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As chair of the Yellowknife Harbour Planning Committee, I am writing to clarify some points raised in your Jan. 25 editorial ("City can't afford harbour agency," Yellowknifer).

Firstly, the caption under the accompanying photo showing a portion of the Back Bay shoreline stated, "The city's draft harbour plan includes provisions for a new park and floatplane dock on the Latham Island waterfront where private docks are now situated." The editorial further identifies the draft Harbour Plan as, "an ambitious blueprint for changing and regulating ... private and public waterfront property." Given these statements, I highly recommend that Yellowknifer, and residents, distinguish between legitimate private uses and illegitimate private uses (e.g., "private" docks on public land). Clearly, if the city moves to develop park spaces, kayak storage, shoreline trails, floatplane docking, or recover natural shoreline, it will only be done on legitimate private property if agreement is reached with current owners.

The city is not in the habit of expropriating land. However, if the city chooses to take back privately used public land, what's wrong with that?

Another point suggested in the editorial is that the time-line for public input on the draft plan is tight ("residents only have until Feb. 9 to comment"). The City Newsletter has had an ad for comments every week since Dec. 16, 2011. Additionally, there were 11 focus groups and two open houses held in June 2011 to get public input.

As of Jan. 26, 2012 about 35 submissions had been received by the city, and no doubt there will be more by the Feb. 9 deadline.

Lastly, the editorial raises concern that the recommended approach to getting a harbour agency underway "sounds like pretty big dollars." This is unfounded. As identified in the "Preferred Approach for Harbour Management" section of the draft plan, the immediate-term recommendation is to "assign or hire senior level staff" to coordinate phased implementation of the plan, establish an interdepartmental harbour agency, and negotiate the city's jurisdiction through a memorandum of understanding between the city, federal government, GNWT, and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. It is very likely this will be done with existing staff resources. And, despite Yellowknifer's view, negotiating and establishing jurisdiction is hardly "just paperwork." It will require commitment and time, but is key to a comprehensive, coordinated approach to managing the multitude of interests, rights, uses, and activities on and around Yellowknife and Back bays.

Shelagh Montgomery
City councillor
Yellowknife
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I am writing in response to the article "Money raised for GirlSpace" (Yellowknifer, Jan. 18). Firstly, thank you for the attention given to this program—its philosophy and anti-oppressive approach to working with young girls is a valuable tool in their development as young leaders working toward personal empowerment and the empowerment of women everywhere.

I am writing however, to point out an error, as the error I feel could potentially be stigmatizing to the program and goes against one of the fundamentals of the program—inclusivity. GirlSpace is not for "disadvantaged girls."

We take great strides to ensure that participants come from all socio-economic backgrounds, and the groups are comprised of girls from different family forms and cultures.

The prerequisite to attending is that you must be a girl—that's it!

While disadvantaged girls might attend, they will attend alongside girls from every socio-economic background, and this is essential as GirlSpace strives to remain accessible and inclusive to all girls.

Again, thank you for your attention to this valuable program.

Ashley MacDonald
Yellowknife
Friday, January 20, 2012

As a pedestrian, cyclist and occasional motorist, let me make these points ("Cyclists call for multi-use paths," Yellowknifer, Jan. 18):

I do not want to share the sidewalk with cyclists. A good friend had her life and promising career destroyed when she was struck by a cyclist as she stepped off the curb in Toronto. She spent the rest of her days in a coma. That is a real risk, unless pedestrians will be required to wear helmets.

As an occasional motorist, I want to draw the attention of sidewalk cycling advocates to the danger at crosswalks. Bicycles move much faster than pedestrians; a cyclist darting into a motorist's field of vision runs the risk of being struck.

Finally, as a cyclist, where are the long-promised bicycle lanes on Yellowknife's main thoroughfares; where is the public education program for drivers who think they have exclusive right to the road?

Jack Danylchuk
Lima, Peru
Friday, January 20, 2012

I don't always agree with what local newspapers say; I don't always read everything in a paper; and I often grumble about how a story is reported. However, I have always appreciated local newspapers for their role in communities. Never more so than today.

A November visit to Arizona led me to Tuzigoot National Monument. While there, I encountered a couple wishing to have their picture taken with a copy of their local paper, Havasu's Today's News-Herald for a contest the newspaper was running. Unfortunately, their camera batteries had died so I offered to take pictures with my camera and e-mail them to the couple.

