Publication mail Contract #40012157 7 71605 00200 2 83% of NWT inmates Indigenous: GNWT "Housing has been identified in every community that we go to." – Premier Caroline Cochrane made the NWT's priority clear to a visiting federal minister of Northern Affair this month, page 5. Junior curlers compete in B.C. Coronavirus concerns spread despite assurances Health minister responds to foster care concerns New photo contest: People of NWT Maggie Fatt's sister, Irene, went fishing for her in Lutsel K'e. She brought the catch back to Yellowknife and shared it with her family at the Yellowknife River picnic ground. "Lutsel K'e has the best tastiest fish you will ever have," she wrote in her winning submission to our new photo contest. See page 3 for details on how to enter. photo courtesy of Maggie Fatt Department of Justice unveils NWT figures following release of federal incarceration report 1257+:(67 7(55,725,(6 Volume 74 Issue 38 MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020 $.95 (plus GST) Promoting Northern mining
Transcript
Publication mail Contract #40012157
7 71605 00200 2
83% of NWT inmates Indigenous: GNWT
"Housing has been identified in every community that we go to."– Premier Caroline Cochrane made the NWT's priority clear to a visiting federal minister of Northern Affair this month, page 5.
Junior curlers competein B.C.
Coronavirus concerns spread despite assurances
Health minister responds to foster care concerns
New photo contest:People of NWT
Maggie Fatt's sister, Irene, went fishing for her in Lutsel K'e. She brought the catch back to Yellowknife and shared it with her family at the Yellowknife River picnic ground. "Lutsel K'e has the best tastiest fish you will ever have," she wrote in her winning submission to our new photo contest. See page 3 for details on how to enter.
photo courtesy of Maggie Fatt
Department of Justice unveils NWT figures following release of federal incarceration report
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 3People of NWT
Did we get it wrong?News/North is committed to getting facts and
names right. With that goes a commitment to acknowledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in News/North, call (867) 873-4031 and ask to speak to an editor, or email [email protected]. We'll get a correction or clarification in as soon as we can.
WINNER: MAggIE FATTSomba K'e/Yellowknife
My sister Irene went fishing for me in Lutsel K'e and I brought them back to Yellowknife and shared it with my family at Yellow-knife River picnic ground. Lutsel K'e has the best tastiest fish you will ever have.
NewsBriefs
Comedy night to raise fundsThebacha/Fort Smith
A comedy night took place in Fort Smith on Jan. 25 in support of the Fort Smith Daycare Society.
The show featured Glenn Wool, a Canadian comedian who divides his time among Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was held at Dirty O'Fergies Pub, which will assist the society as it works towards opening a daycare in the community.
– Paul Bickford
Waterslide latest woe for poolInuvik
The Midnight Sun Complex's pool is back in operation, however now the water slide has been closed due to a tripping hazard.
Because of shifting ground beneath the com-plex resulting from the freeze-thaw cycle, a pole that is used to help keep the slide erect has shifted slightly off alignment, pushing the slide with it.
Senior administrative officer Grant Hood noted the town had a structural engineer look at it. He noted engineers are looking at remediating the landscape to prevent further slumping of the building.
– Eric Bowling
Date set for ThebachaTrade Show
Thebacha/Fort SmithThe 15th-annual Thebacha Trade Show will
be held on April 25 at the Fort Smith Centennial Arena.
Organizers are saying the show will be the biggest so far, while noting that half of the booths are already filled.
The show is presented by Thebacha Business Development Services.
– Paul Bickford
Knitting workshop setfor beginners
Hay RiverA beginner's knitting workshop on Jan. 25
and Feb. 8 is being sponsored by the Hay River Seniors' Society.
Participants will learn to knit a pair of slip-pers, a simple scarf and a toque.
The free workshop will be presented at Whispering Willows from 10 a.m. to noon on the two days.
– Paul Bickford
Wood wants to turn up the heat on ball field replacements
InuvikCoun. Clarence Wood is sick and tired of
waiting for work to start on the Peggy Curtis Ball and Soccer Field replacements.
Town Council received an update on the long-promised upgrades in its actions items list Jan. 13. In the update, it explains the senior adminis-trative officer Grant Hood met with the assistant deputy minister for Infrastructure and was told the plan is still in the works.
It goes on to read the GNWT wanted to begin construction in the summer, but Educa-tion, Culture and Employment is supposed to cover the cost and there was no guarantee given in the budget.
"This has been dragging on for years now, since prior to the construction of the high school," said Coun. Clarence Wood. "We had an agreement with ECE in the beginning to replace the ball fields. Now we keep hearing, again, no guarantee in the budget figures they will start construction this summer."
Wood said the town was taking the heat for the territory's mishandling of the project.
– Eric Bowling
People of NWTEveryone has a story to tell. Meet the People of NWT! Tell us your story and show us your photos for a chance to win $100 every week! We would love to see more of what makes living in the NWT special – the people, the places, the shared experiences. Each week, one story from those submitted to our Facebook Page fb.com/nnslonline will win the prize!(Winners will be featured in News/North. Photos may be used in other NNSL publications with credits.)
BRETT MANdEvIllENWT
2017 Fall hunt up the Marian River about a hour boat ride from Rae-Edzo. Once we got to the river we made it to the first rapids with the first portable with a 16-foot Lund for two guys, it was an effort but we were determined to be success-ful we weren't expecting another harder and longer portage. The next morning we were slowly making our way up and noticed this figure which looked like an old stump, but it was this moose sleeping, so we slowly creeped up to it before it noticed us. We shot it a few times not knowing how far it would run, it only made it about 10 feet from shore and there this beauty of a trophy was.
JAMEs BlAkETetlit' Zheh/Fort McPherson
Here's a photo of Brandon McLeod. He hunts musk-rats every spring and he really enjoys his time in his boat, 'lil rats' and likes to tell stories a lot.
4 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 news
The federal government is con-tributing $500,000 over three years to a campaign to promote northern Canadian mining at a major min-erals conference held annually in Toronto.
The funding, provided by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency will support the Invest Canada North forum that will be part of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention, one of the lar-gest mining meets in the world. This year's convention takes place March 1 to 4.
The governments of the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut are supporting the project, along with the Yukon Mining Alliance and NWT & Nuna-vut Chamber of Mines.
The forum will focus on pro-moting the mineral potential of the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut for global investors.
"It's an overall campaign to raise awareness of the North," as Anne Turner, executive director of the Yukon Mining Alliance told News/North.
"There are four components: the
all-day forum that is recorded; the media centre where we'll be inter-viewed for an Invest Canada North episode for Business Television (BTV); the production of an Invest Yukon video and an Invest NWT video; and a reception with (repre-sentatives from) all three territories in which we seek to partner with larger global investment companies like Precious Metals Summit, 121 Mining Investment and Cambridge House International."
Most of the $500,000 will go towards the media centre and spe-cifically will finance working with BTV for the production and distribu-tion of the video and renting produc-tion space on the PDAC floor.
The rest will pay for the forum, the reception and the cultural activ-ities like music and northern food.
"Partnerships and initiatives aimed at increasing investor under-standing and confidence in the North is essential to new exploration and growth. Accentuated by our rich resource potential, Invest Canada North will help us build a strong case in the global marketplace and set the stage for responsible summits in our future," said Premier Caroline Cochrane.
"Nunavut is home to some of the
most under-explored terrain in Can-ada, and our territory holds great mineral potential. The Government of Nunavut encourages investment in sustainable, responsible resource
development and partnerships with Inuit-owned businesses to benefit industry and our communities," said Joe Savikataaq, Premier of Nunavut.
