|
Where's Nunavut? |
The Arctic on the Internet |
The America's First Peoples |
Nunatsiaq News Literacy Page |
Our Photo Gallery |
Claiming they'll get more done if the public isn't breathing down their necks, Nunavut leaders will meet Jan. 13-14 for a behind-closed doors meeting in Iqaluit.
ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Nunavut leaders will meet in Iqaluit next month but they're not inviting the public to join them or to listen to what they'll have to say to each other.
Instead they'll shelter themselves away from the inconvenient glare of public scrutiny for a two-day behind-closed-doors meeting to talk about progress towards creating Nunavut and dividing the Northwest Territories.
Indian Affairs Minister Jane Strewart, Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak, and NWT Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo will meet in Iqaluit Jan 13-14.
Public not welcome
But, unlike the previous leaders' summits held in Arviat and Cambridge Bay, the public isn't welcome.
"We've come to the point now where the GNWT, NTI and the feds have to sit down and have some real frank, heart-to-heart discussions," Arlooktoo said. "If every single word is being recorded, I know it's difficult for some to say what's really on their minds.
"It was difficult to get good discussion and good negotiations going in public because everybody was forced to take a position in public and stick to it," Arlooktoo said of the Cambridge Bay meeting last February. "Politicians being what politicians are, it's difficult to start going back on what you said earlier."
Kusugak agreed, saying he's hoping for a candid meeting.
Anawak must produce progress report
A key component of the two-day discussions will be a progress report presented by Nunavut's Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak.
"We've been asking for it for a number of months," Kusugak said about an update on the work of Anawak's office on the Nunavut Implementation Commission's Footprints 2 report.
"We're trying to get the interim commissioner's office to give us their first report and we want to have a good meeting with the interim commissioner," Kusugak added.
The January summit will be the first time Anawak will have met with the three leaders since accepting his appointment eight months ago.
In recent months, Anawak has been criticized for what's being perceived as lack of progress on implementings Footprints 2.
Anawak says, however, that the work is getting done.
He added he's had ongoing discussions with Stewart about any personnel assistance his office may need.
No extra "help" from Ottawa?
He's seconded one person to work in his human resources department, but has not hired anyone else from Indian affairs. He added Stewart has not appointed anyone to his office.
"If anyone's going to work in the interim commissioner's office, the interim commissioner has to do the hire," Anawak said, referring to the short appearance in his office of a senior bureaucrat from Ottawa this month.
Anawak's report to the leaders will include his plans for a revised justice system, government information systems and the hiring of Nunavut's first deputy ministers.
Amagoalik will chair meeting
NIC Chief Commissioner John Amagoalik will chair the meeting. That's a more central position than he played at February's Cambridge Bay meeting when the NIC was all but shut out of discussions when the GNWT played host.
"We still need to decide a couple of political items," Amagoalik said of the content of the meeting. "For instance, the number of MLAs and the timing of the first election."
Iqalungmiut will also be spared the flood of bureaucrats who generally accompany a leaders' summit.
"Officials won't be out in force as has been the case at meetings in Arviat and Cambridge Bay," Arlooktoo said of the scaled-down affair.
In fact, delegations from the three parties have been restricted to a maximum of four in an effort to cut down on rhetoric and accomplish more business.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsJose Kusugak says NTI's shadow cabinet wouldn't be necessary if Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak had followed his letters of instruction and set up an office in Yellowknife.
ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - If Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak were representing the interests of Nunavummiut in Yellowknife, Nunavut Tunngavik wouldn't have to set up a shadow cabinet, the organization's president told reporters last Thursday.
Jose Kusugak said Nunavut's interim commissioner, Jack Anawak, was asked to set up an office in Yellowknife in the letters of instruction presented to him when he accepted the position last April.
Eight months have passed since that appointment and Anawak still no visible presence in Yellowknife.
"The intent was to make sure interests for the Nunavut government were seen first-hand in Yellowknife," Kusugak said. "It has a lot to do with that not happening."