As happens, technology failed and I was left with pictures of complete strangers on my camera and two people likely very unhappy with a certain Canadian. The only way I could think to solve this dilemma was to contact the newspaper directly.

That was six weeks ago. With no word back from the newspaper, I continued to worry about the predicament. Today, I received a wonderful thank you card from the couple. Unbeknownst to me, the newspaper had put a small ad in the personals seeking the couple and informing them they had their picture. Norma and Dwight (they now had names) had seen the ad, obtained their pictures and sent their gratitude.

So I wish to thank all local newspapers for their contributions to our world. Again, I won't always agree or like everything - but where would we be without them!

Stephanie Yuill
Yellowknife
Friday, January 20, 2012

Thank you for covering the Yk1 Education District No. 1 school board meeting, reported in the Friday Jan. 13 paper ("Canadian Parents for French commend board," Jan. 13, Yellowknifer).

I gave a presentation to the board on behalf of Canadian Parents for French - NWT Branch. Please note that Yk1 does have a French immersion program (starting in kindergarten and continuing through Grade 12). In fact, it has an entire school (École J.H. Sissons) devoted to French immersion.

As I noted to the board, my children are in the French immersion program, and it is a very successful one. Students can take an advanced placement exam at the end of their studies, and have performed extremely well. Advanced placement exams are regarded to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college or university.

To add an option to the French immersion and core French, the Yk1 board began an intensive and enhanced French program in 2006.

This program targets the approximately 80 per cent of student who were not interested or able to join the immersion program for any reason, and gives them another opportunity to become bilingual. Intensive French is in Grade 6, with 70 per cent of the first semester taught in French.

This is followed by more hours in French in subsequent years compared to the regular core French program. It is, as reported, no substitute for French immersion, which yields a higher level of expertise in the language. However, the intensive program, in conjunction with the subsequent years of enhanced French, is giving impressive results. Intensive French has proven so successful that this year it has expanded from Range Lake North and is now also offered at William McDonald Middle School.

Karen Hamre
President, Canadian Parents for French - NWT Branch
Friday, January 20, 2012

I agree wholeheartedly with longtime Northerners Barry Taylor and former Ndilo chief Fred Sangris. Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) is not to be trusted. They have consistently manipulated the caribou surveys and data to produce declining caribou herds, when, in fact, the caribou herds are flourishing.

At the ENR library, there is a research paper, by Dr. Frank Banfield, written in 1949, documenting the caribou harvest and methodology by the First Nations.

He went village to village, interviewing hunters. His research showed the NWT caribou harvest to be about 100,000 caribou a year. Caribou carcasses were stockpiled as the hunters travelled across the land, so that there would be feed for the dog teams should there be an absence of caribou when the hunters returned via the same route (ask the elders.)

In the 1970s, the dog teams were done away with (often shot by government employees) as the hunters switched to snowmobiles.

The caribou harvest plummeted from 100,000 to now less than 20,000 a year (NWT and Nunavut combined.) The numbers of caribou the First Nations, resident hunters, and outfitters take today is nothing. In fact, the NWT caribou are the most under-harvested herds of caribou in the world. This is the reason the caribou herds have grown from 360,000 in 1980 (according to ENR numbers) to 1,534,000 in 2005. Calf survival over the past five years is the highest ever recorded over that period of time. The reason the Bathurst herd is down is that ENR refuses to count the caribou on all of the traditional calving ground.

If the survey of the Bathurst herd does not include a count of all the caribou on the traditional Bathurst calving grounds (east and west of the Bathurst Inlet), then it will be a worthless survey, and a waste of $350,000 of taxpayer money.

The government is now saying that the Ahiak herd no longer exists, and that caribou east of the Bathurst Inlet are Beverly caribou. That is pure nonsense. They are Bathurst caribou, on the traditional Bathurst calving ground.

What you have here is pure politics, not science. And the sad part is, the "Green Gone Wild" guys at ENR are succeeding. Nunavut exploration is booming, and hunting there is open. NWT exploration has ground to a halt, and hunting is closed for residents and non-residents.

Although planned beforehand, it all started with the actual split of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development into ENR and Industry, Tourism and Investment. Balance, and governmental honesty, is what is needed. Like Barry and Fred, I have zero trust in anything produced by ENR. Their manipulation of data, and complete lack of transparency is obvious to anyone who has actually taken the time to look at it.

Which is, of course, why the outfitters are seeking justice through the court system.

