Columns

Thanks for the advice, interim commissioner says

Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak says the GNWT's recent action paper on making the transition to Nunavut contains a lot of good advice ­ but he doesn't consider it as marching orders.

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ A 44-page government report outlining a transition plan for the division of the territories is good advice, says Nunavut's Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak.

But that's all it is ­ advice.

"We're treating it as what it says ­ advice to the interim commissioner," Anawak said in an interview this week. "We'll pick out the parts that we think would be applicable to the creation of the government of Nunavut."

He says the report, tabled in the legislative assembly by Finance Minister John Todd last week, "provides some framework" for the establishment of the new territory.

"But we've got our owns plans to go forward on, following the lines of what was spelled out in Footprints Two," he says.

"There's nothing new from the tranisiton plan. A lot of this we were looking at doing anyway."

Computer systems needed for Nunavut

In one area, the report urges the interim commissioner to move quickly to enter into contracts with the western territory, or a private company, to provide some of the 60 information systems needed for the government to deliver its services.

These contracts, the report states, must be identified by next month in order to allow enough time to retain GNWT staff and incorporate a training plan for Nunavut employees to operate the systems.

"That's the GNWT putting their own timeline on something that we're doing," Anawak says. "We're not at that stage yet, but I would hope that if we're going to contract anything out, that that contracting out will be as short as possible in order to ensure Nunavut is operating on its own reasonably soon after April 1, 1999."

Anawak said his office has already submitted a proposal to deal with those various information systems to the three parties of the Nunavut political accord ­ the GNWT, DIAND, and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. ­ for approval.

"It's a good system proposal designed to maximize training and employment opportunities for Nunavut," Anawak says. "If we follow it, it should be fully operational by April 1, 1999.

He says essential government services, such as emergency health care and social assistance, will be in place for April 1, 1999, but some less-immediate services may have to wait until after division.

Contracting afterwards with Yellowknife

"In other areas that we may not have the time to put in place, we will probably have to look at contracting out ­ either with the GNWT privately or with some other government ­ for a period of time before taking it over."

Contracting back to the western government may be a necessary interim step to setting up the Nunavut government, but Anawak says that doesn't reflect a backslide in implementing a decentralized Nunavut government.

"I don't have any concerns the decentralization plans will be scrapped. We're doing the planning, not the GNWT."

Anawak discussed this with DIAND Minister Jane Stewart when she visited Iqaluit last month.

"The commitment is there to create a government of Nunavut, so I would hope that the commitment will be there to ensure the infrastructure programs go ahead as has been outlined."

Accessing funding from the federal government, Anawak says, hasn't been a problem.

"In terms of our budget, we don't have a problem accessing the funding we have, however we have not gotten to the point of trying to access the other funding, such as for the systems."

Igloos and tents for new employees?

And when it comes to concerns that the schedule for construction of office and residential buildings may be slow, possibly forcing some Nunavut employees to live and work in Yellowknife, Anawak has his own creative solution.

"We'll just have to build igloos in the winter and have tents in the summer for a little while," Anawak quipped.

Aboriginal hunters tell their stories: Climate change in Hudson Bay

A five-year study by the municipality of Sanikiluaq and the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee records Cree and Inuit observations of their environment change.

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ For as long as anyone can remember, winter has annually stranded the tiny Hudson Bay community of Sanikiluaq, enveloping the Belcher Islands west of Kuujuaraapik in a shifting, treacherous expanse of sea ice and open water.

In the days when the nearest Hudson's Bay Store was 150 kilometres away, deep sea currents made supply trips by dog-team across the moving pack ice especially arduous.

"It was freezing, but the ice never stopped moving," recalls Zachary Novalinga, who grew up on the islands in the 1950s.

But ice conditions have changed in recent years, according to Novalinga, co-author of a new study of the bay's ecology, Voices from the Bay.

Not only does ice form earlier each winter, it's interrupted by fewer and smaller polynyas ­ expanses of open water. In addition, the island has been fixed to the mainland in recent winters by a solid ice bridge.

These changes, in turn, have had devastating effects on the local eider duck population, since the birds depend on open water for food and warmth when temperatures plunge below minus-40 degrees.

"It can only take a few days to kill quite a few hundred ducks when it freezes," says Novalinga. "I think it's so cold, they can't fly anymore, [they're] hungry, and then they freeze to death."