Kusugak called the press conference to release details about NTI's plans to monitor decisions being made by the GNWT's eight cabinet ministers.
Anawak has failed as a watch-dog
Because Anawak has failed to become Nunavut's watchdog, NTI board members announced they would establish their own watchdog group during their annual general meeting in Igloolik in October.
Kusugak cited the crisis situation in the Keewatin region, where residents are outraged by GNWT decisions concerning health care and fuel resupply, as catalysts.
But if Kusugak's tone this month in Iqaluit seems somewhat muted compared to his Igloolik presentation, it's because NTI's intent was "misrepresented," he said.
"People have been putting words in our mouths beyond what it was," Kusugak explained was part of the reaction to NTI's shadow cabinet plan. "We're not here to develop an army against unseen forces."
On the side of ordinary MLAs
NTI board members were both praised and criticized for what many call the first step towards party politics in territorial government, something Kusugak said is not the organization's intent.
"There is a difference between a watchdog group and an opposition party," Kusugak said. "We are on the side of the ordinary MLAs and we are aware of many positive steps they have taken."
Members of NTI's executive committee and the presidents of the three regional Inuit organizations will make up the seven-member shadow cabinet, which is expected to be up and running by late January. Each person will be assigned to a specific GNWT department.
NTI initially set aside $100,000 to pay for the plan. Some expenses can be absorbed into existing NTIU budgets, but hiring a researcher in Yellowknife and a co-ordinator could double that cost, Kusugak said.
"It's unfair of certain individuals to suggest this is a misuse of funds," Kusugak said, referring to GNWT cabinet ministers who spoke out against the initiative. "We will use what is necessary for it to work the best, otherwise the effort isn't going to do its intent."
Kusugak also answered critics who suggest the shadow cabinet is a trial run for Nunavut leaders who have an eye on winning a seat in the first government.
"We don't have another motive than to be a watchdog," he said. "There's not another objective to prepare ourselves to be MLAs."
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsWho's responsible for what
NTI's elected exective and the presidents of Nunavut's three regional Inuit associations will shadow GNWT cabinet ministers, acting as watchdogs on behalf of Nunavut Inuit:
Baffin South MLA Goo Arlooktoo is now the NWT's justice minister after two tumultuous years as head of the strife-ridden public works department.
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT After spending two years bucking and riding at the height of the storm, Baffin South MLA Goo Arlooktoo will now steer his political fortunes into quieter waters.
In a cabinet shuffle announced Dec. 5, Premier Don Morin announced that Arlooktoo will no longer be the NWT's minister of public works and services.
That job now goes to Jim Antoine, who will keep his responsibilities as transportation minister and minister responsible for aborginal affairs.
In place of public works, Arlooktoo will take on responsibility for the Department of Justice.
The former justice minister, Kitikmeot MLA Kelvin Ng, will hang on to his job as minister of health and social services, and will remain as the minister responsible for seniors and as the GNWT representative on the Ministerial Council on Social Policy Renewal.
In a GNWT press release, Morin claimed that "the government is accomplishing much of what it set out to do."
He also claimed that the cabinet shuffle is merely aimed at "rebalancing the ministerial workload."
"As part of the onging process of evaluating how we are doing, it is now time to do some fine-tuning," Morin asserted.
Rookie MLA got tough job
A rookie MLA who was first elected in the 1995 territorial election, Arlooktoo was thrust into the public works portfolio just as the new Don Morin-John Todd government was reeling from conflict-of-interest and corruption allegations that had arisen in the life of the previous government.
As the NWT's new public works minister, Arlooktoo walked straight into a firestorm of controversy that had arisen over a $90 million contract to resupply the eastern Arctic with fuel products, and a related contract to build a $16 tank farm and fuel redistribution system in Rankin Inlet.
Arlooktoo, the Baffin region's only cabinet minister, also had to to deal with an aggressive campaign by Nunavut Tunngavik aimed at enforcing the GNWT's compliance with Article 24 of the Nunavut land claim agreement.