The first PDAC was held in 1932
and it has since grown to drawing more than 1,000 exhibitors, 2,500 investors and over 25,800 attendees from 132 countries, according go the convention website.
by Blair McBride Northern News Services
NWT
Half-million dollars over three years to support Northern presence at prospectors meeting
Federal funding to promote mining in Canada's North
photo courtesy of Invest Canada North
Ranj Pillai, deputy premier of the Yukon and minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, left; stands with Anne Turner, executive director of the Yukon Mining Alliance; Sandy Silver, premier of the Yukon; Larry Bagnell, MP for Yukon; Caroline Cochrane, premier of the NWT; Industry Minister Katrina Nokleby; and Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines gathered for a federal funding announcement at a conference in Vancouver Jan. 19.
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 5news
Premier Caroline Cochrane and NWT MP Michael McLeod agree federal help for hous-ing needs is among a long list of top priorities for Northerners.
Both McLeod and Cochrane met with new Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, who was visiting Yellowknife and Behchoko on Jan. 14 and 15 for the first time since being named to the cabinet position in December.
Cochrane said there are priorities the NWT is identifying for the federal govern-ment, however she said those are yet to be finalized and are not yet public.
NWT prioritiesNews/North earlier reported there were
four priorities of support that the territorial government was seeking from the feds: help with the effects of climate change; support for early childhood education; planning for the polytechnic university; and housing, espe-cially to support construction of new units in communities as that would also promote growth in trades.
"The GNWT is working with the federal government and we have been talking with Minister Vandal for the needs in the NWT," Cochrane said. "At this point, I can't talk of the priorities being put forward because they have not been solidified yet.
"We spent a great deal of time reinforcing needs of the North."
Cochrane said it can be assumed housing is a big one, if not the biggest one.
"Absolutely, housing," she said. "Anyone in the NWT – or in the North, period – that wouldn't say that housing is a concern needs to rethink that.
"Housing has been identified in every community that we go to. And that is what people are asking for. And that is all levels from homelessness to singles to families to seniors. Right across the board."
McLeod said although there were other issues that were raised, housing seemed to be the most frequently raised.
"Over the two days climate change was raised quite often, but housing was brought up more than anything else," he said. "The concern had to do with where we are at in the communities when it comes to the home-lessness situation, the lack of social housing, market housing and needing involvement by Indigenous governments."
McLeod said he has travelled much across the North to witness the state of housing and the challenge of providing adequate shelter for people.
Housing in 'dire' state"There is a very dire state of housing inad-
equacy and extraordinary funding," he said."In my view we need Indigenous govern-
ments to start working toward providing hous-ing and setting up a fiscal relationship so that they can look after their own houses. Money from the NWT Housing Corporation, which goes through Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation, is the only game in town."
Cochrane said one of the points she tried to emphasize with Vandal was that the living
conditions in the North are simply not equal to those in the south.
"We have so many needs," she said, not-ing that the 19th Legislative Assembly has identified more than 20. "The biggest thing I stressed to him is that every jurisdiction has needs, but our needs are so much more because we don't even have the basic infra-structure that other jurisdictions have. We are not connected to our communities."
Cochrane said that she tried to communi-
cate to Vandal that the North and the south are not equal and very different.
"I was trying to show that we are not the same (as other areas of Canada)," she said. "You can't just say that one policy throughout Canada will effect us all equally. We need to be looked at through an equitable lens, but through an equitable lens that would bring us up to a place equality. Then we can start talk-ing from a place of equality. But at this time, we are not there."
by Simon Whitehouse Northern News Services
NWT
Premier Caroline Cochrane say housing likely most pressing concern after meeting with new federal Northern Affairs minister
'We have so many needs'
Dan Vandal, northern affairs minister, centre, meets with elected officials at the Dene Nation office on Jan. 14. From around the table clockwise are: Matthew Spence, regional director general with Crown Indigenous Relations; Jackson McDermott, executive assistant to Dehcho Grand Chief Gladys Norwegian; Gerry Cheezie, chief of the Salt River First Nation; Norman Yakeleya, Dene national chief; Phil Moon Son, chief of staff for the Dene Nation; Michael McLeod, NWT MP; and Serge Beaudoin, assistant deputy minister for Northern Affairs.photo courtesy of the office of Dan Vandal
6 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 news
Many Northerners are concerned about coronavirus spreading to the territory even though the territorial government has said the risk of spread is low.
Of particular concern is the capacity of the territory's largest hospital, Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife, to handle a large num-ber of patients in case the virus reaches the NWT.
"Honestly, if you have the flu (or an aurora tourist from China has flu-like symptoms) are they going to stand around Stanton emergency, our one hospital – where triage would not have patients seen for hours, coughing and spreading germs, and not a comfortable place to rest?" asked one reader on Facebook – one of dozens of commentators on a story published in the Jan. 24 Yellowknifer where the health department stated the risk to the territory from the coronavirus is "low."
"No one will be seen. Public health needs to open as clinic for this purpose."
"With direct flights from Asia to Vancouver and Vancouver to Yellowknife ... hmmmmm. I'm thinking there is a good chance (the virus will spread)," wrote another reader.
News/North spoke with the NWT's chief pub-lic health officer Kami Kandola about Stanton's capacity to deal with a surge of patients if there is a large scale outbreak.
While Kandola didn't directly address the issue of capacity, she said that in case of a rapidly spreading virus, not all sickened people would
be sent to hospital at once. "If there are confirmed cases we don't want to
send everyone to the hospital. We can do phone triages and assess how sick people are. People with mild cases can stay home. Some could go to the clinic. The people who are very sick can go to the ER. We don't want to exhaust the ER staff."
As of press time, there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Canada and the risk of an outbreak is low, according to Health Canada.
The government has warned Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to China's central province of Hubei and its capital Wuhan, where it is believed coronavirus originated in a sea-food market.
"Right now we're in the planning stage and raising public awareness. We wouldn't go from no cases on Monday to having 500 cases a week later," Kandola said.
In 'planning phase'But if the virus did reach the NWT, Kan-
dola said the first step would be to inform the public and the territory's front line providers are already receiving training in how to do triage.
"If people have a travel history to Wuhan and have a fever and cough, are symptomatic and present themselves to the emergency room, the recommendation is they be given a mask, be tested for coronavirus and they would be isolated in a negative pressure room. That information was given to front line providers."
The plan to deal with coronavirus is the same as the plan that was used with the H1N1
influenza pandemic of 2009, Kandola explained. "But the difference is that H1N1 was influ-
enza. A vaccine was developed. Coronavirus is a separate family. There is no vaccine so we need to do supportive care. Right now there are no cases (in the territory) but to limit public spread we're telling the public to take precautions. You don't want to wait for coronavirus to come here."
Respiratory infections such as influenza, whooping cough and the common cold are cir-culating in the NWT. Since their symptoms can mimic those of coronavirus, Kandola advises the public to take the same health measures they would with those other illnesses, such as avoiding personal contact with people who are sick, washing hands often, avoid touching one's face or eyes, and disinfect any surfaces one has coughed or sneezed on.
Coronavirus concerns have also centred on the risks associated with mainland Chinese tour-ists coming to the territory.
Travellers from China represented the lar-gest non-Canadian visitor group since 2017, with almost 19,000 coming through Yellowknife airport in 2017-2018 and 19,446 coming in 2018-2019, according to a tourism research report pub-lished by the NWT government last November.