Ice conditions changing

Ice formation is just one of seven aspects of the bay's ecology that Novalinga and fellow authors Miriam McDonald and Lucassie Arragutainaq examined in preparing the study.

The trio spent five years interviewing elders, hunters, fishers and trappers in 27 aboriginal communities around the bay.

"I think what we found in doing the study was that the traditional knowledge provides insight into the ecological relationships that are occuring, how things fit together, how they work together and how they're interconnected," said McDonald, co-ordinator of the research, which was jointly published by the Municipality of Sanikiluaq and the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.

Traditional Cree and Inuit knowledge of water currents, weather, animals, rivers and human health fill the book's 100-odd pages.

Voices from the Bay depicts a region undergoing considerable ecological change, written from the perspective of people who still rely directly on the land and the sea for their livelihood.

They note that fewer whales now visit the mouths of the Churchill and Nelson rivers, and report larger numbers in the Winisk and Severn rivers, where whitefish are abundant.

Inuit in the northwestern Hudson Bay communities of Whale Cole, Chesterfield Inlet, Arviat, Repulse bay and Coral Harbour wonder if there's a link between migrating caribou feeding close to mine tailings and a high rate of cancer deaths they've noticed among elders.

And Hudson Strait Inuit report an increase in the sun's intensity, an observation also made by Belcher Island hunters, who have begun sporting sunburns, "a phenomoneon considered very unusual," according to the study.

Changes in ice formation are attributed to a general weakening of sea currents observed in eastern Hudson Bay, possibly as the the result of hydroelectric development in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.

"By reducing the flow of water flowing into the basin from three of the major rivers systems, you could indeed be altering the way that the currents flow within the bay," McDonald says.

"It's worthy of consideration and should be investigated further."

Long-term traditional knowledge

Eastern James Bay Cree report a decline in fish and a shift in the migration routes of Canada and snow geese, which has in turn led to a change in coastal vegetation. They say the routes were originally disrupted by the construction of hydro-electric reservoirs in the James Bay region in the 1970s.

"The main migration is now through the mid-section of northern Quebec, and when they are heading south, they are avoiding coastal areas until they reach Moosonee, then they head west from there," says Novalinga.

In the birds' absence along the eastern shoreline, residents say that the eel grass marshes where the birds' use to feed has been gradually overtaken by trees.

"Snow geese, when they are feeding, they are actually uprooting roots along the shoreline," Novalinga says. "They are just like farmers."

Development within aboriginal communities has also apparently altered the habits of marine wildlife, the study suggests. Fewer beluga, for example, are seen in James Bay and along the eastern coast of Hudson bay, while more are seen in the offshore areas of eastern Hudson Bay.

"Animals like quiet areas and they're moving offshore where's there less boat activity, less noise," McDonald says.

McDonald says she hopes the report will find acceptance within the scientific community as a record of environmental change in the region and as a useful picture of conditions as they now stand.

But she acknowledges the study doesn't offer any easy explanations.

"There's many causes to a single event, and these are some of their insights into what they think the causes are," McDonald says.

"It's not a definitive work in terms of what the causes of these changes are. It's more reporting on the changes themselves."

Aimed primarily at various federal, provincial and territorial agencies that make decisions affecting the Hudson Bay ecosystem, McDonald says the study could be a starting point for discussions between aboriginal people and scientists who are trying to assess the effects of hydro-electric development, mining and logging in the region.

A family copes with fetal alcohol syndrome

Ignorant of the consequences, Jasper's birth mother drank during her pregnancy, leaving him with a learning disability that his adopted family must help him to overcome.

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ Nellie Peryouar sits in the audience listening intently as the Yellowknife pediatrician describes what happens to babies when mothers drink alcohol during pregnancy.

"In the first three months, the cells are dividing quickly and are especially sensitive to the alcohol," Dr. Nicole Chatel explains. "In the second three months the organs are developing, but there are more miscarriages.

"What we see when a mother drinks in the last three months is the cells that are supposed to be growing, don't grow. The energy is used up by having the alcohol there."

Throughout pregnancy, a baby's developing brain can suffer irreparable damage if it's exposed to booze.

It's all very familiar to Peryouar, sitting beside her 10-year-old adopted son, Jasper.

Chatel is talking about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects, the medical names given to physical and mental birth defects caused when mothers consume alcohol during their pregnancies.

She is also describing Jasper.

