an absolutely minimal amount of that gets lost," responded McConnell.
Some of the concerns stem from the mine's sewage system, the QIA said. QIA states that the filtration of the system hasn't been operating since the spring of 1995 and there's an overflow into a creek and eventually into Strathcona Sound.
The local sewage treatment plant is operated by the GNWT and McConnell said any shortcomings are the responsibility of the Department of Public Works.
As for claims that copper sulfate, xanate and lime are regularly spilled while unloading supplies, McConnell said some spillage is only normal.
"The material comes off in bags and certainly occasionally a bag gets broken but I can assure you they're all cleaned up immediately," McConnell said.
The QIA said the eyewitnesses who made the complaints wouldn't provide their names for fear of losing employment or potential for employment at the 22-year-old mine.
The mine, which opened in 1974, operates in a "gray area" of environmental rules, according to Audla. While he doesn't expect Nanisivik to operate under the comprehensive guidelines recently signed by BHP Diamonds in the NWT, he wants to see something done about current practices.
"We'd like to see terms and conditions the residents of Arctic Bay are comfortable with."
This is the first case QIA has launched under the act. The minister has 90 days to report on the progress of the investigation.
"We're hoping he conducts a full investigation to ensure everything is being done properly," said Audla.
Nanisivik applied to renew its water licence last September. QIA didn't make a formal presentation at that meeting about concerns it had heard in the Arctic Bay area because Audla said they weren't given enough notice.
"QIA felt the notice for the intervenors was lacking," he said. "We had to look into all the data available and we were given no more than a month's notice."
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsTODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT Jack Anawak says he would have been arrested before allowing police to evict a fourth Rankin Inlet family from their home last week.
"I was prepared to get arrested," Anawak said. "I was prepared
to take some drastic action but fortunately we did not have to
get to that stage"
Block the sheriff
Anawak and other Rankin Inlet residents say they would have tried to prevent a sheriff from serving an eviction notice to a family that were to be evicted last Thursday.
"We've decided that we will not tolerate it and block passage," said Marius Tungilik on Thursday morning, as he prepared to take part in the blockade.
"There may be some people arrested. One of them being Jack Anawak our MP," Tungilik said. "We have to put an end to this nonsense."
But Tungilik tipped off the housing corporation about the planned blockade, and meanwhile the hamlet of Rankin Inlet got involved and challenged the legality of the eviction notice.
Several Rankin Inlet residents fighting the evictions made a flurry of phone calls to media outlets, MLAs and bureaucrats in Yellowknife.
Later that day, Rankin Inlet's housing association backed away from serving the eviction notice and the blockade was called off. The association manages tenants on behalf of the NWT Housing Corporation.
But the threat of civil disobedience highlights how frustrated
many people in Rankin Inlet are with what they call the
"cultural insensitivity" of their government.
Debtors must pay up
Bill Gofton, the interim manager of the Rankin Inlet Housing Association, says that public housing tenants owe the association about $450,000 in back rents. There are also at least 50 people waiting to get into public housing units.
Gofton says the association tries to do everything it can before resorting to evictions. He says the evictions served last week had been in the works for about 18 months.
Some families had been ordered to vacate their units as early as last June but had refused.
"It's not something we take lightly. It's the very, very last step we take," Gofton said. "The policies we have are very compassionate and liberal."
But while the people fighting the evictions agree that debtors must pay up, they don't like the way the association is collecting its bad debts.
Earlier this month, Peter Kapuk, the hamlet's sheriff, quit his job and refused to serve eviction notices. Rankin Inlet Mayor John Hickes says the sheriff's children were being threatened.
"We don't need that kind of dissension in the community," Hickes
said.
No winter evictions
Hickes says his hamlet will be talking to Goo Arlooktoo, the minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, about the sudden rash of evictions.
For starters, he says the government shouldn't evict people in mid-winter.
"Not only is it inhumane it's dangerous," Hickes said, adding that most people no longer have experience living in a tent or snow house.
Hickes says there may be as many as 25 more families in Rankin Inlet who could soon face eviction, and many more in other Nunavut communities. The GNWT has to try to come up with a better process for dealing with people not paying their rents, he says.