Tourism operator Yellowknife Vacations, which serves a large number of customers from mainland China, is following news and health updates online for precautions on coronavirus.
"(We're) avoiding handshakes for now and using alcoholic hand sanitizers. And we're con-stantly keeping an eye on updates but there are no vaccines available yet for it," said company co-director Amit Tripathi.
The operator focuses on aurora tourism and outdoor activities and Tripathi said about half of his customers are Chinese.
"The majority of our Chinese customers come from the mainland," he said, adding that none of his recent customers have been from Wuhan.
News/North contacted other tourism com-panies that host tourists from China and who employ Mandarin-speaking guides but didn't receive responses by press time.
More than 800 people – mostly in Wuhan - have been infected with coronavirus and at least 41 have died. Chinese authorities have intro-duced restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, including the suspension of all public transporta-tion in Wuhan.
A small number of cases have been reported in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, South Korea, Japan, the United States and France.
All cases were associated with people who came from Wuhan or who had travelled there recently.
The World Health Organization has said it too early to declare the outbreak a global health emergency.
Many people in Yellowknife are concerned about the capacity of Stanton Territorial Hospital to handle a viral outbreak if coronavirus reaches the city.
Coronavirus worries spread despite claims of low risk by government
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 7news
Osisko Metals Inc. is laud-ing its exploration work last year at Pine Point.
"2019 was another banner year for Osisko Metals with the release of the updated 52-mil-lion-tonne mineral resource estimate for Pine Point, con-firming Pine Point as the most exciting zinc project in North America," stated Jeff Hussey, the company's president and CEO, in a Jan. 17 news release.
Robert Wares, the executive chairman with Osisko Metals, predicted a positive 2020.
"Continuing on the 2019 milestones, particularly the updated mineral resource estimate, the forthcoming year will be an exciting one for the company, focusing on camp-wide exploration at Pine Point," stated Wares. "Drill rigs are now testing multiple near-surface targets identified in the 2019 airborne gravity survey.
"Discoveries are made at the drill bit and with an aggres-sive exploration plan, 2020 will be an exciting year for Osisko Metals and its shareholders."
In November, the com-pany released the near-surface inferred mineral resource esti-mate of 52.4-million tonnes grading 4.64 per cent zinc and
1.83 per cent lead that contains 5.3 billion pounds of zinc and 2.1 billion pounds of lead.
That is a 36 per cent increase over the 2018 mineral resource estimate at a similar grade.
Pine Point, the site of a zinc/lead mining operation that closed in the 1980s, is located about 60 kilometres east of Hay River.
The 2019 mineral resource estimate will be used to pre-pare a preliminary economic assessment that is expected to be released in the second quar-ter of 2020.
The results of the airborne gravity survey were processed and integrated into the project database. Over 60 targets were identified across the core por-tion of the project.
Those near-surface targets, which have never been drilled and were selected due to their geophysical similarities to known deposits at Pine Point, will be drill-tested in 2020.
In September, Osisko Metals signed collabora-tion agreements with Deni-nu Ku'e First Nation of Fort Resolution and the North-west Territory Metis Nation "to promote a co-operative and mutually respectful relation-ship" governing the proposed exploration and development activities in the Pine Point area.
Osisko Metals offers upbeat assessment of exploration work
A 'banner year' at Pine Point
NNSL file photo
Jeff Hussey, president and CEO of Osisko Metals Incorporated, has given an upbeat assessment of work at the zinc/lead exploration project at Pine Point.
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Editorial & opinions
NNSL file photo
Childcare for MLAs is now covered, which is nice but what about the rest of the parents in the NWT?
MLA childcare benefits cast a long shadow
Offering the perk to potential politicians without extending to rest of territory would be a failure
in the spring of 2018 the territorial government was deep in negotiations with the Union of Northern workers, which represents more than 4,500 GNwt employees.
the timing couldn't have been worse for a freeze on Mla salaries to expire but that's what happened and instead of taking advantage of a pol-itical opportunity by going without, on april 1 of that year the 18th legisla-tive assembly took the raise, allowing their basic salary to rise in line with the Consumer Price index, or by about 1.6 per cent to $105,513 per year for regular members. it amount-ed to nearly $1,700 more in taxable income and kept Nwt legislators as the third-best paid in the nation behind those of alberta and ontario.
a CPi-based increase to Mla sal-aries actually wasn't anything new. for about a decade, those salaries had increased automatically in con-cert with the index, which is usually a reliable indicator of inflation and tends to be about two per cent or less. But Mlas had decided to make a political gesture by forgoing the indexed increase in 2016 and 2017. the message was that they were in tune with the fiscal challenges facing the GNwt. so if the 2018 increase was $1,662, skipping those two years cost the Mlas about $3,000 in gross income, but more importantly, it actually created the political time bomb that went off on that afore-mentioned april fool's day.
there was no vote held or other step taken by Mlas to authorize the increase to their paycheques but the optics were bad, especially consid-ering that the offer before the union at the time, and what was finally settled upon, gave the rank-and-file workers no increase whatsoever in the first two years of the contract, and increases in years three and four that fell short of the CPi. do as we say, it screamed.
all this is to say that reading about the current assembly's recent deci-sion to have taxpayers foot the bill for childcare for Mlas has our ears ring-ing at a similar frequency.
there are great reasons to offer such a benefit and they shouldn't be forgotten. access to affordable childcare is a barrier to anyone with young children who aspires to public office, and removing that barrier is an important step to attracting more parents to the demanding world of politics.
But what about the rest of the Nwt residents with young families who are interested in advancing their careers? Here is another political opportunity. if Mlas were really concerned about attracting more women and parents to run, and unbothered by the idea of
paying for their own childcare for the next three years or so, why not make the change effective at the start of the 20th legislative assembly?
it's a convention in many muni-cipalities across Canada to handle the political hot potato of self-pay increases by doing just that, making a raise effective after the coming elec-tion. it allays the concerns of conflict of interest by preventing decision makers from determining their own salaries, and gives anyone thinking about re-election a reason to make a good impression on voters in the meantime.
which the 18th assembly clearly failed to do. aside from the premier herself, how many Mlas from that crop are still in office? that group of legislators near the start of their term decided universal childcare for the entire territory was too costly at about $20 million annually, but somehow thought giving themselves a pay raise a couple of years later made for solid ground to walk upon. voters proved them wrong in october.
But there is something to be said for taking aim at an attainable goal and crossing it off. offering childcare support to parents serving in the legislature is a bona fide step forward and it would be encouraging to take as a sign of things to come.
Universal affordable childcare, a listed priority of the 19th assembly, remains a worthy pursuit. But it would be a shame and another round of bad optics if only Mlas get the benefit.
Northern News Services
THe ISSUe:CHILDCARE FOR MLAS
We SAY:WHAT ABOuT THE REST OF uS?
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 9
Yay, the cold snap is over. I saw way more people on the streets talking and laughing today than I've seen for some time. No more ice fog. Woohoo.
On Thursday, it was -13 C and I saw a couple of girls walking with their jackets wide open.
I told Jean they reminded me of my aunt Matilda and she said, "really?" Yup, I said, one time in the spring we were driving my aunt to a birthday party and it was melting out.
There was still snow on the ground, but the sun was shining and it was around 4 above. We drove past two teenage girls boun-cing down the street in runners, tank tops, and ripped jeans. Aunt Matilda said, "Look at them. They can't wait to strip themselves." Eschia!
When Jean finally stopped laughing, she said, "Sheesh, I thought you meant those girls looked like your aunt Matilda when she was young." Mwa-hahahahahah.