Mother never heard of FAS

"Everything she presented affected Jasper," Peryouar says during a conference in Iqaluit last week to raise awareness of FAS/E.

Sitting in a local restaurant, Peryouar remembers how Jasper entered her life.

A family friend had approached her and her husband to see if they would adopt her baby. She was only a few months pregnant at the time and she'd never heard of FAS, or that drinking during pregnancy could harm her baby,

"She didn't know then, until the birth," Peryouar said. "There was no information at all then."

Jasper was born small and with breathing problems. He spent more than three months in a Montreal hospital before coming home to Baker Lake, where Peryouar lives.

"Everything had become so mixed up ­ our excitement, our anxieties," Peryouar says. "I wasn't disappointed, but a little sad to hear how he was born."

In the first three years of Jasper's life he continued to have serious breathing problems and spent much of the time under the treatment of local nurses and medical specialists from the South.

Peryouar and her adult daughter cared for Jasper together.

Striking contrast

At the same time, another child, Gloria, adopted into the family six months after Jasper was born, grew healthy and robust.

"Each time the doctor and I looked at the (growth) charts, Jasper's chart was lower than other children's growth and weight for his age," Peryouar said.

Like most other children, Jasper loves chocolate, computers and TV. And like most other 10-year-olds, he's in Grade 5.

"I don't fail," he pipes in between sips of Coca Cola.

But it bothers him, sometimes, that he isn't growing, either physically or mentally, as quickly as other children his age. It used to be worse.

"He wouldn't understand other children because they pick up a lot more," his mother explains. "He needed to repeat things. We needed to repeat things."

Children need special support

Children with FAS/E have learning problems and generally a difficult time understanding the rules of society, according to Dr. Chatel, but she says it's important to focus on children's strengths.

"If these aren't supported right from the time they're small, they'll lose them," Chatel says.

It was that philosophy that led Peryouar to enroll her son in classes at school with his sister Gloria and, in consultation with his teachers, advance him through the grades.

"I write and draw," Jasper says. "I write in journals."

Peryouar's calm and gentle disposition belies her uncertainty about the future, though.

"I don't know for sure what will happen in the future for us...or for Jasper."

Pauktuutit: Spreading information about FAS

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ Understanding, preventing and coping with fetal alcohol syndrome was the focus of a four-day conference hosted by Pauktuutit in Iqaluit last week.

FAS, and fetal alcohol effects, is a combination of physical and mental birth defects that may develop when pregnant mothers drink alcohol during pregnancy.

"There's prevention and there's dealing with existing cases," said Andrejka Lokar, national substance abuse co-ordinator for Canada's national Inuit women's association.

In 1995, Pauktuutit formed a national working group to discuss what information Inuit communities need to understand and cope with FAS. Since then the group has been trying to educate Inuit women about the effects alcohol will have on their unborn children if they drink during pregnancy.

How to inform people

"There's sporadic information out there," Lokar said. "The information that does exist in the communities generally is patchy or inaccurate. This conference was a way of bringing FAS information to a wide range of people."

Daycare workers, health and social services workers, police officers, corrections workers, as well as birth mothers and foster mothers were among the 60-70 participants at the conference.

The message that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause irreparable harm to an unborn child, though more visible in recent years, is still one that many people haven't heard or understood, Lokar said.

"There was a fair amount of focus on how to reach pregnant women, how to get the word out," she said.

"One of the biggest things that's been happening is an interest in learning more and an acceptance of dealing with the issues. That's a huge leap because it's not the type of issue that's easy to deal with."

Canada has no national statistics on FAS/E, but it's estimated that one or two babies in every 1,000 born have some degree of birth defects caused by alcohol.

"The statistics that do exist are generally considered to be conservative figures," Lokar added.

FAS/E is not genetic and can't be inherited. That means women with FAS/E can give birth to healthy children. There is also no way to predict which babies will be harmed when mothers drink alcohol during pregnancy.

Hard to diagnose

In the North the problem is exacerbated by the high turnover in doctors and the lack of full-time pediatricians, which makes diagnosis for FAS/E children difficult. Most babies born in Nunavut need to travel south for diagnosis.

"It's access to that specialized medical information on site ­ pediatricians ­ to go out and diagnosis and deal with that in an in-depth way," Lokar noted as one hurdle.

She added discussions during the conference centered around how to cope with FAS/E when a diagnosis isn't readily clear or available.