Anawak suggests that the government should not evict any families between November and May.
"If they have it in Ontario, then surely it is much more needed in the Northwest Territories," Anawak said.
Anawak says the government should also spend more time educating people about what can happen if they don't pay rent, and how they should respond to a court action.
Anawak said a fourth family threatened with evictions had been paying $744 a month in rent since Feb. 1996. The eviction order was issued because they weren't paying down the $6,000 in rental arrears they owed.
"Common sense should have prevailed," Anawak said, adding that one woman in the family is pregnant, and that she and her husband were going to have to move back in with her elderly parents if evicted.
A dance last Saturday in Rankin Inlet helped raise about $450 to help the evictees pay back their rental arrears, and another dance is planned for this weekend.
Gofton says he hasn't received any new directives from Yellowknife to change the association's eviction policies.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsTODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
YELLOWKNIFE Costly emergency response services aren't needed at Iqaluit's airport says a consultant's report prepared for the GNWT's transportation department.
The 37-page report, prepared by Avery, Cooper Consulting, says Transport Canada no longer requires the service, and that the government can save more than $376,000 a year by mothballing it.
Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco says he plans to fight the cuts, but admits the consultants did a thorough job studying the need for emergency response services at Iqaluit's airport.
Emergency response services fight fires, provide first aid, help people clear the aircraft site, and help evacuate passengers if there in a plane crash.
The ERS crews are also occasionally put on standby during normal landing and takeoffs, and respond to fuel spills, and do airport safety inspections. In 10 months in 1996, Iqaluit's ERS crews responded to about 70 calls.
Of those calls, 26 were for fuel spills, 21 for hot refueling,
11 were standbycalls, four for fire alarms, and three for crash,
accident, incident or medical calls.
Repairs and replacements
The report says if the territorial government wants to keep the service, it will have to spend about $23,000 in repairs to bring the two fire-fighting trucks up to standard.
The report also says one of the aging trucks will soon have to be replaced at an estimated cost of $600,000.
The consultants say the main reason airports create an ERS service is when it is required by Transport Canada. But since Iqaluit's airport only handles about one-tenth of one per cent of Canada's air traffic volume, it is not required to provide ERS services.
Airports that process at least 155,645 passengers per year need
the service, while Iqaluit's airport handles less than 90,000
passengers per year.
Costly insurance policy?
Picco says the airport may not have the traffic, but it has had enough mishaps in recent years such as last summer's CF-18 crash to warrant keeping the service as an insurance policy against any future disasters.
"The ERS is like fire insurance. You buy it, but you might never use it," Picco says.
But one study cited by the consultants found that the cost of that insurance might be as high as $8.6 million per fatality avoided.
A 1988 study of small airports, including Iqaluit's, concluded that over a 20-year period, ERS services only would have saved lives and property in three of 6,342 aviation accidents. The study estimated it would cost $8.6 million per fatality avoided.
That means that without ERS services, 1.5 lives might be lost for each 10 million passengers.
"When a nurse can be hired for less than $100,000, it can be concluded that funds may be better invested elsewhere," the report says.
The consultants also say that northern air carriers say they won't have a problem if ERS services are removed.
But Picco says he's hired another consultant to review the Avery, Cooper report, and he continues to lobby Jim Antoine, the GNWT's transport minister.
"It's very difficult to get an extra $400,000 for the Iqaluit airport, when we are closing down Delta House and closing other facilities," Picco said.
The emergency response services is made up of one fire chief, three firefighters and one firefighter trainee.
Back to TopTODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
YELLOWKNIFE The territorial government is trying to reach a deal with private-sector investors to build and own a new hospital in Iqaluit.
Ottawa agreed in 1987 to pay the GNWT $30 million for a new
hospital in the Baffin region.
GNWT spent Iqaluit hospital money
But GNWT finance department officials have confirmed the government has already spent about $9 million of that on general government operations.
Now, the Department of Health and Social Services, led by minister Kelvin Ng, is trying to see if private interests might build the new hospital and lease it back to government.
In the territorial budget released on Monday, $100,000 was set aside for the Iqaluit hospital project. That money will be used to figure out the type of facility that is needed.