But ya, we sure had a couple of good cold snaps, Cold weather affects us in different ways, sometimes not the way we expect. For instance, when it was -40 before Christmas, everybody thought the ice roads would open sooner.
But I heard on the radio, that work on ice roads was slowed down because it was too cold to run the equipment. Who would have thunk.
Everything slows down when it gets to -40, or even -35. There are less people walking around, riding bikes, and jogging. People tend to stay in more and find things to do indoors like read a book, play games, and get together
with friends.Of course, there are lots of
problems with vehicles too. Tires lose pressure and are frozen when we take off. We need to go slowly when we start driving to allow our tires to slowly become round again. Whoa.
A friend told me years ago after I told him I had a flat, "Don't drive fast right away or you could get a flat, and who wants to change a tire in -40." Meanwhile I had just changed my tire because I couldn't afford Roadside Assistance. I said, "Not me! Not me!"
Plug your vehicle inAnd there are people who for-
get to plug in their vehicles. Then, they need to get a boost and often end up hauling their vehicles to the garage to get thawed out, get a new battery, or something worse.
In fact, I recently got four new tires and the Ford lot was so full of frozen vehicles I could hardly drive in.
And look at the RCMP station. I don't know what happened, but the road was closed for about a month because they were digging up frozen pipes.
On a lighter note, have you ever thrown a glass of boiling water high up into the air when it's minus 40? We did and videoed the
water turning to snow. Jean's teacher friend in Florida showed it to his students.
The friend taped his students watching our experiment and they were in total awe. He tagged Jean with his video and you can hear the oohs and aahs.
One thing that's great when it's really cold, is there's usually brilliant sunshine, which we need after all the darkness in the last couple of months. I appreciate it because the days are getting longer every day, with the sun coming up earlier and setting later every day. Woohoo.
We're enjoying how beautiful it is with that glorious sunlight against the trees all frosted up. Jean has been taking so many photos of
them.This one guy told me that he walks to
work and it takes him about ten minutes. He said he was all frosted up when it was -40 and he appreciated the difference when it got to -37. He said it seemed so easy walking when it warmed up to -25, and then it got to -17, he said he was sweating when he got to work.
Yes indeed, -25 feels warm after 40 below. We wear lighter jackets, put our hoods down and take off some layers.
When it warms up to 13 below, many people walk around with their jackets wide open. As aunt Matilda would say, "look at them. They can't wait to strip themselves."
editorial – opinions
WHeN THe HeARTsays NoRoy erasmus Sr. is a certified wellness counsellor and coach who survived heart disease.
A nice break from the cold
Northern News Services
Northern minister reflects on visit
"What do you think of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, moving to Canada?"
Jamie fabien: "It will be something new and inter-esting."
Tom Makepeace: "A great idea. It's going to bring people for tourism. I think it's posi-tive. I don't know how scaled-back their life will be here. It's depending on what they're doing."
Paige Villeneuve: "I know they're trying to live a nor-mal life. They're going all the way to Canada, which is pretty cool. Wel-come to Canada, I guess."
Alvin Pitre: "I think Canada is as good a place for them to raise children as any-where else in the world. So we wel-come them."
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit Churchill, Whitehorse, and Yellowknife for the first time since being named the Minister of Northern Affairs. I met many hard-working, dedicated people from whom I learned a lot. I listened to their stories, their concerns, their pas-sions, and their ideas. Northerners' goals are my goals and I came away with not only a clearer understanding, but also a greater appreciation and enormous respect for the residents who call the North home.
We were able to achieve much in the last mandate but we know there is much more work to do. Working with territorial, Indigenous, and provincial partners our government laid the foundation of a long-term vision for the north with the release of the Arc-tic and Northern Policy Framework in September 2019. The focus of this vision, which was co-developed by collaborating with governments, Northerners and Indigenous govern-ments and organizations, is to create more economic opportunities and a better quality of life in the Arctic and North. And together, we are working to co-implement this plan to create jobs, nurture healthy families, and protect our communities from the dangers of climate change.
This means making the most of emerging economic opportunities while ensuring that Northerners are full participants in, and bene-ficiaries of, growth. The goal remains to build a strong North and Arctic together. This vision is what led to the creation of a dedicated Northern Affairs Minister in the federal cabinet – some-thing that had been recommended for some time.
The path forward begins with listening to a broad array of Northern voices, identifying the challenges of the regions, and mapping a strategy
that is driven by Northerners, for Northerners. I will be an advocate for the North, in cabinet, in close collaboration with our Members of Parliament.
During my time in the Northwest Territories, Member of Parliament Michael McLeod and I met with municipal officials, the Premier and Ministers, First Nations leadership, community associations, residents, and others.
A number of issues were raised by Premier Caroline Cochrane, the leadership of the Tlicho government in Behchoko, Dene National Chief Norman Yake-leya, and members of the Northwest Territories Association of Com-munities including climate change and its impacts on Northern com-munities, support for early childhood education, post-secondary education, economic development, housing, infrastructure, transitioning to clean energy, and much more.
I had the opportunity to travel outside Yellowknife, to Behchoko, with Premier Cochrane to visit with residents and hear from the Tlicho government about the urgent housing needs and other needed infrastructure in their communities.
It was a tremendous learning experience and I appreciate the open and honest discussions. In the near future, I am looking forward to visiting many other northern communities to host similar discussions across the north and the Arctic.
Our government will work toward a future in which the people of the Arctic and North are full partners in policy-making for the region, and ensure that they have access to the same services, opportunities, and standards of living as those enjoyed by people in the rest of Canada. Working in partnership, we can build a strong North and Arctic together.
GUeST Comment
Dan Vandal is the minister of Northern
Affairs.
10 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 news
The Government of the Northwest Territories took advan-tage of a major international mining conference to advance Indigenous self-determination in the mineral sector.
The GNWT announced the release of two regional mineral strategies – one by the Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) and the other by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) – on Jan. 21.
The mineral strategies are important and were both
developed with funding from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and in partnership with both the GTC and IRC under the NWT Mineral Development Strategy, stated a GNWT news release.
Both Bobbie Jo Greenland-Morgan, Grand Chief and presi-dent of the GTC and Duane Smith, IRC Chair were present for the unveiling of the mineral development strategies.
"Each strategy outlines existing geological data, maps and information, a comprehensive history of the areas and an out-line of local organizations, groups and authorities," stated the release. "A goal of regional mineral development strategies is to provide a clear vision and direction for mineral explor-ers, investors and others in the industry to guide comprehen-sive, respectful and sustain-able mining practices."
Katrina Nokleby, minis-ter of Industry, Tourism and Investment, said in a Jan. 22 interview: "I think it is a really key piece of development for planning and showing that Indigenous people want to have mineral exploration in their territory."
The other announcement, involved the signing of a contract between the Det'on Cho Nahanni Construction Corporation and Cheetah Resources for mining and maintenance oper-ations at Thor Lake, 100 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife.
The Indigenous construction firm – a subsidiary of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation – will be the contractor for the three-year demonstration project at the Nechalacho site, located on traditional Chief Drygeese territory.
Nokleby said both projects fit into her new government's aim to empower Indigenous people on their own lands.
"These strategies are integral to our work to attract invest-ment in the Northwest Territories mineral industry," she said of the two regional mineral development strategies.
As for the contract signing of Canada's first rare earths project, Nokleby said a similar theme can be drawn, drawing the analogy between a renter and a home owner.