The birth mothers and foster mothers who attended the conference helped shed light on how they cope living with children with FAS/E.

"That was something else," said Tuk Qatsiya, a national substance abuse co-ordinator with Pauktuutit. "I found them really brave and calm with what they're dealing with. I'm sure everyone was touched by them."

Improve community health

Lokar added coping with the problem and finding a solution lies in community health as a whole.

"I saw no signs of a national strategy and that wasn't the most important thing," she said. "The most important thing was that community members got some resources, got some ideas, to bring back to discuss in their communities on how they want to deal with this.

"There are issues related to drinking in general. There are issues related to support of pregnant women," she added. "It touches on so many issues."

Nav Can rate hikes: Not so bad after all?

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ Increases in cargo and passenger fares on northern air carriers won't be as high as first suggested by First Air several months ago, but the president of the corporation that owns the airline is still waving a red flag.

"Whether you are a northern resident, a small, non-profit organization, a larger government department, or a yet-to-be-born arm of the Nunavut bureaucracy, these increases will touch your daily lives and make life in the arctic region that much more difficult and costly," warns Makivik president Zebedee Nungak in a letter dated Sept. 29.

Nunagak sent the letter to more than 60 northern politicians and airline heads cautioning them against complacency in the face of higher air navigation fees charged by Nav Canada.

"When the annual inflation rate and wages are stable, this represents a considerable cost increase to all northerners," Nunagak said.

Nav Canada, a private corporation, paid Transport Canada $1.5 billion for the air navigation system in 1996. It plans to charge airline companies for the service, phasing in the first part of its fee structure next March, followed by a second round of increases in November, 1998.

Over the same period, the federal government will phase out its air passenger tax and the subsidy it currently provides to Nav Canada. By next November Nav Canada expects to have recovered the entire cost of the system through fees to users.

Several months ago, officials from Makivik-owned airlines First Air and Air Inuit, which services northern Quebec, warned that rates could jump 20 to 30 per cent because of Nav Canada's fees.

But that's a far cry from the figure Nav Canada's director of rates and revenues touted in Iqaluit last week. Arthur Andreassen told members of Iqaluit's chamber of commerce that the average increase to First Air's northern consumers will be about three per cent.

"What can I say about those percentages that were out there?" Andreassen said in an interview. "They certainly didn't come from Nav Canada. Looking at the whole northern operation of First Air, the net figure is in the order of three per cent."

After an outcry from northern airlines and businesses, Nav Canada revised its initial rate structure, exempting fees for flights in and out of many northern airports. The new fee structure was also delayed by several months.

A First Air representative was also in Iqaluit last week to address Iqaluit business people and outline its plan to deal with the fees. That plan includes increases in freight and passenger fares of less than ten per cent, less than one-third of what was predicted.

GNWT Transportation Minister Jim Antoine told MLAs that his office continues to lobby for a fairer rate structure for the North.

"The Nav Canada fees will have a greater impact on low traffic routes in the North than they will on high traffic routes in the South," Antoine told MLAs, adding Nav Canada fees are calculated on the carrying capacity of aircraft, not the number of passengers or amount of freight.

He added that Nav Canada "conceded that the effect on northern air routes had been an oversight."

"They also agreed to better consultations for the second phase of the implementation that begins November 1, 1998, and extends the fee structure to smaller aircraft."

Andreassen said Nav Canada consulted widely before coming up with its fee structure, but that those consultations will be widen for phase two discussion expected to begin this winter.

Mike Hine, president of the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce, said Andreassen cleared up some misunderstandings, but didn't offer any hope of exemptions for northern carriers.

Nav Canada's position is that it can't give "preferential treatment to the North," Hine said.

"It's not as large an impact as we thought, but any increase in freight rates has an impact."

Hine said the chamber would continue to push for lower rates for northern carriers.

MLAs say no to same-sex amendment

It may not be long before the GNWT faces a court challenge over its rejection of same-sex couples.

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ Legislators who voted down a motion to recognize homosexual couples in territorial family law abdicated their responsibility to protect all northerners equally, critics charged this week.

And at least one lobby group has vowed to support a court challenge of the GNWT legislation on grounds that it is unconstitutional.

"It's a disappointment, for sure," said Zoe Raemer, president of Out North, a Yellowknife-based gay rights organization.