The government anticipates that the cost of replacing the
hospital in future years will be about $44.5 million.
New investors?
Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco says he still hopes construction on the new hospital can start as early as 1998.
Picco also said this week that there may be more than one company willing to build and own the new hospital.
"There is another funding source that has come forward that may be more conducive to us in the Baffin," Picco said. "We are working on other financing."
Other investors interested in the project are based outside the Northwest Territories.
Back to TopTODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
YELLOWKNIFE John Todd took off his coat, gazed across the assembly floor and scolded MLAs for focusing on cuts in their ridings and missing the big picture.
Most averted his eyes and scribbled notes while the NWT's finance minister began the job of selling his budget to MLAs during committee meetings in the legislative assembly this week.
"We will be judged not now but in the future," Todd told them, saying that unless the cuts were made, Nunavut and the new western territory would inherit a huge debt.
The finance minister unveiled his budget Monday, but MLAs now have their chance to respond, and will then review it department by department and line by line.
Todd said he looked forward to a lively debate about the budget, not a litany of complaints about specific projects or jobs each MLA was losing in his or her riding.
"Frankly we haven't had that debate," Todd said. "It's not a
question of how many houses you're going to get or if you're
going to get a health centre."
Cuts distributed evenly?
Many MLAs have complained publicly and privately about the "fairness" in the budget, suggesting some ridings have taken the brunt of the $100 million in cuts while others have had it easier.
Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien is the lone MLA who has spoken out against the government's plan to keep fighting the deficit.
O'Brien said that now that other MLAs are starting to realize how hard this latest round of budget cuts will hurt their communities, he predicts they will be fighting tooth and nail to keep any jobs or capital projects in their ridings.
"All the money shouldn't be dumped into certain members' communities and the others get the dirty end of the stick," O'Brien said in an interview Monday.
He says his ridings of Baker Lake and Arviat were "on the lean end of the scale" in terms of new spending. "I don't think the equity was there for us."
And Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland says his community continues to be
one of the hardest hit.
Little opposition
Ordinary MLAs also reacted angrily this week to comments Todd made to reporters, saying he didn't expect too much opposition to his budget since all MLAs had a hand in drafting it.
"This budget and the previous budget was worked out with consensus," Todd said to reporters in the budget lock-up before he delivered his budget. "It is a budget that was developed in consultation with ordinary members."
Under the revamped committee structure, ordinary MLAs now have more say in how the government departments will spend their shrinking dollars.
But getting a sneak preview of a spending plan doesn't mean you agree with or accept everything in the budget, MLAs argued.
Committee's reaction
The chairman of the standing committee on government operations delivered his formal response to the budget on Tuesday.
Yellowknife North MLA Roy Erasmus said MLAs appreciated having a chance to shape the budget at the committee level, but pointed out several shortcomings in the process, including:
Won't play dead
Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco said he didn't like the suggestion that MLAs would go quietly into the night.
"I will not roll over and play dead when my community is being affected," Picco said in his reply to the budget address.
"I did not come here to rubber stamp everything that was put in front of me."
In an interview, Picco said he supported the government's deficit-fighting plan, and was pleased to see a projected surplus.
"If, at the end of this $100 million we cut this year already, and there was no surplus or something to show for your pain, I think people would be pretty upset," he said.
Picco says he plans to fight specific cuts for Iqaluit, but says his community fared better than some others.
"Overall for Iqaluit there is going to be more pain for us in quite a few instances, but a lot less than some other communities."
Back to Topby John Amagoalik
The baby boomers who were in their teens and early twenties during the 1960s are now in their forties and fifties. The generation that produced the Beatles is now entering grandparenthood. The generation that had long hair, bell bottoms, and psychedelic drugs is now a generation of lawyers, doctors, political leaders and business executives.
The 1960s cultural revolution changed the attitudes of society on such things as sex, race relations, and religion. It was an era when the environmental and peace movements were very strong. It was an era of enlightenment and awareness. The music of the Beatles and others who followed reflected these changes in society. It was an exciting time to be growing up in.
But in the 1970s, the hippies grew up. They got married, found jobs, and had children. They merged back into the mainstream of society. The issues they had involved themselves in were put on the backburner. They were now too busy making a living and establishing themselves as parents.