She said with Indigenous people working on their own land, they can oversee to make sure the project is done right with good partnerships and have a larger voice in NWT's mineral industry.
by Simon Whitehouse Northern News Services
Vancouver
Regional minerals strategies and mining operations contracts signed at major B.C. conference
Indigenous self-determination in mineral sector gets a boost
photo courtesy of the Government of the Northwest Territories
Charles Klengenberg, IRC Director of Lands, left, Patrick Gruben, IDC chair; Duane Smith, IRC chair and CEO; Shane Thompson, minister of ENR and Lands; Caroline Cochrane, premier of the Northwest Territories; Bobbie Jo Greenland-Morgan, grand chief/president, Gwich'in Tribal Council; Katrina Nokleby, minister of ITI and Infrastructure; Joy O'Neill, GTC economic development officer; and James Thorbourne, GTC interim chief operating officer, gathered at a conference in Vancouver Jan. 21.
"I think it is a really key piece of development for planning."
Katrina Nokleby
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 11
Despite making up only five per cent of Canada's population, Indigenous people serv-ing federal sentences now represent more than 30 per cent of the overall prison population – a historic high that's renewed calls for fundamen-tal changes to the country's correctional system.
The increasing over-representation of Indigenous people in prisons across Canada is outlined in a report released last week by the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
While the overall number of federal inmates – those serving custodial sentences of two or more years – has dropped in recent years, the proportion of Indigenous people behind bars continues to climb at a "disturbing" and unacceptable rate, says lead investigator Dr. Ivan Zinger.
The number of Indigenous federal inmates has soared by 43.4 per cent since 2010, while the prison population of non-Indigenous individuals has declined by almost 14 per cent over the same period.
'Deepening Indigenization'The passing of the 30 per cent mark, a five
per cent spike from four years ago, signals a "deepening Indigenization," of a correctional system rife with "entrenched imbalances," stated Zinger.
"The Indigenization of Canada's prison population is nothing short of a national trav-esty," he wrote.
The troubling trend is mirrored in NWT jails.
Of the total number of adult inmates in cus-tody at the territory's three correctional facili-ties, 83 per cent are Indigenous, according to GNWT Justice Department spokesperson Sue Glowach.
There are no federal prisons in the NWT. The territory is home to three jails: Yellow-knife's North Slave Correctional Complex, South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River and the Fort Smith Correctional Complex. The facilities are mostly made up of inmates awaiting trial or sentencing – known as remand custody – and inmates serving sentences of less than two years. Federal sentences are usually served in southern prisons but federal offenders sometimes serve their sentences in NWT jails. Currently, there are only two federal offenders in NWT correctional facilities, according to Glowach.
Eighty-two per cent of all sentenced inmates are Indigenous. Of all remanded inmates, 84 are Indigenous, current figures show.
Roughly half of the territory's population is Indigenous. According to "snapshot" data
collected by the justice department last week, all women currently behind bars in the NWT are Indigenous – 100 per cent. News/North has reached out to the Native Women's Association of the NWT for comment.
The stark over-representation mirrors a national trend: Indigenous women now make up 42 per cent of all women in federal custody.
Garth Wallbridge, a Metis lawyer based in Yellowknife who has practised criminal law in the capital and Nunavut, says the report is the latest indication that the country's correctional system simply isn't working.
"Incarceration is seen as a solution, when it's not," Wallbridge told News/North. "We have known in this country for 35 years, if not longer, that the problem is getting worse."
Yet the same approach is used "again and again," he said. People are jailed to deter and denounce crimes, and for the sake of "rehabili-tation," when incarceration should be reserved for offenders who pose a legitimate threat to the public.
"For many Indigenous people today, we now consider prisons and jails to be the new residen-tial schools," said Wallbridge.
"We have to do something different."That will take a "huge shift in focus" – gov-
ernments need to increase funding for alterna-tive sentencing methods, for one thing, he said.
Wallbridge pointed to the success of the Arc-tic Indigenous Wellness Foundation, an initia-tive that focuses on traditional and cultural heal-ing practices in the North. It runs an on-the-land healing camp in Yellowknife.
He said similar initiatives should be adopted across the country to tackle the over-represen-tation of Indigenous people in Canada's prisons and jails.
"Let's deal with Indigenous wellness instead of Indigenous incarceration," said Wallbridge.
Indigenous people's disproportionate pres-ence in correctional systems won't be curbed or reversed until the root causes of crime commit-ted by Indigenous people are confronted, says Yellowknife-based defence lawyer Peter Harte.
"We end up jailing people as punishment. It is a systemic response based on the theory that they have made a choice to become involved in criminal activity when it is frequently the case that ability to make choices is just about the last thing they have," Harte told News/North.
Courts have acknowledged Indigenous peoples' disproportionate presence in the correc-tional system is only getting worse but blame is often placed on government inaction in tackling the underlying causes, said Harte.
"Until courts start saying we are not going to punish people who have come into conflict with the law because of these social problems, government will have little incentive to come to
grips with the real issue," he said.Meanwhile, the territory's crime rate routine-
ly ranks among the highest in Canada. Crime severity rates in the NWT continue to outpace national averages.
"As long as we continue to punish people for crime by putting them in jail, with these crime rates, we will see increasing numbers of Aborig-inal offenders incarcerated," said Harte.
To address one of the nation's "most persis-tent and pressing human rights issues," Zinger's report calls for "bold and urgent action" from the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) – the body responsible for overseeing the custody of federal inmates – and the Canadian government as a whole. For too long, the CSC has "recused itself from any responsibility for Indigenous over-representation," stated Zinger.
Zinger says the CSC needs to make "drastic" changes to lower the rate of re-admissions, and to better equip Indigenous offenders to return safely to their home communities post-incarcer-ation. Echoing calls to action made in the final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), Zinger's report makes a number of recommendations – including appointing a dep-uty commissioner for Indigenous Corrections, bolstering availability to culturally relevant cor-rectional programming and enhancing the role of Indigenous elders in the correctional system.
The report also recommends boosting access to screening, diagnosis and treatment of Indigenous offenders affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Harte, who often represents clients with cognitive deficits, welcomes the idea – a change he says would have an impact on a territorial level, too.
Harte said the correctional system needs to be more responsive to the needs of FASD-affect-ed Indigenous people passing through the courts.
"If we could identify the deficits that are at the heart of their offending, we can maybe focus on fixing the problem as opposed to imposing punishment with the hope that the punished will somehow figure it out," said Harte.
news
by Brendan Burke Northern News Services
NWT
83 per cent of NWT inmates are Indigenous
100 per cent of all women behind bars in territory are Indigenous, current figures show
• Nationally, Indigenous people incarcerated in Canada's prisons are more likely to be placed and held longer in segregation, or solitary confinement.• Federal Indigenous offenders are disproportionately housed in maximum security facilities, are over-represented in incidents related to use of force and self-harm, and serve a higher proportion of their sentence before being granted parole compared to non-Indigenous inmates.• At the current rate, Indigenous people in Canada are on pace to make up 33 per cent of all federal inmates in the next three years.• Indigenous people in Canada face incarceration rates six to seven times higher than the national average.
factfIle INDIGeNOUS INcARceRATION fAcTS
Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator
NNSL file photo
The North Slave Correctional Centre. The proportion of Indigenous people behind bars continues to climb at a "disturbing" and unacceptable rate, says investigator Dr. Ivan Zinger.
12 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020
Book launches amidcommunity celebration
Deline/Fort FranklinResidents of the Sahtu who contributed to the fourth volume
of Dene Heroes of the Sahtu had their first glimpse of the pub-lished book Jan. 18.
