by JASON van RASSEL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--Who, or what, is a Nunavut leader?
Nunavut MLAs and Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak have different answers to that seemingly simple question. And in that gulf of opinion lies the answer to why this weekend's Nunavut leaders' conference in Arviat has been scrubbed.
A news release issued Tuesday by the Legislative Assembly says the meeting has been postponed because Indian Affairs minister Ron Irwin and any other federal officials are unable to participate.
What's wrong with Jack?
Because Anawak is Irwin's parliamentary secretary in addition to being the MP for Nunatsiaq, he would have been a suitable stand-in for the federal minister, Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien said.
"I thought that was his role, to speak on the minister's behalf," he said from Arviat Tuesday. "It baffles me that the minister can't send one of his many, many advisors."
Irwin was unable to attend the Arviat meeting because of a prior commitment, but Anawak said he never intended to go as Irwin's stand-in or as a representative of the federal government.
"I guess that's a bit of an insult to me, if I'm considered a federal official," Anawak said Tuesday, laughing. "As the Nunatsiaq MP, I'm part of that Nunavut leadership."
Besides, Anawak said, if the meeting was supposed to be for Nunavut leaders, why was it necessary for federal representatives to attend in the first place?
"As far as everybody was calling it, it was supposed to be a 'Nunavut leaders' summit'--not a summit with the Nunavut leaders with the federal departmental officials or minister."
Who will pay for Nunavut?
But O'Brien and Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco said the Nunavut caucus should have had a chance to meet with Irwin before the federal cabinet makes key decisions about Nunavut.
Irwin is scheduled to go before cabinet some time next month to discuss important matters like the incremental costs of setting up two new territories, financing Nunavut's infrastructure and the role of an interim commissioner for Nunavut.
As a self-described "rookie MLA," Picco said he doesn't know what kind of information or financial figures Irwin will be presenting to the federal cabinet. Meanwhile, people want to know how much it will cost to set up Nunavut and if the federal government has enough money--questions Picco says he can't answer.
"People are asking me those questions--it's all right here," he said, holding up a pile of questionnaires he's received from constituents.
"The bottom line is that the people of Nunavut have a right to know what's happening and they have a right to have input," O'Brien said.
April meeting planned
But it's not like the Nunavut leaders missed their only chance to speak to Irwin, Anawak said, adding that Irwin has agreed to meet with them in April.
"I don't see this as a hindrance to moving forward," he said. "I think there has to be ongoing consultations between the government of the Northwest Territories and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs."
John Amagoalik, who heads the Nunavut Implementation Commission, said he expects Irwin's submission to be largely based on the NIC's Iqaluit capital model.
And if that's the case, he can wait until April to meet with Irwin. "If it's true that the cabinet document is based on our recommendations, I don't worry too much," he said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the people of Arviat had been preparing food, accommodation and entertainment for the influx of visitors.
"I was speaking to the community and it's easy to understand that they're disappointed--this was a big event," O'Brien said.
Still, O'Brien said he's been assured that the meeting--whenever it's rescheduled--will be held in Arviat.
In the meantime, O'Brien said he'll try to make the most of the delay. "It'll give us more time to come up with some good questions," he said.
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by JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--Get ready to tighten your belts a notch or two.
NWT Finance Minister John Todd said at a news conference last Thursday that he'll make an "earnest effort" to balance the GNWT's budget within one year.
Todd reported that the GNWT is now facing the possibility of a $150 million deficit if they don't do anything to reduce the government's spending.
"I think there's a general agreement amongst everyone at this time that we should make an earnest effort to try to reach deficit elimination in one year," Todd told reporters.
The NWT's Deficit Elimination Act requires the territorial government to balance its budget by the 1998-99 fiscal year, in time for division of the NWT and the creation of Nunavut.
How did we reach $150 million?
Todd said the GNWT's projected deficit is made up of the following elements:
* $60 million less revenue from Ottawa because of a 5 per cent reduction in the base used in the federal-territorial formula financing agreement announced in March of 1995 by federal Finance Minister Paul Martin;
* $40 million in spending forced upon the GNWT by growth in health, social services and education;
* $20 million carried over from the 1995-96 fiscal year;
* $30 million less revenue from Ottawa caused by changes in provincial and municipal spending in Ontario that affect the NWT's formula financing agreement.
