Columns

NCC's architect unveils the house of Nunavut

Iqaluit residents got a look at plans for Nunavut's first legislative asembly building this week.

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT - The three-storey building that will house Nunavut's first legislative assembly will be "touchable" and "approachable," architect Bruce Allen told a group of Iqalungmiut earlier this week.

Allen, a partner in Arcop, a Montreal-based architectural firm hired to design the Nunavut capital building, helped show off plans for its interior and exterior Tuesday in Iqaluit.

Iqaluit architect Keith Irving of Full Circle Architecture helped Allen's firm in its work.

First look at the plans

It was the first showing of the plans, giving Iqaluit business people a peek at the design even before the board of directors of the Nunavut Construction Corporation have seen it.

Located behind the Parnaivik building in Iqaluit's downtown, the new, 3000-square metre edifice will contain offices for the Nunavut bureaucracy, as well as for members of the legislative assembly.

It will also house the Nunavut government's first legislative chamber.

Built out of timber, the structure will rise three storeys above the ground and will be composed of two separate buildings joined by a large lobby area.

One half of the building will contain offices while the other will house a circular assembly chamber. A suspended, translucent ceiling with echoes of an igloo roof encloses the two-storey chamber space.

Reflecting the landscape

"Members are aware of who they represent and the landscape around them," Allen said, as he described the rationale for installing a wall of windows in the southern face of the building.

The chamber will be outfitted with special seating for elders and the general public, as well as space for interpreters and translators.

Allen added this space was designed as a temporary chamber and can be converted into offices by simply adding a floor.

"We hope people like and understand what we have to date," said architect Norman Globerman, another partner with Arcop. "We need input now before we finalize it."

Tight schedule

But a tight schedule will inevitably reduce the amount of public input that's possible. The entire process must be a quick one if architects hope to finalize the exterior design by mid-January.

Designing the interior is more flexible, Globerman explained.

"At NCC we're working with a limited time frame," said Tagak Curley, president of the Nunavut Construction Corporation (NCC). "I don't know how many changes can be made."

Although a substantial amount of work has been completed since architects were given the functional requirements for the building in September, a number of non-design hurdles remain.

Financing not worked out

One of those hurdles is financial.

NCC will construct the building and lease it back to the federal government over a 20-year period. How much Ottawa will pay, however, has yet to be negotiated.

Jim Davison, who's overseeing the project for the federal department of public works, said his office needs to see a final package complete with detailed designs before negotiations can being "in earnest." He's expecting that sometime in late March.

And the leasing arrangement for the actual lot on which the building will sit is also up in the air.

Currently, the federal government has a reserve on the lot, but the Town has suggested a $350,000, 30-year lease.

Ottawa and the Town of Iqaluit have yet to resolve the status of the lot.

Iqaluit church leader facing sex charges

IQALUIT - A well-known Apex elder and lay minister in the Anglican church has been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault.

Akeesook Joamie, 71, has been charged with four counts of sexual assault involving at least one minor. The charges relate to incidents dating back to March, 1996.

Iqaluit RCMP laid the charges Dec. 4. Joamie is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 26.

A long-time Apex resident, Joamie has been a prominent church and community leader in Iqaluit for many years.

Until 1995, he and his wife Alicee managed the open custody young offender's home in Iqaluit under a contract with the GNWT's department of social services.

Baffin board to decide next month on Ottawa move

Baffin residents may know by the end of next month if they'll get specialist services from Montreal or Ottawa.

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUT - The Baffin health board will decide next month whether patients will travel to Montreal or Ottawa for southern medical treatment.

Earlier this year the health board decided to move its specialist services from Montreal to Ottawa, a move that drew a public outcry and prompted Health Minister Kelvin Ng to call for a review of the decision.

Ken MacRury, the interim chief executive officer of the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services board, said he's asked both McGill University and the Ottawa Heart Institute to present proposals on how each would provide medical services to Baffin residents.

"We're leaving it very much to them to tell us what's available and what they propose and how we can form partnerships in working towards better health for residents of the Baffin," MacRury explained.

Task force will review proposals

Both institutions have until January 12 to repond. At that time, board staff will review the proposals. The following week the proposals, along with any staff comments, will be reviewed again by a small task force, composed of staff and the public.

"We're trying to balance this thing and have a very transparent process so everyone can understand and everyone can have some faith that what's happening here is fair and above board," MacRury said.

The group will then recommend to the health board which service to contract. The board will meet in late January to make a final decision. But that decision doesn't have to be approved by Ng, MacRury said.

"The minister's only concern is that we do it fairly and that there is justification for making whatever decision we do make. That was the concern last time. When you asked the question 'why did you move to Ottawa?,' well nobody was quite sure why we moved to Ottawa."