A book launch and community celebration was held in Deline at the arena hall from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
"Contributions to the book come from youth, elders, band leaders and community members aged 10 to 89," states Mary-Anne Neal on the Royal Roads University website.
The event included the presentation of books to the Deline Got'ine contributing authors along with a book reading, a culture fair, speeches, supper and a community drum dance.
The book was published under the direction of Royal Roads University faculty member Mary-Anne Neal.
– Erin Steele
Wolf pelt handling workshopFort McPherson/Beaufort
Fort McPherson is hosting a wolf pelt handling workshop on Jan. 28 at the Environmental and Natural Resources Garage. Anyone from the Beaufort Delta is welcome to attend.
In addition to a demonstration on how to properly prepare a wolf pelt, a Yukon conservation officer will also be on hand to present trapping regulations in the neighbouring territory.
Further questions should be relayed to either the ENR Fort McPherson office at (867) 952-2200 or the Inuvik office at (867) 678 6650.
– Eric Bowling
School holds engagement sessionLli Goline/Norman Wells
Those interested in shaping education in the Sahtu had their opportunity to do so during a community engagement session held by the Sahtu Divisional Education Council.
The event was held at the Mackenzie Mountain School in Nor-man Wells on Jan. 17.
Students talked about the strengths and wishes for their school during the morning while community members were invited to participate in the afternoon.
"We want to plan the future of our school based on what the community feels is important," stated a Mackenzie Mountain School bulletin on social media.
For those who couldn't participate in person, an online survey is available until Jan. 31.
– Erin Steele
Film and mural workshopsfor youth
Sachs Harbour and AklavikA series of workshops will be held in both Sachs Harbour and
then Aklavik, on Feb. 18 to 24 and Feb. 25 to 28 respectively.Intended as a way to reconnect youth with both their elders
and their land, with a focus on health and wellness through crea-tivity, the workshops will feature three hosts: actor and public speaker Nadia George, artist and teacher Jennifer Hicks and actor, writer and director Mary Galloway.
The team will work with youth, community members and elders to create stories with film. Each session will culminate in the creation of a mural that best reflects the community.
Anyone interested should reach out to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
– Eric Bowling
Cervical cancer awareness raisedLli Goline/Norman Wells
With the month of January designated as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority held a craft circle covering the topic of cer-vical cancer.
Community members interested in learning about cervical cancer prevention and screening were invited to participate in the event held Jan. 22. from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"Come and join the craft circle, where community members can enjoy the company of one another," stated a bulletin on social media.
"You are welcome to bring your sewing."The event took place in the day program area of the Sahtu
Got'ine Regional Health and Social Services Centre.– Erin Steele
Species at Risk meeting Ulukhaktok
NWT Wildlife Management Advisory Council will be hold-ing its annual Species at Risk update Jan. 27 at Ulukhaktok Community Hall.
The meeting will advise local hunters and trappers of the latest numbers concerning caribou herds and collecting local observations on the Peary caribou herd.
Discussions on the state of other wildlife, such as muskox, moose, beaver and both grizzly and polar bears will also be on the table.
Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. and there will also be door prizes.
– Eric Bowling
Recycling depo comes to townAcho Dene Koe/Fort Liard
Those with recyclables on hand will have their chance to dis-pose of them properly at a mobile recycling depot in Fort Liard.
"Thinking of trashing your electronics or beverage contain-ers? Save them for recycling," states a bulletin on social media.
Recyclable electronics include laptops, computers, printers, televisions and cell phones.
Beverage containers that are accepted are aluminum and plastic containers, glass bottles, tetra packs and drink pouches.
The depot will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 1 and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Feb. 2.
The mobile recycling depot is operated by Tri R Recycling as part of the GNWT's ReThinkIt Program.
– Erin Steele
Public invited to lunchLiidlii Kue/Fort Simpson
Individuals interested in learning about Hotii ts'eeda were invited to attend a free public lunch held by the organization in Fort Simpson.
Hotii ts'eeda supports community-based health research, as a Northwest Territories Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) support centre.
"Hotii ts'eeda aims to connect researchers and communities, build capacity and contribute to a health system that is culturally competent and inclusive of Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing," states its website.
The lunch took place Jan. 22 between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the gymnasium at the Fort Simpson recreation centre.
– Erin Steele
Opportunity for photographersLiidlii Kue/Fort Simpson
Photographers interested in providing their services for the first ever Liidlii Kue Film Festival are invited to submit their proposals to Liidlii Kue First Nation.
"Interested individuals are to send proposals with equipment they can provide (cameras, lighting, etc.) and services (printer on site, number of hours each day, etc.)," stated a bulletin on social media.
Quotes included with the proposal are to cover the cost of all the equipment and services that will be provided by the applicant.
The film festival is scheduled to take place Feb. 21 and 22. The deadline to submit proposals is Jan. 31 at 11:59 p.m.
– Erin Steele
Around the Northif you have an item of interest from your community, call (867) 873-4031, or email: [email protected]
Eric Bowling/NNSL photo
BEsT IN ThE BIzTown of Inuvik peace officer Aaron Waighorn presents Mohamed Alley with the 2019 Taxi Driver of the Year Award at a town council committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 20. Alley was selected with over 80 per cent of customers' votes, with a number of voters noting he is always on time and very dependable.
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 13photo story
East Three School hosted its traditional 3-on-3 basket-ball tournament Jan. 17 to 18, bringing out players of all ages for the fundraising classic. Two courts were established for training purposes while
the other two became battle-grounds as teams of teens, youth, adults, boys and girls all competed for glory. Each team kicked in $10 to help the East Three U15 boys finance trips to several tournaments throughout the year.
Donald Abba races forward with Zaiden Marina in hot pursuit during a fun game in the far courts. Two courts were set aside for competitive games while the second gym was set up for players to hone their skills.
Justin Stewart finishes a layup during a game on Jan. 18 of the East Three 3-on-3 basketball tour-nament as Edward Wolki-Jacobson flies behind him.
Edward Wolki-Jacobson changes direction with Justin Stewart in hot pursuit during a Jan. 18 game at the East Three School 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
Sasha Olesky tries to navigate around a tight guard by Cameron Wolki-Jacobson and Tyson Mistaken Chief during a game. In total, 13 men's teams were formed for the two day tournament.
Northern News Services
How about a little 3-on-3
Hamza Mourtada pivots while Jared Day keeps up during a game on Jan. 18 of the tournament. While originally tiered into adults and teens, the tournament merged in the second day to make up for openings.
by Eric Bowling
BASKeTBAllFeature
14 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020
NWT health minister promises action on child welfare 'crisis'
The NWT's health minister says she's com-mitted to taking "immediate action" to con-front serious, ongoing shortfalls in the terri-tory's troubled child and family services division after foster caregivers and adoptive parents recently slammed a "failing," system in "crisis" they say con-tinues to put vulnerable kids at risk.
Concrete details on how that will be accomplished, however, remain scarce.
In what she calls the "first step" in addressing the wide-ranging concerns and frus-trations of foster families and adoptive in the territory – detailed in interviews with News/North earlier this month – newly-appointed Health and Social Services Minister Diane Thom will sit down with board members of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT on Jan. 30.
The planned meeting, described by coali-tion executive director Tammy Roberts as a
"long overdue," last ditch effort to have the voices of "exhausted," unsupported and fed-up caregivers heard, comes on the heels of a scathing 27-page letter, accompanied by a host of recommendations, sent to the minister by the coalition.