More recently, Arlooktoo had the unwelcome task of dealing with another uproar in the Keewatin that was ignited by a GNWT proposal this summer to fast-track the direct resupply of fuel to the Keewatin before division.
On a November tour of three Keewatin communities, Arlooktoo was inundated with complaints, including accusations that as an Inuk cabinet minister, he was failing to represent Inuit interests.
Amidst rumours that the cabinet was badly divided on the issue, Arlooktoo made an announcement on the Keewatin resupply issue just a few days before Morin's cabinet shuffle that gave in to most of this critics' demands.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsPerformance tests go off without a hitch, as northern high-tech firm gets read to wire Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Ardicom Digital Communications Ltd.'s concept for the North's information highway has now passed its tests - and the company is now open for business.
Ardicom submitted a proof-of-concept report to the territorial government last Friday, following a number of technical demonstrations in Yellowknife.
Five of the 58 communities that are to be linked to Ardicom's high-speed digital communications network are now connected.
"The network has pretty much functioned as we thought it would," Ardicom's general manager Ken Todd said.
Talks begin with private clients
Although government offices have yet to start using the new network, Ardicom is ready to begin negotiating with private clients for access to the network.
Todd said Ardicom will negotiate prices with individual clients based on the type of service the clients want, the kind of data they want to transmit, and how often and in what directions the data will flow.
The Ardicom consortium, formed by Arctic Cooperatives Ltd., Northern Aboriginal Services Company (NASCO) and Northwestel, won a contract with the GNWT last spring to design and build an information "pipeline" in the NWT to support such services as videoconferencing, telemedicine, distance education and the Internet.
The GNWT has agreed to be the main, "anchor" client for the network, an arrangement that is expected to allow smaller users to gain more affordable access to high-speed telecommunications services.
Within communities, Ardicom may provide its services either through the Arctic Co-op's cable network, or, in some communities, through Northwestel's telephone network.
Ardicom fell behind its original schedule for completing the network in September after the unexpected departure of a senior manager.
But Todd said at least 16 communities will be wired before Christmas, and that all 58 NWT communities will be wired by the middle of 1998.
"We're on track," Todd said.
Special equipment has so far been succesfully installed in Iqaluit, in Fort Smith, Hay River, Rae Edzo and in Yellowknife, the hub of Ardicom's so-called frame relay network.
Todd explained that a frame relay network allows different "packets" of data to move through the network at the same time. Each individual piece of data has an "address" attached to it that directs the data to the correct location.
The company has already staged several demonstrations of its technology in Yellowknife, including the network's telemedicine and distance-education applications.
Last week, to demonstrate the network's telemedicine application, Ardicom technicians created a so-called "double-satellite hop" between the Stanton Regional Hospital and the Stuart Hodgson Building in Yellowknife.
"The double-satellite-hop video-conferencing that we have done will be exactly the same as it will be in the field," Todd said.
Double-satellite hop describes the path that information delivered over the Ardicom network follows.
"If you were looking to communicate from Gjoa Haven to Pond Inlet, you would go up to the satellite from Gjoa, come down in Yellowknife, back up to the satellite, then come down in Pond Inlet,' Todd said. "Hence, double-satellite hop."
Government offices will not be connected to the new telecommunications network until the GNWT has completed its own tests in the communities.
"We've done ours, and we're satisfied with the performance. But GNWT has to work that out and they're going to work that out for all of their locations," Todd said.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsThe NWT's small Internet providers are afraid they'll be left in the ditch as everyone else whizzes by them on the information highway.
JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - At the same time as Ardicom's new high-speed digital communication network promises to bring 58 NWT communities onto the fast lanes of the information highway, a lot of home-grown northern businesses are saying the same network may leave them stranded in the ditch with empty pockets.
The NWT's small Internet service providers, most of them small local businesses that provide dial-up Internet access in communities like Iqaluit, Fort Smith, and Cambridge Bay, all say that the current Ardicom-GNWT contract threatens their very existence.