Though Todd and Morin both said the GNWT's deficit problem is "manageable," they said deciding how to deal with it won't be easy.
"I think it's important to point out, and I've said this to my colleagues in the committee, some of the changes that may be required may take a little longer, and may require a little bit more time to manage the changes," Todd said.
Todd says that's because necessary changes in the "social envelope" departments may take longer.
Forced spending in cash-guzzling social envelope departments like Health and Social Services, and Education, Culture and Employment, account for $40 million of the GNWT's projected shortfall.
Details later this month
Todd and Morin dodged questions about how many territorial government employees will be fired, or what programs may be cut or reduced in size.
But Todd did say that when the legislative assembly resumes sitting later this month, "we'll be making a much more detailed statement on where the cuts are going to be."
But the territorial government won't introduce its 1996-97 budget until late April or early May, Todd said.
Morin said that's so cabinet members and ordinary MLAs can "take the time to make quality decisions."
"All the MLAs will be going back to their ridings and consulting their communities so we can develop a budget that our communities want," Morin said. "We know that we have to make some reductions, but we will do that fairly and with an even hand."
Smaller public service
Todd and Morin also said there will be a smaller public service after their government's deficit-cutting exercise is finished.
"All the programs we deliver have been reviewed and many will be reduced," Todd said. "Some programs may be eliminated altogether.
Funding to other levels of government like boards and agencies will be reduced. Wages and benefit packages will have to be reduced.
"It would be fair to say that after the budget reform process is completed, there will be fewer public sector employees in the Northwest Territories."
Todd said though that the GNWT will respect the collective bargaining process and treat employees in a "fair and equitable manner."
Not on the backs of the poor
And Morin said the GNWT won't balance the budget on the backs of the poor.
"We have to balance our budget in a fair manner and we have to ensure that when we do that, we do not do that on the backs of those people on social assistance or those people who depend on the government for a helping hand," Morin said.
Morin said, however, that "the people of the Northwest Territories have made it very clear, we no longer can afford to run a huge government with layers and layers of bureaucracy."
"Community empowerment"
Morin promised that the GNWT will soon allow block funding in future agreements to transfer GNWT programs and responsibilities to community governments.
Under the current community transfer initiative policy, communities must negotiate several individual agreements with several government departments.
That usually means that hamlet councils don't have the ability to move money from one program to another according to the community's priorities.
But with block funding, one block of money would be transferred to each community to run several different programs.
After that, the community council could decide how much to spend on what programs. Morin calls that "community empowerment."
Along with Premier Don Morin, Todd had summoned reporters from across the NWT to explain the NWT's financial situation because of "conflicting reports in the media concerning the size of the fiscal problem."
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by JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--The first of a long line of prosecution witnesses have begun reaching into their childhood memories to give evidence about what happened between retired teacher Maurice Cloughley and some of his former Inuit and Dene students.
The 62-year-old Cloughley is now spending five days a week sitting in an Iqaluit courtroom, on trial for 22 sex-related charges connected to incidents alleged to have occurred between 1959 and 1987 in six northern communities where he taught.
The first of about 65 prosecution witnesses began stepping into the witness box Feb. 2. It's expected the trial will last for four to six weeks.
Last week, Crown lawyer Pierre Rousseau tabled as evidence several three-ring binders bulging with copies of photographs taken by Cloughley.
Members of the seven-man, five-woman jury also have binders containing copies of the pictures, which both lawyers frequently refer to throughout the trial.
Photos and swimming
Much of the evidence that the jury has heard involves the photographing of naked children.
For example, on Thursday afternoon, a woman from Deline--formerly Fort Franklin--said through a Slavey interpreter that on one occasion Cloughley asked her and other students to remove their clothes, after which he took their pictures.
Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Valdis Foldats, the same witness said it wasn't unusual at that time for children to strip off their wet clothes after swimming.
On re-direct examination from Rousseau, the woman said that on that one occasion, Cloughley actually asked them to remove their clothes.
"That one incident, he requested that we take our clothes off and that's when he took our pictures," she said.
Strips of negatives
A man who lived in Fort Franklin from 1960-68 said he once saw a strip of 15-20 recently developed negatives hanging up to dry in Cloughley's bathroom.