Thom agreed to hear their concerns after serious griev-ances were aired to media.
"This is not good," Thom told News/North in an inter-view Jan. 23, referencing the major shortcomings outlined by foster caregivers in the let-ter.
News/North recently sat down with several care pro-viders who, sharing shocking stories of mistreatment and miscommunication, lamented prevailing gaps in oversight, accountability and support from Child and Family Servi-
ces. Foster parents said they'd taken in appre-hended children without being told they were carrying contagious infections. Others said they had faced verbal abuse, lies and harass-ment from child protection employees and social workers.
"I'm very concerned about some of the issues raised in the letter," said Thom.
"Foster families have a right to voice their frustrations, especially if their needs aren't being met," she said.
"We need to take some actions and that's what we hope to accomplish (at the meeting)."
Thom said her current focus is "rebuilding" and "re-estab-lishing" the health department's relationship with the foster family coalition.
Following the meeting slated for later this month, Thom said she plans on turning the concerns into "immediate action."
Improvements toutedIn December, the Depart-
ment of Health and Social Ser-vices released a report touting improvements made to the territory's Child and Family Services division, citing the com-pletion of 23 out of 70 "action items." Rejecting assertions that progress had been made, foster parents later said if any improvements had been accomplished since 2018 – when Can-
ada's auditor general released a scathing audit into the NWT's worsening child welfare sys-tem – they certainly weren't seeing it on the ground level.
As minister, Thom told News/North she has "directed a special focus to be put on address-
ing and improving things on the ground."
Asked what those ground level directives are, Thom pro-vided few details, but said she wants to hear about "training, respite care and reimburse-ment" – pressing issues high-lighted by caregivers in the coalition's letter – at the Jan. 30 meeting.
While emphasizing that she's committed to tackling problems that continue to plague the NWT's child welfare system, Thom said improve-ments won't happen overnight.
"This is going to take time," the minister said.
"Our department has a lot of work to do."Meanwhile, coalition head Roberts remains
hopeful that the end-of-the-month meeting will usher in real change.
by Brendan Burke Northern News Services
Somba K'e/Yellowknife
'Foster families have a right to voice their frustrations'
DIANE THOM TAMMY RObERTS
news
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 15
Those lucky enough to make one of the teams for the 2020 Arctic Winter Games this March will have their flights looked after through charters.
Those parents lucky enough to have their child make one of the teams for the 2020 Arctic Winter Games will have the chance to go over and cheer them on.
Air North has set up a sched-uled flight for parents and fans to make the trip to Whitehorse for the duration of the Games and it's prov-
ing to be quite popular. As of press time, more than half of the available seats have been gobbled up.
The only catch is to get the flight, people will have to get to Yellow-knife first as the flight won't be making any other stops in between.
Ed Peart, Air North's manager of charters, said putting the flight out there came after contact from Doug Rentmeister, Team NT's chef de mission for the Games.
"Doug came to us to see what we had in mind for transportation," he said. "We knew the interest would be there and so we came up with a plan to get a sense of how many
people would be interested. Making it a scheduled flight had its risks but we had a good feeling it would be well-received and it just made sense to do a direct scheduled flight."
Rentmeister said the original idea was to have a charter flight but there were plenty of inquiries and requests for seats, leading to the decision to make it a scheduled flight.
"We got a real good rate and so we opened it up to everyone who wants to go," he said. "We had talked with other airlines but every-thing worked out with Air North and it puts people in Whitehorse at
a pretty affordable price."This isn't the first time Air North
has opened up its fleet for Arctic Winter Games travel involving the NWT; the airline also handled a charter flight for parents and fans heading to the 2014 Games in Fair-banks, Alaska. That was organized by Louise Schumann of Hay River and was a near-full flight.
"We're lucky that we can respond to this sort of request and be flexible to others' needs," said Peart. "We always try to work with people and groups to come up with solutions."
Peart is anticipating a full flight and if that happens, there may be a
second scheduled flight but there's no guarantee of that happening.
"You never say never in this business because we'll look at all of the options on the table at any time," he said. "We do have our new Yellowknife-Vancouver route avail-able and that's an option for people who may miss out on this flight to get to Whitehorse and join us for the Games."
One thing Rentmeister said can't be helped is the accommodations once the plane lands in Whitehorse.
"The accommodations are going to be the challenge because it's pret-ty tight," he said.
Air North provides direct Yellowknife-Whitehorse flight for Arctic Winter Games parents and fans
AWG parents can now book transportation to Whitehorse
Brier spot up for grabsHay River
The 2020 Tim Hortons Brier will be in Kingston, Ont., start-ing on Feb. 29 and who will represent the NWT is still up in the air.
The NWT Men's Curling Championship gets underway in Hay River on Jan. 30 with five teams from Yellowknife and Hay River doing battle for the right to wear the colours next month. Jamie Koe and his rink from the Yellowknife Curling Centre
go in as the defending champions and they will be up against the Yellowknife rinks skipped by Greg Skauge and Glen Hudy as well as Darcy Delorey and Keith Dohey, who will skip the hometown rinks.
The set-up is similar to the women's championship earlier this month with the five teams playing a single round-robin with the top team advancing straight to the final while the second and third-place teams duke it out in the semifinal for the right to play in the final.
See a future edition of News/North for the results.
Canoe coaches wantedNWT
Canoe/kayak has been a sport which has been kind to the NWT at the North American Indigenous Games over the years and the NWT Kayak Association is looking for some coaches to help keep that success going.
The head coach and assistant coach positions are open and
anyone who's looking to apply must have the Competition Coaching certification along with the Aboriginal Coaching Modules and a clean criminal record check, among other things.
The deadline to apply is Feb. 2 at midnight and you can get in touch with Shona Barbour for all the details.
Squash players hit the capitalSomba K'e/Yellowknife
The NWT Junior Squash Championships happened in Yellowknife on Jan. 18 and 19 with 20 players hitting the courts to win one of the divisions up for grabs.
Three of those players came from Fort Smith under the tutel-age of Arthur Taylor and one came very close to winning the top divisions. Jason Jones ended up finishing third in the A division and his result wasn't a surprise to Jeff Hipfner, the tournament organizer.
"He went with us to the Jesters tournament in Alberta back in November and he played really well down there," he said.
Parents of athletes heading to the Arctic Winter Games will have their transportation worries checked off the to-do-list as Air North has provided a scheduled direct flight to Whitehorse for those looking to make the trip over.
16 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 sports & recreation
SportS CardHockey
Sam Skinner
AGe: 16 community: Inuvik
Sam will be part of the midget boys hock-ey squad for Team NT at the 2020 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse this coming March. He's a veteran of many things hockey in the NWT including the 2019 Canada Winter Games, 2019 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships and 2018 Arctic Winter Games, where he won gold with the bantam boys team.
The 2020 New Holland Canadian Juniors in Lang-ley, B.C., is all over and the NWT's rinks are heading back home following play.
The boys rink, skipped by Sawer Kaeser of the Fort Smith Curling Club, were still winless as of press time as they played their final games in the seeding pool. The girls rink, skipped by Tyanna Bain out of the Inuvik Curling Club, had a bit more luck in
the win column as they won two in a row in the final stages of the competition over Yukon (10-4) and Nunavut (9-7).
Here's some of the players in action during the week that was.
Adam Naugler of Yellowknife judges the weight during a practice shot.
Adrianna Hendrick of Inuvik is all concentration as she delivers a stone.