That's because the GNWT is using the Ardicom network to supply its own data communications services - an arrangement that the NWT's ISP's fear will cut them out.
"This violates everything the GNWT says about community based economic development," says Don Jaque of Auroranet, a company that provides Internet access in Fort Smith.
Loss of business
Jacque said that in its present form, the Ardicom contract will cause his company to lose 70-80 per cent of its potential business in Fort Smith.
That business, Jaques says, is in the form of services that his company - and not Ardicom - ought to be offering to various GNWT departments and agencies located in his community.
"There are a lot of private-sector solutions that the GNWT is not considering," Jaque said.
And that, Jaque said, could stifle the development of a home-grown high-tech industry in the northern territories.
"They're already hiring their own expertise within the government. I thought they were supposed to be cutting back," Jaque said.
He also said his company has been getting letters from government departments with whom his company has been doing business, saying that they won't need Auroranet's services anymore because of the Ardicom network.
Two fruitless meetings
Representatives of the NWT's ISP's have met twice with the GNWT to air their gripes.
The first meeting, a teleconference held Oct. 14, was "ineffective," Jaque said.
And a second face-to-face meeting, held last week between the ISP's and Gordon Robinson of the GNWT's financial managment board secretratiat, didn't bring the two sides any closer together.
"It was basically Gordon Robinson on one side and all of us on the other," Jaque said.
He said the government fails to recognize that home-grown high technology industry has grown up in northern Canada over the past two years, and that its contract with Ardicom doesn't acknowledge that.
And he said Ardicom also fails to recognize that many ISP's would rather buy bandwidth from providers other than Northwestel.
Ardicom too expensive?
He said, for example, that his company is now using bandwidth obtained from the Cancom satellite company to connect its customers to the Internet.
"They're prices are cheaper than what Ardicom has quoted us," Jaque said.
Jaque said the GNWT should rethink the idea of building a big "proprietary" network and try to find a different vision that takes into account the existence of small businesses such as his.
For their part, Ardicom's managers are taking the position that the dispute isn't really their concern.
"It's not up to us to tell the GNWT what to do with its network," says Ken Todd of Ardicom.
As for the plight of the NWT's ISP's, Todd said they might think about doing what many ISP's in southern Canada have been forced to do - diversify.
But Jaque says his company, along with most other ISP's already offers a wide range of services, which they're afraid the territorial government won't be buying anymore.
Back to TopNunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Paul Kaludjak has kept his seat as president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association by a large margin, according to unofficial election results.
A preliminary ballot count this week which showed Kaludjak with 48 per cent of the 2,161 votes cast, put him well ahead of his nearest rival, Louis Pilakapsi.
Pilakapsi, a former KIA president, managed to attract just 31 per cent of the vote, while candidate Mike Gibbons placed third with 21 per cent.
"You shouldn't have any doubt that my confidence level is regenerated," Kaludjak said this week. "I've been given another mandate to lead the organization, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Kaludjak's re-election to another three-year term with the regional Inuit association follows the KIA's very vocal criticism of the territorial government's reorganization of health services in the Keewatin.
With the creation of the first Nunavut government just 18 months away, Kaludjak said the KIA must continue to ensure that Inuit in the Keewatin have a say in the public policies and practices that determine the shape of the new territorial administration.
In particular, beneficiaries have indicated they want changes to the justice system that will reflect and respect Inuit culture, Kaludjak said.
Members would also like the first Nunavut legislature to be more"social-oriented" than the GNWT, he said.
"We're going to have to have the strongest voice possible to make those changes we want to see in the new government."
In addition to a president, Keewatin beneficiaries have also elected a new secretary-treasurer, an unofficial ballot count showed this week. Robert Seeteenak took 52 per cent of the vote, closely beating out his sole rival candidate, Annie Tattuinee.
Community representatives were also elected in four hamlets. Paul Kablutsiak took 40 per cent of the vote to win in Arviat; Edwin Evo was elected in Baker Lake with 45 per cent of the vote; Joe Issaluk of Chesterfield Inlet won with 40 per cent of the vote; and Erksuktok Eetuk was elected community director for Coral Harbor with 42 per cent of the vote.