Most patients still in Montreal

MacRury said that as of last week, there were about 30 Baffin patients in Montreal and only three in Ottawa. He added that the Baffin's medevac service still runs out of Montreal, and that specialists having been travelling to the Baffin from both cities.

"It's a mishmash right now. Very confusing."

MacRury said the question of hospital accreditation is also being worked out.

The Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation last surveyed the hospital in 1994 and gave it a three-year accreditation, which was set to expire at the end of this year. A one-year extension, however, was granted based on a commitment that another survey will be conducted late next summer, and a plan is in place to survey all health services in the region for accreditation, likely in 1999.

"Based on that commitment, they have extended the accreditation of the hospital for another year," MacRury said. "We will still have an accredited hospital come January 1."

For the regional survey, the Council will likely choose three Baffin nursing stations to visit and evaluate, MacRury explained.

"They will look at our policies and procedures and all of those kinds of records we have, too," he said.

Quebec rolls out plans for information highway

By the end of the century, health workers in Nunavik will use telemedicine technology to provide care to patients in remote communities.

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

MONTREAL ­ The Quebec government is set to announce a province-wide telecommunications strategy that will bring the information highway to Nunavik between now and 1999.

A high-speed digital telecommunications network linking government offices across the province, including health and social service centres, is already on the drawing boards, sources with Quebec's aboriginal affairs secretariat say.

"It's going to be a very good project," Jean Dupuis of the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) said excitedly last week.

A modern telecommunications network would permit health workers in isolated northern communities to consult medical specialists in the South via two-way video conferencing.

That means doctors would be able to examine and discuss patient x-rays, for instance, without having to airlift their clients to southern hospitals.

The Quebec-wide network should be completely in place by 1999.

At least that's the scenario Quebec's Secrétariat des Affaires autochtones described to Nunavik administrators Dec 10, during a meeting in Quebec City.

The provincial government will invite private businesses to bid for the contract to develop the telecommunications network in the new year, sources told Nunatisaq News. Quebec is said to want a network capable of transmitting 45 megabits of information per second ­ fast enough enough to support instant two-way video conferencing.

Not only will health centres and nursing stations in Nunavik eventually be connected to the network, the offices of the KRG and the Kativik School Board would also be linked.

A similar project to build and maintain a high-speed telecommunications network in neighboring Northwest Territories is already underway.

Sources say private computer users will also benefit from the extension of the information highway into the Nunavik, since whomever wins the contract will also be permitted to furnish internet services to the public.

A three-month-long review of Quebec's telecommunications needs is set to begin in January, before the contract is tendered.

The plan was introduced to Nunavik leaders during a special meeting with officials of the Secrétariat des Affaires autochtones.

"I felt I was meeting Santa Claus two weeks early," KRG president Dupuis commented.

Nunavik Net logs off for good

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

DORVAL ­ Nunavik's public broadcaster, Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. (TNI), has decided to pull out of the internet business.

The Inuit-owned company suspended its Nunavik Net project last August after running into serious financial difficulty, leaving internet subscribers without service.

Now, TNI president George Berthe says the corporation will concentrate on getting its financial affairs in order and stick to its original mandate.

"First, we've got to excel in what we do best," Berthe said.

TNI was established to produce television and radio programs in Inuttitut for Nunavik residents.

The corporation is currently trying to replace Putilik Ilisitik, a skilled camerman and editor, who recently resigned from TNI's television bureau in Salluit.

Ilisituk was the 1992 winner of an award for his outstanding contribution to aboriginal journalism.

Makivik Corporation will help

Meanwhile, Makivik Corporation has been asked to help TNI straighten out its finances.

"They honestly want to help us, but not give us a free ride, either," said Berthe, also an assistant to Makivik second vice-president, Johnny Peters.

Berthe said he promises to keep a tighter hold on TNI expenditures.

Kimmirut wants arena to combat suicide problem

LEEVEDE ATAGOYUK
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT - For the people for Kimmirut, getting an indoor arena is at the top of their Christmas wish-list.

Mikidjuk Akavak, the newly elected mayor of Kimmirut, said there is a need for an arena to give young people something to do.

"We have been asking to have an arena built here for the last 15 years and nothing has happened," Akavak said.

Akavak was born and raised in the small South Baffin community and says he understands the social issues that arise there.

"I think it's visible today that the young people do not have a whole lot of areas where there are not a whole lot of facilities to exert that energy they have," Akavak said.

Suicide a factor

There have been two suicides in Kimmirut over the last year, which Akavak attributes to not enough activities for young people.

"Two suicides is pretty high for a small community," he said.

He uses himself as an example. "If I go out hunting a lot and not take care of my kids, that would mean I don't care for my kids as I should. If we're paying too much attention to thinks like the hunters' support program, we're actually setting aside our future generation."

"It does matter. Kids feel unloved and they turn to these ideas that they are not good enough," Akavak said.