Darren Langis/Curling Canada photos
Pearl Gillis of Inuvik, centre, delivers a rock as Adrianna Hendrick, left, and Mataya Gillis wait to apply the brooms.
Garret Minute of Fort Smith works on his delivery before action.
Junior curlers finish up in B.C.cURlING
Featureby Darren Langis
Northern News Serviceslangley, Bc
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 17sports & recreation
Stealing signs in baseball has been going on since the sport was invented. It's a crappy thing to do but it happens.
It's an unwritten rule in the game: you don't do it or you'll face on-field justice. I know that personally … ask my rib cage when I stole a sign in a game back in 1997. Ate a fastball right in the midsection and when I rubbed off the pain, the opposing catcher was in my face and said the follow-ing: "I (expletive) dare you."
The reference was me charg-ing the pitcher or sticking a boot in the catcher's sphincter. With my temper, I had that split-sec-ond thought but I knew better because I would have done the exact same thing to a batter who stole my signs. A taste of my own medicine, if you will. I got caught and that was my sentence.
But as much as it's frowned upon, it isn't illegal so long as you aren't using any sort of mechanical device to do it. Whelp, the Houston Astros found out the hard way what happens when you do that and Major League Baseball (MLB) dropped the ham-mer earlier this month.
How did this happen? Here's how:Journalists Ken Rosenthal and Evan
Dreilich first made things public when they co-authored a story in The Atlantic about how the Astros were engaging in sign-stealing through electronic means. The allegations were made by Mike Fiers, who pitched with the Astros in 2017, the year when this all apparently happened and the year the Astros won the World Series. Fiers said a camera was installed in centre field to get the signs from opposing teams. That feed was then transmitted to someone in the tunnel leading from the dugout to the club-house, where a team member would bang on a trash can to indicate to a batter what pitch was coming.
Jimmy O'Brien, better known as Jom-boy on YouTube, uploaded a video which seemed to confirm the trash can-banging and I watched it for the first time while writing this. It involved Danny Farquhar, who was pitching for the Chicago White
Sox at the time, picking up on it in the seventh pitch of an at-bat. From the start of that at-bat, you can clearly hear banging of a trash can in the background and the batter managing to figure out what to swing at and what to lay off. Holy cheating, Batman.
MLB launched an investigation immedi-ately following The Atlantic's original story and Jeff Luhnow, the Astros' then-general manager, said the team would co-operate with the investigation while doing its own digging.
The hammer dropped on Jan. 13 when Rob Man-fred, MLB's commissioner, announced that the investiga-tion indeed showed that the Astros did engage in electronic sign-stealing for all of 2017 and parts of 2018 but no evidence of anything untoward when the
team won the American League pennant this past season. The trash can scenario was proven and only an idiot could say there's no proof of that. That's how they did it and they got caught.
All of this nefarious, James Bond-like spying cost the Astros a $5-million fine, the most that could be levied under MLB's con-stitution, and their first and second-round draft pick in 2020 and 2021. Luhnow and A.J. Hinch, the team's then-managers, were suspended by MLB for the 2020 season for their roles, though both pleaded innocence. Astros owner Jim Crane went further and fired both of them as soon as the results were made public.
That's a good start but it needs to go fur-ther. But before I explain why, please spare me the whole thing about how other teams steal signs or tip pitches. As I said, it hap-pens all the time but what the Astros did was absolutely beyond the pale. They knew what they were doing was wrong and they didn't think they would get caught. They did and they need to pay the price for it.
Hinch and Luhnow were in on the whole thing. You expect me to believe Hinch wasn't? Someone's banging a trash can all game long and he doesn't go and wonder what in the hell all the banging is about?
The fine and firings are a good start but more needs to be done. The Astros need to
be stripped of the 2017 World Series title. They broke the rules all season long and that title is tainted to crap. Players needed to be punished as well. They were in on it as well and Jomboy's video proved it. How did the players escape punishment? They knew what pitches to take and what to swing on. How else do you explain the trash can?
Are the Astros the only team doing it? Probably not and this has happened before. Recall when the Boston Red Sox used an Apple Watch, ironically enough in 2017, to try and steal signs against the New York
Yankees? You know other teams have been doing it. Every team looks for the upper hand and will do whatever it can to get an edge. It's been happening since the begin-ning of organized sports and it will con-tinue. There will be another team that will look to go all 007 and steal signs. Whether they get caught is another story.
So let paranoia reign in MLB because that's what the 2020 season will look like. As for the Astros, they should change their name to something a bit more appropriate:
The Houston Asterisks.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2017 World Series champions: the Houston Asterisks
photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Mike Fiers, seen during the 2016 Major League baseball season with the Houston Astros, blew the lid off of the sign-stealing scandal which embroiled his now-former team.
SPORTS Talk
with James McCarthy
Northern News Services
18 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020
NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 19
20 NEWS/NORTH NWT, Monday, January 27, 2020 news
As long as she can remember, Jennilee Vaneltsi always wanted to be on a cook-ing show.
"One of my favourite channels on my dish at home is the Food Network," she said. "I told myself one of these days I would be on there. So I kind have gotten it off my bucket list."
Now, her dream is becoming reality as the Fort McPherson cook is set to compete on the Food Network's Wall of Chefs Feb. 3, where she and five other cooks from around Canada will engage in a cook-off with several rows of the finest cooks in Canada.
After each round, one of the competitor chefs is eliminated and the last one stand-ing against the wall is awarded $10,000.
"I'm super excited – it's a once in a lifetime opportunity," she said. "I didn't think I would even make the cut for it, I was going to back out at the last minute. But I decided to give it a try and I made the cut and got to fly down to Toronto to do a shoot.
"I would add that anyone who would want to be on a show like this should go for it. If I can be picked out of a million applicants, anyone is capable of doing it. You only live once. You may as well step out of your boundaries and try something new."
Cooking is in Vaneltsi's blood. As long as she has been able to, she's been cooking something. Over time, she has expanded her craft and keeps challenging herself, starting with traditional cooking of wild game and moving to learning to cook Chi-nese cuisine and of course lots of baking.
For her, cooking is both a good stress reliever and a way to express herself. It is also a way to give back to the community. Even though she's putting her cooking up on display on national television, Vaneltsi said she wanted to use her airtime to draw attention to the issues facing her home-town.
"I want to make awareness for protect-ing the porcupine caribou herd, one of our main sources of food up here in the North," she said. "Also to protect the Peel River Watershed, which runs along my community.
"We have one of the most pristine water sources in the world and we want to protect it."
She made a special shout-out to her children, Jenelle, J'Lyn and Jathana, for both giving her someone to cook for and keep in practice, but also for her inspira-tion.
"Thank you to all my supporters who love my cooking, especially my three children," she said. "These three have kept me going. They're the ones that make me reach my goals. I want to inspire them and show them they can make goals for themselves and reach them, they just have to try.
"Just take a chance, you never know."Regardless of how well she does on the
show, Vaneltsi said she was happy to have gotten to fill an entry on her bucket-list. Her next big dream?
"I really want to open up something in my community. It's a work in process, but hopefully I'll get there soon," she said. "It's my life goal to open something at home."
While she competes Feb. 3, the episode airs Feb. 10 on the Food Network.
Jennilee Vaneltsi to compete on Wall of Chefs Feb. 3 on the Food Network
NWT chef makes Food Network show
Jennilee Vaneltsi is set to appear on Food Network's Wall of Chefs Feb. 3, com-peting against four other cooks from across Canada and getting feedback from a plethora of the nation's finest cooks. The show will air Feb. 10.