John Andre
Hamilton, Mont.
Friday, January 20, 2012

In your December 19, 2011 article entitled "Future of Internet is up in the air" you state "If the Internet were bounced from Kuujjuaq, where there is a fibre-optic cable to the south..."

I can assure you with 100 per cent certainty that there is no fibre connection from Kuujjuaq or any other community in Nunavik to the south. Nunavik's data telecommunications are served primarily by Tamaani Internet, a section of the Kativik Regional Government.

This network uses technology that is nearly identical to what is used on the Qiniq network and is completely satellite-based.

The nearest point to Kuujjuaq with fibre connectivity is the Eeyou Communication Network in Radisson, Que., which is roughly 750 km southwest with no road, rail or power lines between the two.

Nunavik has exactly the same challenges as Nunavut with regards to telecommunications. We have no choice but to use satellite communications to serve our Arctic, fly-in only communities.

The cost is just as high, the capacity as limited and the latency as extreme as the service in Nunavut.

That aside, I applaud any initiative that seeks out-of-the-box solutions that could solve the telecommunication challenges in all remote Inuit communities, be they in Nunavut or Nunavik. The lack of a persistent national program to fund satellite-based telecommunications in the Arctic have us perpetually in crisis mode, scrambling from program to program to fund our extremely fragile telecommunications infrastructure.

I welcome any research initiative that could lead to lower costs or better network performance.

From Jean-Francois Dumoulin
Assistant-Director, Tamaani Internet
Kativik Regional Government
Kuujjuaq, Que.
Friday, January 20, 2012

I have been biking to work for over 20 years in both winter and summer.

In the winter, store owners along Franklin Avenue are required by the city to keep the sidewalks clear of snow. Many owners comply by brushing the snow off the sidewalk into the curb of the road.

The snow buildup along the curb is very difficult for biking and for my own safety there are times when I need to bike on the sidewalk.

I agree biking should not be allowed on sidewalks but I also believe the city should work with store owners on a more appropriate method for snow clearing that is not a safety hazard for bikers.

Penny Johnson
Yellowknife
Friday, January 20, 2012

I just want to start the New Year of 2012 on a proper footing. I have just searched the Internet for salaries of MLAs vis-a-vis nurses' salaries, and the spread in dollars is quite astounding!

MLAs are awarded a base salary of $96,615 and upon becoming a minister are awarded a further $51,709 which brings a cabinet minister's salary to a whopping $148,224 per year!

A nurse, on the other hand, makes considerably less and works varied shifts and performs, in many cases, life-saving procedures.

Why are our MLAs paid such bloated salaries and our nurses are kept to the bare minimum?

It is time for the public to become involved and elevate our nurses' pay to at least equal to that of an MLA; I mean, the MLAs are basically part-time workers, aren't they?

Oh, I know I will get some grief from them about how hard they work in the community, but the simple fact is that I have lived in the same seniors' apartment building for over five years, and I have had one knock on my door by my MLA, and that was at the last election time when he was soliciting my vote! Shame on them!

Tom Brown
Yellowknife
Friday, January 20, 2012

Bravo to the Stanton Territorial Hospital for the tobacco ban, especially for mental health patients ("Hospital correct to ban smoking," Yellowknifer, Jan. 4). The myth that smoking offers some attributes for mental health patients could not be any further from the truth. Smoking compounds many of the health problems already experienced by people with mental illnesses. Combined with drug therapies that often make them overweight, they are at even greater risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes if they smoke.

The biggest cause of death among people with mental illness is not suicide, it is cardiovascular disease. Although it is much harder for a person with a mental illness to quit smoking, the reasons are all the more compelling: the financial costs, accelerated susceptibility to diabetes, heart disease and strokes; and the fact that smoking reduces and/or changes the effectiveness of psychiatric medications.

Moving sideways somewhat, there are now a growing number of studies that also suggest that mental illness, including common conditions such as anxiety disorders and depression, can actually be caused by smoking.

Harvard University researchers studied cigarette smoking and mental health in 4,500 adolescents and adults. Mentally healthy teenagers who smoked at least one pack a day had a: Sixteen times greater risk of developing panic attacks; seven times greater risk of developing serious phobias; and a five times greater risk of anxiety attacks.

Stanton Hospital has made a change based on proven studies to elevate patient health care and not for the sake of political correctness. Any upgrade in mental health care that benefits both the patient and the embattled families involved is always welcomed.

Cam Maclean
St. Catharines, Ont.
Friday, January 20, 2012

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