He said young people need to feel there's a sense of community in a a small place. "But I think this is evident here in Kimmirut." Akavak goes on to say that people are not totally disregarding their kids.

Akavak compared the Nunavut Tunngavik's hunters support program to young people.

"It's hard to say and you have to draw the line. The hunter's support program is really good, but it's really a want instead of a need. I think the arena is more of a need for the kids than a want for the hunters."

Pressure politicians

Akavak said he doesn't know what Kimmirut's previous council has done regarding the arena, but he said he'll make this a priority as he sets out on his three-year term as mayor.

"I think it would improve the not only pride in the community but the well-being of the community. The spirit of the community would be lifted, like the RCMP has said a hundred times," Akavak said.

Akavak said the arena would provide hockey teams, skating with the family and be a place where young people can go.

"If, for example, you play hockey with kids, you interact and spend time exercising and have quality time together."

What's going to happen

Akavaks says he's now circulating a petition in Kimmirut calling for a new arena.

And he says the territorial government has indicated that the arena will be built by the year 2000.

But he doesn't think that commitment may be kept.

"As far as I am concerned, the year 2000 is going to be a year of transistion where we go from the GNWT to Nunavut. Both governments are going to be too busy to give it priority."

He said he's waiting for a response from Manitok Thompson, the minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, and from their MLA, Goo Arlooktoo.

Coral Harbour man wants to capture bear hunt

Noah Kadlak has asked the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board for permission to hunt a polar bear using traditional methods - in order to capture it on film for future generations.

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT - Noah Kadlak didn't get his bear this season, but he counts himself lucky anyway.

At 33, the Coral Harbour native is one of just a handful of Inuit men his age who can still claim to be full-time hunters.

Now he's anxious to add movie-making to his resumé.

"It's been my dream since I was a kid," said Kadlak, who recently asked the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) for permission to film an authentic traditional polar bear harvest.

Kadlak said his company, Arctic Bear Productions, has already raised much of the financing in partnership with a documentary film crew from Toronto. If the proposal gets NWMB approval, production could begin as early as next spring.

Capturing culture

"I've been thinking about this for a while," Kadlak said, "because I wanted to get it across to younger people that... they can capture their culture."

As the rapid transition from traditional to modern ways of living in the Arctic pushed many of his peers to despair, Kadlak said he drew strength from his own identity with the land. That's a message he hopes to bring to others by documenting the hunt on film and encouraging his fellow Inuit to rediscover these skills for themselves.

"I wanted to help those people who are kind of lost in between," said Kadlak. "Maybe they could go back to their elders and talk to them."

The hamlet of Coral Harbour lies close to an important migratory route of the great white bear, making it an ideal location not only for local hunters, but also for that other important migratory creature - the tourist.

"That's one of the [other] reasons I'm trying to get in on film, so that people could start coming in to take pictures," Kadlak said.

A polar bear hunter since he was a teenager, Kadlak first gained a love of hunting as a child by observing his father. Now a father himself, Kadlak has begun to pass along those skills to his own son.

"It's been by interest most of my life," said Kadlak, whose bear-hunting trip earlier this winter proved unsuccessful. Only once before in his 17-year-long hunting career has he ever missed his mark.

Traditional methods

Kadlak still uses a dogteam instead of a snowmobile and has appealed to the wildlife management board for special permission to use a spear or unaq, instead of a gun to kill the bear for the movie camera - something he's never attempted before.

At their annual meeting in November, NWMB board members agreed that Kadlak's proposal deserved careful consideration. They're to announce their decision at their next meeting in February.

My Little Corner of Canada

The year that was

by JOHN AMAGOALIK

It was the year of Steve Yzerman and the Stanley Cup. The Gentleman Super Star injected some meanness into his game and hoisted the Stanley Cup. Yzerman's years of experience outlasted the youth and strength of Eric Lindros.

It was the year of Sojourner, the hi-tech explorer that sent back pictures of Mars across millions of kilometres to Earth. It was another small step for humans in our journey to the stars.

It was the year that Preston Manning bowed to "public pressure" and moved into Stornoway.

It was the year that Gilles Duceppe learned that you don't put on funny looking headwear during elections.

It was the year that Lucien "BlocHead" Bouchard went to Paris and came back home. It was one of the nicest non-stories of the year.

This was the year of Tony Blair, Britain's new prime minister. After many years of Thatcherism, the people of Britain made a decided change of direction and swept Blair into power. He is probably the first of a wave of younger leaders who will begin to emerge in Europe in the next few years.

This was the year of a candle in the wind.

This was the year of mad dog boxers who bite their opponent's ears off.

This was the year of the fifth straight world championship by Canada's junior hockey team.

This was the year that Canada's women's hockey team won the world championship for the... um... umpteenth time.