That generation is now poised to take the leadership of society. The hippies of the 1960s will soon be premiers, prime ministers and business tycoons. They now have conservative haircuts, three-piece suits and utility vehicles. They no longer stand out. They may not look too different from today's aging leadership, but they will come with a slightly different attitude and awareness.
All that stuff of the 1960s, which had such an impact on them, will influence how they lead. The protection of the environment and the pursuit of peace will have higher priorities. Their attitudes on gender issues will be more liberal. They will be more tolerant of other races and religions. They will be humming Beatles tunes as they contemplate world issues.
It will be interesting to see how the hippies lead the world for
the next 30 years. It will also be very interesting to see how
the Grunge generation has turned out 30 years from now.
This Corner Quotes
Back to Top"Upon their arrival, they founded a place for themselves in our ancestral homelands. How ridiculous it would be to "found" ourselves onto St. Malo, France or Plymouth, England. The locals would certainly not be amused, but worse, could simply ignore us, knowing their previous "foundedness" to be quite adequate."
Zebedee Nungak, on the pretentiousness of the English and French classifying only themselves, as "founding peoples" of Canada.
I am responding to the letter to the editor written by Steven Lenaghan called "North still a colony of Ottawa?"
I have never felt so insulted in my whole life, until I read Steven's editorial. Aaaah! I have never read any material that has killed my spirit. Ha ha, Gotcha there.
I hope to disappoint Steven and anyone else who would stoop so low as to try to insult my intelligence and maybe feed off of my possible reaction: anger. Well, for your information, I will still sleep in peace tonight and wake up in the morning knowing that I again will live to sleep another night in peace!
I can't understand why being "a colony of Ottawa" has to be bad for the Inuit. For several decades now, the Inuit have been citizens of Northwest Territories. How has this affected the Inuit?
Well, according to the statistics, a huge portion of the Inuit population have alcohol, drug, substance and family problems. Has anyone ever read or heard about a society that has been forced to remove themselves from their own lifestyle and assimilate themselves in a few decades to perfection?
Take a look at the Indians in southern Canada. For hundreds of years now, they have been pressured to assimilate to such an extent that the Mohawks had to barricade themselves from the outside world.
Also, the last time I visited one of their reservations, they had been denied access to gasoline. Now that is one fine example of what some societies will do to assimilate the minorities.
The government of Canada has obviously realized that the aboriginals will not be easily assimilated. So the federal government has no choice but to work with the Inuit.
Just because the Inuit have not easily adopted the European lifestyle and learned to deal with their illnesses, it does not mean that it has to be the same when they get their own territory.
However, there are two roads they can take, the good road or the other road that could lead to extinction. In my opinion, the Inuit are intelligent enough that they'll take the good road which will bring them a life of fulfillment.
The only one who could say that the Inuit will not live in a lifestyle with economic and political stability is God. Unless the federal government is planning to make the lives of Inuit one of despair, then one could say such a thing.
What's wrong with being under "the ultimate control of Ottawa?" Isn't the whole country under the ultimate control of Ottawa?
It dawned on me how Mr. Lenaghan could question why there were no Inuit seeking council seats in his time. For God's sake, one would have to have some sort of amnesia to not realize that such efforts may have been thought of as useless or a waste of time.
The Inuit in the Baffin region have only been citizens of Canada, that is in the eyes of the white man, for a few decades. Perhaps in the eyes of the Inuit back then, such attempts to create a government were useless.
For thousands of years before that, the Inuit had led a nomadic life, where the elder of the family had some powers over the family. So the concept of creating a government to have powers over more than one family may have been alien to them.
In my opinion, Mr. Lenaghan must be so damned self-centered to state that it was not his fault that no Inuk sought a council seat back then.
About the requirements for a candidacy in Nunavut, I would have to say that the federal government is doing itself a favor by requiring only Inuit candidates for council seats.
For a few decades now, the majority of non-aboriginals have dictated the lives of the Inuit and what has come out of it? Well, it has created many communities with alcohol, drug, substance, and family problems.
With the Inuit controlling their own council, they'll have nowhere to go but in the upward direction. Besides they'll be dictating the lives of the Inuit.