Back to TopGoody two shoes
by JOHN AMAGOALIK
Something quite extraordinary happened in Ottawa during the first week of December. More than 120 countries signed a treaty to ban land mines. Land mines are not an everyday concern of the citizens of Nunavut.
But to ordinary people in places like Angola, Cambodia, Bosnia, Vietnam, and Kuwait, land mines are things you have to be worried about all the time. Around the world, land mines kill or maim hundreds of thousands of civilians every year. It is estimated that there are hundreds of millions of these indiscriminate killers buried in the ground.
Put in place by warring armies, land mines stay long after the fighting is over. They can kill decades after the armies have left. The vast majority of their victims are civilians. Thousands and thousands of farmers cannot go back to their farms and grow food because of land mines. Getting rid of them is a long, time-consuming effort.
Banning land mines, by itself, is not going to stop wars. It will not result in instant peace. But it represents a new frame of mind. It sends a message to world leaders that ordinary people cannot continue to accept the type of madness that wars can conceive. It says that there has to be a better way.
The treaty to ban land mines was a result of a people movement and not as a result of government efforts. It was lead by ordinary people like Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Prize) of the United States. It was given a big boost by Diana, Princess of Wales. The government of Canada became a partner in this people movement and opened many doors for it.
The two most prominent figures in the signing of this treaty were Jody Williams and Canada's minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy. Both are a product of the Sixties and the Beatles generation. Giving peace a chance is part of their psyche. The genesis of this treaty probably began when they were young children and decided that they wanted to change the world and make it better.
Today's young people also need to have that attitude. There is nothing wrong with being idealistic and wanting to make the world a better place. That's how good things happen.
Canada is sometimes teased and ridiculed by other countries as being Goody Two Shoes. The title fits and we should be proud to wear it. It is better than being a bully, a clown, or someone who doesn't have all their marbles.
Back to TopClimate change inescapable
I am concerned by lobbying that downplays man made climate change, or "global warming." Some deny the existence of global warming, stating that a growing number of scientists do not believe in it. Reasons are not expressed for this disbelief, nor are statistics quoted for the number of scientists believing or refuting it.
Yes, causes and trends in climate are tricky to prove, and prediction of the effects in any one region are uncertain, however there are concrete reasons for applying a precautionary strategy nevertheless.
Some facts were beyond dispute, and known for decades: carbon dioxide, and other "greenhouse gases" trap the sun's energy in our atmosphere: these gases, have increased due to human activities: 30 per cent more carbon dioxide means more energy is trapped in our atmosphere.
Our climatic engine has been revved up. Ecosystems, and human kind dependent on these ecosystems for food, health, wealth, and recreation, will feel the impacts of climate change, whether they involve warming, cooling, increased droughts, floods, or no change, in a particular region.
Furthermore the "economic costs" of reducing emissions that industry warns us of, in fact often provide beneficial economic, social, and environmental side effects.
Take for example one of the worst offenders, inefficient cars. Promotion of lightweight hybrid electric cars, public transit, and cycling, in addition to mitigating climate change, would stimulate new industries and jobs, reduce costly oil imports, and reduce smog, acid rain, and traffic casualties.
Arguments against emission reduction agreements are valid from the viewpoint of particular industries, or regions, not society as a whole. These localised interests could be accommodated through the proposed trading of emission quotas between, and within countries.
Geza Vamos
Vancouver
Poor start on unity issue
There are those who say that the current national debate over the possible separation of Quebec has no relevance for the ordinary people of the Northwest Territories.
They say we are too preoccupied with putting food on our tables and roofs over our heads to worry about the state of the nation and the consitutional diseases to which excessive concern about the state of the nation usually leads.
Those who say this are wrong. The separation of Quebec would have an immediate and harmful impact on the fortunes of many NWT residents, especially those who live in Nunavut.