"Given though, that we've had an opportunity to raise awareness around the issue with elected representatives and the public at large, hopefully it's a step along that road to getting the kind of legal protection that we're asking for."

A proposed amendment to Bill 3, the GNWT's new Family Law Act, would have extended the legal definition of spouse to include same-sex couples. This would have ensured that gays and lesbians in long-term relationships are entitled to the same consideration as heterosexual couples when they separate, including the right to apply for spousal support.

The motion, introduced by Yellowknife North MLA Roy Erasmus, was defeated in the Legislative Assembly last Friday by a vote of 10 to 5, with two abstentions.

Objections on moral grounds

Some MLAs, such as Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland, opposed the amendment on moral grounds.

"To me, the word spouse implies marriage, a husband and wife," said Roland, who alluded to homesexuality as an unnatural "lifestyle choice" in his speech on the floor of the legislative assembly.

"Without a mother and a father there would be no conception. There is no other way of doing things besides how we have been made. To accept anything less than that, would be saying that we disagree with the ultimate reality that life is based on procreation, man and woman, joined in unity."

That kind of talk drew the severest criticism from Out North's Raemer.

"The job of the government isn't to define what a family is, it's to encourage laws which protect all citizens equally," Raemer said.

"I think they've failed at that in this case, and therefore it's not just a setback for gays and lesbians, but for all citizens of the Northwest Territories."

Is civil law enough?

Nunakput MLA Vince Steen, who also voted against the amendment, compared same-sex relationships to business partnerships, whose disputes can be readily handled in civil court under existing laws.

"Because I feel there are avenues open for these people and I am talking about same gender partnerships, I believe that we are not interfering with their constitutional rights," Steen said.

Court challenge looming

Courts in other jurisdictions, however, have ruled that restricting the definition of spouse to heterosexual couples is, indeed, unconstitutional.

In a case known as M versus H, which is now before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court Appeal ruled that to restrict the obligation for spousal support to heterosexual couples, would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A final ruling in that case is expected early next year.

"I can't see why it would be any different here," said Raemer. "Knowing that full well, and still passing the legislation as is, is a blatant invitation to a court challenge, and you can count on the fact that we will be pursuing it."

In his own speech to the members, Roy Erasmus, also warned that by denying equal protection to same-sex couples, the GNWT would be in violation of the Constitution.

Erasmus supported the motion to recognize same-sex couples on a deeper personal level, too.

Discrimination?

"Being a native person I have lived with discrimination since I was a child," Erasmus told the legislative assembly, "and I have taught my children not to discriminate.

"I feel that it is my responsibility not to discriminate in the laws that I pass."

Raemer said Erasmus and other MLAs who supported the same-sex amendment ­ Yellowknife Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco, Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger and Yellowknife Center MLA Jake Ootes ­ deserve to be commended for their progressive thinking.

"They knew they had an opportunity to show leadership and foresight on an issue, not to have their legislative responsibility dictated to them by the courts," Raemer said.

For the Record: Holistic education hurting students?

After a recent trip to an education seminar in Washington, Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco reported to his fellow MLAs last week that American educators have found that educational fads like the "whole language theory" and "holistic" education are hurting students.

MR. PICCO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to give a report on a recent trip I took with you to Washington, D.C.

Our meetings ranged from Ambassador Chretien at the Canadian Embassy, to officials of the federal government, the National Governor's Association and the U.S. Education Associations.

The most striking similarity that I saw between our two countries is the attitude that the education system is failing some, mostly the poor and minorities, and that more results have to come from the money being spent.

This has resulted in the Clinton administration proposing voluntary national standardized tests ­ one for Grade 4 in English and another in Grade 8 in mathematics.

Holistic education failing?

Another similarity is the failure of the so called "holistic" form of education. This is where children are kept in their peer group. They are not failed, "X's" or red markers are not used on tests.

Mr. Speaker, this debate has been raised many times in the North and the pedagogy surrounding it needs to be looked at by the Government of the Northwest Territories, as several of the provinces are now doing.

The states are also having the same debate over phonetics and whole language. Adherents on both sides insist their way is right and can only see a classroom that fully embraces their teaching methods.

An official from the National Education Association pointed out the obvious in the situation. Since phonics are essential in teaching, reading and whole language is essential for writing and structure, both methods should be used in teaching in the classroom. This emotional debate over education, on both sides of the border, it appears that many missed the obvious solutions while fighting for their ideas.