This was the year that Boris Yeltsin defied politics and a deathwatch and remained leader of the once powerful Russian federation.

This was the year of Tickle Me Elmo. Who, thankfully, didn't catch on.

This was also the year of electronic virtual pets. Even worse.

This was the year of Jody Williams and the treaty to ban land mines.

This was the year of real life drama on the Spaceship Mir.

This was the year that our O.J. Simpson hangover began to go away.

This was the year when no one could think of a better name than Bob.

Merry Christmas and God bless you all.

Letters to the Editor

NTI clarifies reasons for shadow cabinet

This letter is written out of concern that your readers could be seriously misinformed about Nunavut Tunngavik's shadow cabinet as a result of your p. 3 story in the Dec. 12 Nunatsiaq News.

Your headline read: "Jose 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."

Your paper chose to focus this story in such a way that it would appear dissatisfaction with Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak was the motivating factor in NTI's decision to create a shadow cabinet. As you know very well, this is not the case at all.

While I stand behind my remarks about lack of progress reports at the Interim Commissioner's Office, this was a very minor aside to the main message of the news conference attended by your reporter.

Our news releases of Oct. 31 and Dec. 4 were very clear on the reasons for NTI's shadow cabinet. Nunatsiaq News has received both of these communiqués. If dissatisfaction with the OIC was a major factor in our decision, we would have highlighted it in these documents. We did not.

Our stated purpose in forming the shadow cabinet is to watch over the government of the Northwest Territories, because questionable GNWT cabinet decisions could produce profound impacts on the future Government of Nunavut.

Jose Kusugak
President,
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

Editorial

ISPs fighting a paper tiger?

You can't really blame the NWT'S Internet service providers for their deep suspicions and equally deep fears concerning the GNWT's contract with Ardicom Digital Communications.

Among most entrepreneurs and small business people, the GNWT has earned a well-deserved reputation for failing to practice what it preaches. For many years, numerous GNWT officials have extolled the virtues of entrepreneurship and private enterprise, while at the same time engaging in practices that often see contracts going to the most highly skilled political toadies rather than to the most competent and efficient businesses.

As well, in the critical area of telecommunications policy, the GNWT often gives the impression that there's no one in charge at the top.

Over the past two or three years, the public has heard about an impressive variety of scattered initiatives within a variety of scattered departments - such as Education, Health, Finance and the legislative assembly. But it's still not clear who's responsible for coordinating these worthy experiments and pilot projects to make sure the GNWT's right hand knows what its left hand is up to.

It should be no surprise, then, that the NWT's small Internet service providers fear that the GNWT officials in charge of telecommunications initiatives may not even be aware that these businesses exist - not to mention the multitude of valuable skills possessed by those working in them.

In two rancorous meetings, representatives of the NWT's small Internet access providers have told GNWT officials that over the past two years a home-grown high technology "industry" has developed within the NWT.

These small pioneering businesses are among the best role models we have for real economic development will occur in the digital age. Most got into business the old-fashioned way - by risking their own and not the taxpayers' money. They provide northern consumers not only with affordable and usually reliable access to the Internet, but with many other computer and telecommunications services.

Because of the great thirst among northerners for the Internet, most of these small home-grown businesses have been wildly successful in those communities where they have been able to operate.

But now, many of the people who run these businesses are saying that all their hard work may be in vain. Their loudest and most frequent complaint is that by using Ardicom to build a new internal computer network for itself, the GNWT is denying them the chance to do business with their biggest potential customer.

Many say they can do that work better than Ardicom can do it. They've also accused the GNWT of acting as its own Internet access provider - in direct competition with them. That's because the GNWT plans to use the network to provide email addresses and Internet access to its own employees.

They've taken their lobbying campaign to the media and to MLAs. One member, Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger, normally known as a docile tool of the territorial cabinet, has already raised the issue in the assembly and appears ready to do so again.

It's hard not to feel sympathy for the territory's ISP's, who have cast themselves in a classic David versus Goliath drama. But this time around, the little Davids may not be as hard done by as may believe.

Just last week, a small Fort Providence company called SSI Micro won a $1.5 million contract to install computer equipment in health care centers across the NWT, part of a new telemedicine network that Ardicom will support.

That's a big contract for a small business. It's also represents an opportunity that would not have existed without the GNWT's contract with Ardicom.

It may well be that some ISPs will lose some business as some territorial government departments and agencies stop using them to supply Internet access to their employees. But it's also clear that the GNWT's Ardicom contract will create new, lucrative opportunities for them.

As long as the GNWT is prepared to contract out such work in an honest manner, the public has no reason to worry. Despite its limitations, and the many delays in getting it off the ground, Ardicom's high-speed network is likely to be remembered by future generations as one of this government's best initiatives - a Christmas present for the next millennium.

As for the NWT's small ISPs, they had better get ready to compete. JB

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.