Nunavut and the province of Quebec share a long border and a long history of living side by side. Many Nunavut residents enjoy a variety of close ties with Quebec, especially northern Quebec. As we all know, these include numerous family and cultural ties. Many Nunavut residents also do business in Quebec and many of us still receive some government services from Quebec, especially health care and education.
At the same time, Nunavut and Nunavik leaders have already openly discussed the possibility of some kind of union between Nunavut and Nunavik if Quebec decides to separate from Canada.
If the GNWT and the NWT legislative assembly are genuinely serious about participating in the national unity debate and acknowledging the concerns of the NWT's aboriginal people, it's essential that they recognize this.
Unfortunately, the resolution that they passed Dec. 2 contains little evidence that they have done so.
Here are some key issues that they should have considered before drafting and voting on that resolution.
* As long they continue to represent Nunavut residents, the government of the Northwest Territories must develop a clear position on the partition of Quebec and the status of Quebec's borders.
If the government of the Northwest Territories does not recognize this in its unity deliberations, they will have failed to adequately represent Nunavut residents.
* The Nunavut territorial government's constitutional status must eventually be clarified.
Throughout the negotiation of the Nunavut Accord and the subsequent passage and proclamation of the Nunavut Act, the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut took the position that the Nunavut territory is protected by aboriginal and treaty rights provisions in the Charter of Rights.
Ottawa, on the other hand did not agree that the Nunavut territory enjoys such protection.
Again, if they are to adequately represent Nunavut residents until April 19 1999, GNWT officials must take a postion on this issue.
* As Premier Don Morin and many others have pointed out, the Calgary Declaration does not give adequate recognition to Canada's aboriginal people.
But the NWT legislative assembly's unity resolution doesn't either.
Simply mentioning aboriginal people isn't enough - and that's about all the legislative assembly did. Their resolution also appears to impose limits on the inherent right to self-government that most aboriginal organizations are likely to find unnacceptable.
Taske a close look at the what the assembly's resolution says:
"The aboriginal peoples of Canada, being the first peoples to inhabit and govern this land, have the inherent right to self-government to safeguard and develop their lands and resources, languages, cultures and traditions and to ensure the integrity of their societies."
Yes, it sounds impressive. But the words used to describe what the inherent right to self-government would be used for contain subtle - and disingenuous - limitations on that right.
It means, effectively, that aboriginal governments may only exercise some powers in some narrowly proscribed areas, such as language, culture, and wildlife management.
This is not an abstract issue of interest only to constitutional lawyers and other legal hair-splitters.
The Inuit of Nunavut, along with status and treaty Indians across Canada, have begun to talk to Ottawa about the devolution of non-insured health benefits to regional aboriginal organizations.
The Kivalliq Inuit Association, for example, has made it abundantly clear that they're fed up with how the GNWT and the Keewatin Regional Health Board is providing health care to Kivalliq region Inuit.
It's also no secret that they would like Ottawa to give them control of their region's share of NIHB money so that they can wrest control of regional health care away from the GNWT and its puppet health board.
Yet nowhere in the GNWT's declaration is there an acknowledgement that the inherent right to self-government ought to include the right to exercise powers over health, social services and education. That's something that Ottawa and all 10 provincial governments were prepared to do in the 1992 Charlottetown Accord.
If the GNWT has any interest at all in asserting the rights of the territory's aboriginal people, they must at least be willing to go that far. JB
Back to Top|
Where's Nunavut? |
The Arctic on the Internet |
The America's First Peoples |
Nunatsiaq News Literacy Page |
Nunatsiaq News Reading Room |
These materials are Copyright (C) 1997 Nortext Publishing
Corporation (Iqaluit), and may be freely distributed throughout
the Internet, or other electronic computer networks or bulletin
boards, as long as this notice remains intact and the articles
are reproduced in their entirety. These materials may not be
reprinted for commercial publication in print or other media
without the permission of the publisher.
Last updated
December 12, 1997
E-mail comments to: nunat@nunanet.com