Whole language a big controversy

The Americans introduced the whole language approach first in the New England states and then in California. Later on it came across the border and drifted into Canada, and now is widely used nationally and here in the North.

Now, as I explained, many states are revisiting this approach and to say that it is a controversial issue is surely an understatement.

Other delegates from Canada also had many of the same concerns with the holistic approach to education.

A disturbing difference between the U.S. and Canada involves teachers. From my understanding, there are no state or national unions for teachers. Each school board pays its teachers the wages it can afford and negotiate.

This means that poor, urban centres with a low tax base, offer lower wages, the richer, suburban areas end up getting the better quality teachers it would seem.

Some colleges and universities have set up summer orientation courses to further educate freshman and bring them up to speed in an effort to prepare them for university courses.

High school not working to prepare for university

There is even talk of freshmen using their first year of post-secondary education to upgrade their education enough to be able to handle a full university workload. Sounds familiar, Mr. Speaker.

Lastly, there was talk about the charter school system in the states. Charter schools are a relatively new type of public school, that is released from many of the regulations normally applied to public schools.

In return there is an increased accountability to ensure students achieve better results. Half the states have passed legislation authorizing the establishment of charter schools. Each charter school is treated like an independent school agency. They get their funding directly from the state. Many areas are looking at charter schools because they feel they will have more say in its operations and standards.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to end my report there. The information on these and other subjects will soon be available in the legislature's library. I found my time in Washington to be very informative and to be able to speak with people who are attempting to deal with many of the same concerns and problems we are, is both eye-opening and helpful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My Little Corner of Canada

The hockey season opens

The 1997-98 hockey season opened with the Vancouver Canucks playing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo, Japan. The tickets for one of those two games were going for about $250 each. The way things are going in terms of salaries for hockey players, it won't be long before ticket prices reach that level in North America.

Some early observations:

* The Montreal Canadiens should do better than last year. Under new coach Alain Vigneault, the Canadiens are a lot more relaxed and seem to have more confidence in their system. This confidence is due partly to the arrival of experienced goaltender Andy Moog.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs will struggle again this year. The Leafs are rebuilding (again) and unless players like Mats Sundin, Wendel Clark, and Felix Potvin have exceptional seasons, they will probably miss the playoffs again. Players to look forward to in the future include Sullivan and McCauley.

* The Ottawa Senators should be in the top half of the NHL this year and improve over last year. But being in a small market, the franchise is still very fragile and will need a winning season to solidify its fan base. Now that they have signed Daniel Alfredsson they may find it easier to make the playoffs.

* The Vancouver Canucks are not looking too bad early in the season. They have a nice mix of experience and potential in their line up. If Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny can prove that they are capable of raising their play up another notch, they should do well. Otherwise, they will come up short again.

* The Edmonton Oilers have one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in Curtis Joseph and have a bunch of players who may be reaching their playing peak this year or next. Many hockey analysts think that the Oilers are the best Canadien team. Their biggest problem is their owner Peter Pocklington.

* The Legion of Doom is looking pretty awesome. The addition of Danius Zubrus is going to make them even more exciting to watch. The Flyers will probably end up in the final again next spring. If Eric Lindros gained from the sweep by the Detroit Red Wings last year, the Flyers will be tough to bear this year.

* The Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings are still looking pretty good. They will have to get by the Colorado Avalanche if they want to repeat last year's march to the Stanley Cup.

The participation of NHL players in this winter's Olympic Games will add something special to the Games in Nagano, Japan. It should be a pretty good year for hockey.

I'll make my predictions for the Stanley Cup playoffs as usually in the first week of January.

Letters to the Editor

Canon Arreak clarifies position on sexual abuse and Inuit culture

After reading the Nunatsiaq News, Oct. 3 edition, I feel that I have to make some correction of what the paper has said. It was not what I intended to say.

The quotations are out of context from what I said. I hope it was my fault ­ that what I might have said wasn't clear enough.

Before I go into that, let me tell you how surprised I was to receive a call from Nunatsiaq News. I was even surprised to see what was in the paper, that said what I said, and even more surprised to see that there were already answers in your article about what I said, even before the papers came out to the public.

I didn't see what you wrote, until the paper came out to the public.

But first of all let me give you why I was in Kangirsuk. You said that, quote, "Arreak, an Anglican minister in Kuujjuaq and a long-time friend of Simigak's, gave evidence on Simigak's behalf at the sentencing hearing." To tell you the truth, that was not the reason why I went to Kangirsuk, I went there on behalf of the Bishop.