On each frame, the man said, was a picture of a naked child.
"Did you think this was a usual thing?" Rousseau asked.
"My first thought is that maybe the nurse, who was at Fort Norman, might have needed the photographs," the man responded.
Giving baths to students
A woman from Arctic Bay said Cloughley once touched her "vagina area" while he was bathing her and her sister at the school. The woman said she was seven at the time.
"When he was touching my vagina area, his breathing became different," the woman said through an interpreter.
Rousseau then asked the woman to describe Cloughley's breathing. "It was like when husband and wife are making love," the woman said. "It was like that."
When Rousseau asked her how, at the age of seven, she could have known that, she said that before that incident she had been sexually assaulted by someone else.
Powerful qallunaaqs
A woman from Grise Fiord said that during the time Cloughley taught there, from 1967 to 1969, the settlement's white residents were all-powerful.
"I was brought up as a child to believe that the qallunaaqs and whites were really powerful," the woman said.
She said she remembers that Cloughley asked school children to act like "pretend husbands and wives," and encouraged the boys to lie on top of the girls and simulate sexual intercourse.
The woman also said she saw Cloughley ask another girl to perform a hand-stand against a wall so that a long home-made T-shirt she was wearing slipped down to cover her head and expose the area between her legs.
Cloughley then asked the young girl to spread her legs and took pictures from "on top," the woman said.
On cross-examination, Foldats asked the woman about some differences between her evidence now and what she had said at a preliminary inquiry.
Photos of pygmies
This week, witnesses from Clyde River also testified about baths they had taken as children at Cloughley's house, and swimming parties at a nearby lake where some said Cloughley had photographed them while they were naked.
Once witness said Cloughley and his wife showed her pictures of people at a "nude beach" and a picture of "Mr. Cloughley and his wife travelling with pygmies not wearing any clothes, and they [the Cloughleys] weren't wearing any clothes."
"I was just a curious kid," the witness said. "I didn't feel there was anything wrong about it."
Another woman from Clyde River said Cloughley took pictures of naked children standing on a rock with their legs spread open during a swimming excursion to a local lake.
On cross-examination, Foldats asked her if she had discussed the issue with friends, or if she had added "new bits of information," to her memory, since, in a 1994 police statement, she had not mentioned children standing on a rock with their legs spread.
As of Nunatsiaq News press-time on Wednesday this week, witnesses from Clyde River were still testifying.
Later this week, witnesses from Resolute Bay were to have started giving evidence.
A court order prevents the broadcast or publication of the names of most Crown witnesses appearing at Cloughley's trial.
With files from Jason van Rassel in Iqaluit.
Back to Nunatsiaq News
by TODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--One week after assuming command, Rear Admiral Fred J. Mifflin granted the Inuit of Nunavut permission to hunt one bowhead whale.
To be more precise, the newly-appointed federal minister of fisheries and oceans didn't allow the hunt--he just didn't prevent it.
The decision to hunt one bowhead whale this year was made by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
Mifflin could only reject the hunt on the grounds that it would affect the conservation of the whale stocks in that area.
But the 30-year veteran of the Canadian Navy didn't.
"I accept the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board's decision that There shall be a total allowable harvest of one (1) bowhead whale for the Nunavut settlement area for 1996," Mifflin wrote to Ben Kovik, the chairman of the NWMB last Friday.
The Liberal MP from Bonavista-Trinity-Conception in Newfoundland signed his letter, "Yours aye, Rear Admiral Fred J. Mifflin."
Changing of the guard
Mifflin is the third man to fill the post since December, when Kovik first sent his board's decision to Brian Tobin, then the federal fisheries minister.
Tobin quit to seek the premiership of Newfoundland, David Dingwall filled in for a couple of weeks, and Mifflin was appointed Jan. 25. While Prime Minister Jean Chrétien shuffled his cabinet, Kovik said he grew anxious.
"Anybody would have been worried when you know there's been a changing of the guard," Kovik said this week.
He said he was "overwhelmed" when he finally heard the hunt was approved.
Kovik said he would like to see an annual quota established for bowheads in Nunavut, but wants to see what happens with this year's hunt first.