Also, what good does it do for the Inuit to have a system of government without external control? Is it even possible? Look at the Indians, they have been living sort of independently and has any good come out of it?
If so, then the Mohawks would not had to risk their lives to protect their own burial grounds. I hope the Inuit will have the same integrity and dignity as the Mohawks to protect their sacred grounds, that is if the time ever comes.
I hope all the sacred grounds of my ancestors are protected even today. I don't even know because the NTI has bragged about nothing but how federal government will give the new Nunavut government so much money for giving up our aboriginal title.
For God's sake, it's ironic that Mr. Lenaghan would ever have the courage to say that just because he and other white people are "white", it means that they're the only one's who could look after the Inuit.
Had he learned about the history of Canada, he would realize that he and none of the white people would be alive today to make such a comment, had it not been for my ancestors and the Indians. It would not be a democracy if the Inuit were not allowed to govern themselves.
Jason Takawgak
Ottawa, Ont.
There are many uncertainties surrounding Nunavut's future. But thanks to the GNWT, we may now rest assured about one of them.
Nunavut, whatever it may turn out to be after April 1, 1999, will be as full of drunks and drug addicts as it is today.
That's guaranteed by recent announcements made by the GNWT's Department of Health and Social Services.
And it's not the closure of Inuvik's Delta House treatment centre that the public should be worried about. Yes, everyone was talking about that last week which is understandable when a longstanding institution is axed.
Lost within the debate over the closure of Delta House is a far more serious problem. And that is a new way of paying for alcohol and drug treatment centres that the brainiacs within the GNWT's health department have recently devised.
Under it, treatment centres will lose what's called "core" funding an annual chunk of money that's used to pay everything from fuel and power bills to office expenses and staff salaries.
Instead, they'll move to what they're calling a "user pay" system. That means that for every client they treat, the treatment centre would get paid a certain chunk of money. Under this system, more clients equals more money.
And no clients equals no money.
The same gaggle of brainiacs have also given treatment centres a new job the job of promoting their facilities and attracting clients along with the vital funds those clients will bring.
This is a ridiculous idea, even for the GNWT. Ridiculous, because it virtually guarantees that Inuusiqsiurvik, Nunavut's only alcohol and drug treatment centre, will one day die of financial asphyxiation.
And that will happen because the GNWT is doing nothing to ensure that Inuusiqsiurvik and other treatment centres get the clients they'll need to bring in revenue.
"Clients," by the way, is the social service euphemism used to describe the drunks and drug addicts who go to treatment centres to get better.
In Iqaluit alone there are hundreds of people who need this kind of help, and in Nunavut there are thousands. The GNWT's own statistics demonstrate that.
So why are there empty beds in the NWT's treatment centres, as GNWT officials now say? Why does this absurd situation exist?
The GNWT would have you believe it's because treatment centres haven't been sufficiently entrepreneurial in promoting themselves.
But the reason, clearly, is the GNWT's own lack of support for those centres especially the kind of support that would result in the referral of more clients to treatment.
Where, for example, is the information that community alcohol counsellors, nurses, CHRs, social workers, doctors, RCMP members and others need to know in order to help make client referrals? And where is the support for the network of community alcohol-and-drug counsellors that was part of the GNWT's original plan for Inuusiqsiurvik?
And why is the GNWT not sending more of its own employees to treatment?
Kelvin Ng, the Cambridge Bay business man who's now masquerading as the NWT's minister of health and social services, appeared on CBC Northbeat last week in an attempt to pretend that he understands the consequences of his department's recent decisions.
But, naturally, he didn't even acknowledge the existence of those questions.
Instead, he used the interview to talk about a new idea called "mobile treatment" under which teams of fly-in, fly-out consultants would be paid to offer treatment in communities.
Though it's an idea that may turn out to have some merits, Ng didn't explain them. And he certainly didn't explain how the idea would save us money.
The Inuit of Nunavut are already many years behind most other aboriginal peoples in Canada in their awareness of drug and alcohol and addictions and how to deal with them. Even the western NWT is far ahead of Nunavut in that area.
Thanks to the GNWT, it looks as if Nunavut will stay that way for some time to come. JB
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January 31, 1997
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