The Bishop was not able to come to Kangirsuk, so I was asked to go to Kangirsuk to represent the Bishop, because of the difficult time like this, and so that Iyetsiak will know that the Bishop still cares about him and his family, and the parish of Kangirsuk.

In the court hearing, I was asked who I am, my date of birth, my job, where I live, why I am here, and how long I have known him, and was he accepted by the people where he worked, in two places. That is the end of what I said. I did not say that he is innocent because of our culture, nor I did not say he was just trying to make them proud of their womanhood.

Comments about only one of four cases

Rather, he did tell me that in one incident, meaning one of cases he was charged with, he said that, what really happened was that he said playfully "you are coming to womanhood."

He said he touched her on top of the winter clothes on the leg, she was wearing wind pants and a parka, and that he did not intend to go further, he did not intend to do this for sexual purposes, and that he did not know about the Charter of Rights law then.

Because nobody ever explained to him what the law says about the protection of children and under age girls, to his culture he did not commit a crime, and never thought about the court case.

I don't know about the whole truth. In your case I was a long time friend of his, but I don't really know his private life. I cannot speak for him. I only can say what he told me personally. I know about him, but I don't really know him that closely.

I know that he is a kind and gentle and honest man and open, and usually does faithfully what he has to do.

Pressured to plead guilty

Furthermore, for several years the prosecutors could not agree with what Iyetsiak said. He told me that, last spring he was asked "why don't you plead guilty for all of them, that's the only way we can make a decision."

He was told, it's been too long to suffer, not only for himself, but for the whole family as well.

Non-English need help understanding the law

To me, that is not the right thing to do for an older person who does not understand English, and who does not understand what the law says about what pleading guilty means to the court. So, to me, some of the charges might be true, and some might not.

In that case the person who does not speak English should be helped to understand clearly before the hearing starts, that is the strong feeling I have for the people who don't speak English, not just for Iyetsiak.

Also to clarify the tradition. In our culture and traditional belief, you should not have sexual relations with children or wiht people too close in the family. That is also protected by law, and what the Bible teaches. Our traditional belief goes farther than that ­ you should not have sexual relations with the animals, nor the same sex, because if you do, you will cut your life because of it.

To clarify what I said about the Inuit traditional ways, there are two ways to touch a person, in Inuit traditional ways.

One is for sexual desire, or to try to persuade the partner. The other one is just to touch to be kind and understanding to other people, not intending sexual purposes.

That is what Iyetsiak says how one of the charges against him happened, and that is why he thought he had not committed a crime, just like shaking hands is not a crime.

That's why he thought he had not committed a crime, but if you have been wrongly treated and hurt in your early years, this also can be wrong treatment for you.

One of the things we should know about people is that to have anger and hate at the same time, not just for a moment, in the long run means you need help to heal your pain from the past, because the anger with hate, did not come from you, it came from the evil one, because he is full of anger and full of hate.

Newspapers should be careful

So, for the sake of public newspapers, I think we should be careful, not to make other people create anger and hate someone, rather we should tell the truth, nothing but the truth, not to change what the people say because we think.

To think that it will be creating more interest to the readers, I think that is a wrong motive.

I know that, there are some people who have been hurt, and even asking why did I say things like this in the paper, if you do, then talk to me personally, not via newspapers.

And your paper also talks about Iyetsiak's return to ministry right after having been in prison. That is not what I said. What I said was that he will be able to minister better to the people who have been through the same as he has been going through.

I hope we will remember in our prayers, the people who have been hurt, especially those who have been mistreated sexually, or abused, not to forget that the people who do these kinds of things need the most help and healing.

Doing it this way, we will be helping others to set them free from bondage. We will be able to do this, only through Christ, Paul says in Phillipians 4:13 ­ "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." also in John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Getting to know Christ is the key to the freedom, Paul also says in 2 Cor. 3:17 "....and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom." God bless us all.

Benjamin Arreak
St. Stephen's Anglican Church
Kuujjuaq, Quebec

Church practices zero tolerance

Along with most of your readers, I was very disturbed when I read the remarks attributed to Canon Benjamin Arreak of Kuujjuaq in your article relating to the recent sentencing of the Rev. Eyeetsiak Simigak for sexual abuse (Oct.3/97). I am deeply troubled about the hurt this report is causing those people, male as well as female, who are having to deal with abuse in their lives and are now wondering if the Anglican Church can help them come to healing and recover self-respect.

We cannot take back what was reported in Nunatsiaq News, but I want to clarify the position of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic. As Bishop I have already informed the clergy and lay-leaders of the diocese that Eyeetsiak Simigak is suspended for at least two years from his duties as clergy in Kangirksuk, P.Q., and the diocese. Such abuse as he is convicted of is not to be tolerated in any culture.

I have spoken with Canon Arreak about the report and he has written to the editor saying he was seriously misquoted. However, I wish to add that the Diocese of the Arctic has a stated policy of "zero toleration" in all matters of wrongful sexual action on the part of clergy or those engaged in lay ministry in the church. Such behaviour cannot be condoned.

J. Christopher R. Williams
Bishop of the Arctic

Editorials

Why the commissioner said no

Many Keewatin residents are surely disappointed that Commissioner Helen Maksagak finally said no to Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien's request for a public inquiry into the Keewatin Regional Health Board's recent activities.

They shouldn't, however, be surprised that Maksagak felt compelled to make that decision.

Had Maksagak said yes to O'Brien's request, she would have re-asserted executive powers that her predecessor, former commissioner John Parker, surrendered nearly two decades ago for the sake of encouraging the growth of so-called "responsible" government.

Such an assertion of the commissioner's power would have overturned nearly 20 years of constitutional development in the Northwest Territories ­ during which time the commissioner surrendered all executive power to the elected territorial cabinet.

So it's also likely that Maksagak could have precipitated an ugly constitutional crisis had she agreed to a public inquiry.

By the letter of the law, which in our case is still the Northwest Territories Act, the commissioner may still have the power to make executive decisions over the heads of the premier and other cabinet members.

But by convention ­ which in constitutional law is equal to, if not more powerful than what is written in statutes ­ the NWT commissioner does not likely have that power now. By convention, territorial commissioners are now supposed to fulfill the same functions as provincial lieutenant-governors or the Governor General of Canada.

To acknowledge her respect for those conventions, Maksagak, in a letter to O'Brien, said she made her decision after "consultation" with Premier Don Morin. That's a polite way of saying that Morin and his minions ordered her to decide against an inquiry.

Keewatin residents may have their suspicions about Morin's motives in doing this. But the unwritten rules that now govern the commissioner's relationship with the cabinet give him the right to dictate to the commissioner.

Maksagak took a long time to respond to O'Brien's request, which he made back in August.

It suggests that Maksagak took O'Brien's request seriously, and likely took the time to sift through the mounds of evidence in support of a public inquiry supplied by the Keewatin Inuit Association, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Union of Northern Workers, and others.

It also suggests that Maksagak may have thought seriously about granting a public inquiry.

That, in itself, speaks volumes about the depths to which the current territorial cabinet has sunk in the eyes of the public, and how close they may have come to destroying nearly 20 years' worth of constitutional evolution in northern territorial government.

Against human rights

On Friday, October 10, a majority of MLAs voted in favor of stupidity and against human rights.

It's not the first time MLAs have done this kind of thing and it's not likely to be the last. On this occasion, they voted against an amendment to one of the NWT's new family law bills that would have given recognition to long-term same-sex relationships in a section of the law dealing with the division of family property.

Here's who voted in favor of human rights: Yellowknife North MLA Roy Erasmus, Yellowknife Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco, Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger and Yellowknife Center MLA Jake Ootes.

Here's who voted in favor of stupidity and irrational prejudice: Municipal Affairs Minister Manitok Thompson, Transportation Minister Jim Antoine, Premier Don Morin, Finance Minister John Todd, Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo, Nunakput MLA Vince Steen, Natilikmeot MLA John Ningark, High Arctic MLA Levi Barnabas, Baffin Central MLA Tommy Enuaraq, and Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland.

And here's who abstained: Health Minister Kelvin Ng and North Slave MLA James Rabesca. Five other MLAs weren't at the sitting.

As for the paragons of morality and family values who voted against the amendment, here's some advice: Now that you don't have the Five Aces Poker Club to disport yourselves in anymore, perhaps you can spend your long lonely evenings in Yellowknife reading up on the Canadian Human Rights Act.

After that you can figure out where you'll find the money to settle all the lawsuits your government is going to lose.JB

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