Planning the hunt
Now, Kovik and members of the bowhead hunt planning committee are shifting their efforts on planning the hunt which will likely take place between June and October.
One of the issues still to be decided is where the whale will be hunted.
At a workshop in Iqaluit last month, delegates picked the Duke of York Bay at the northeast tip of Southampton Island, and decided to make Coral Harbour the base of operations.
But now the hunters and trappers in nearby Repulse Bay say that's not a good location, and are lobbying to have it moved closer to their community.
"They figure Repulse Bay has more experience that Coral Harbour in hunting a bowhead," Kovik said, adding that the wildlife board has the final say on where the hunt will take place.
Kovik says Inuit know that you can't argue over an animal. "It's the rule of the hunt," he says. "The animal is unpredictable. It could be there one year--it could not be there another year."
Traditional means
The committee planning the hunt are also considering having the first strike on the bowhead done by traditional means, using a harpoon thrown from a kayak.
Kovik said some animal rights groups might argue that's an inhumane way of killing the whale, but he says that modern weapons will likely be used after that first harpoon strike.
Kovik said a captain will be selected to lead the hunt, and will be expected to pick a crew. Inuit are authorized to kill one whale and are only allowed two strikes.
"It's the rule of the game," Kovik said. "After two strikes, if you don't get it. The hunt is over."
A costly hunt
Another issue to be worked out is who is going to pay for the hunt. The wildlife board doesn't have a budget for it, although they are picking up a $40-50,000 tab for two planning meetings.
"This hunt is going to be expensive," Kovik said, adding that they still had to figure out who will pay to distribute the bowhead maktaq to Nunavut's 27 communities.
While Nunavut readies to harvest a bowhead, four Igloolik hunters accused of illegally harvesting a bowhead in Sept. 1994 go on trial this spring.
Kovik said that incident upset him, but he had to plow ahead with the work of the wildlife board.
"If there's an accident on the highway, does that mean the traffic is stopped for the next six months? No. I don't think so. You put the accident aside and continue on."
This week, Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak praised the wildlife board for doing their homework and making sure the provisions of the Nunavut land claims agreement were followed.
"There should be a great celebration. It is a revival of tradition in a big way. Many people will be tasting maktaq again for the first time," Kusugak said.
"It's not just the whale--it's a whole cultural activity."
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by JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--Arviat's hamlet council has fired off an angry press release denouncing a GNWT decision to resume negotiations on a $6 million contract to build a new tank farm in Rankin Inlet.
On Feb. 2, Public Works Minister Goo Arlooktoo announced that the GNWT intends to work out a negotiated contract with a joint venture made up of the Keewatin's Sakku Corporation and Tapiriit Developments of Rankin Inlet.
Under the proposed new deal, the Tapiriit-Sakku joint venture company would own the tank farm, be responsible for its design, construction and operation, and provide services to the government for 20-25 years.
Part of $15.6 million project
But Arviat's hamlet council says upgrading the existing fuel storage facility in Churchill would be a lot cheaper.
In addition to the $6 million cost of building the new Rankin Inlet tank farm, the project involves nearly $10 million worth of extra marine work on improvements to Rankin Inlet's marine facilities, hydrographic charting, and the installation of navigational aids.
About $3.2 million of that money would be contributed by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans¬the rest would come from the coffers of the cash-strapped GNWT.
"In light of the GNWT's projected $150 million deficit, how can this project still be justified?" Arviat's acting mayor, Peter Kritaqliluk, said in a press release.
A contract past 1999?
Kritaqliluk also says the GNWT may not have a mandate to negotiate a contract that extends beyond 1999.
The Rankin Inlet tank farm arrangement will be a long-term deal lasting 20-25 years.
The Arviat mayor also says two other Keewatin municipal councils have gone on record as being opposed to the construction of a Rankin Inlet tank farm.
Many critics have said the arrangement is uneconomical and will cause a rise in the price of dry cargo in the Keewatin.
"With clearly more than 50 per cent of the representative population of the Keewatin region against this project, why is the GNWT treating this as a priority project and proceeding with negotiations? Is the government refusing to listen to the people?" Kritaqliluk said.
And Kritaqliluk said the Kivalliq Inuit Association, which he called Sakku's "governing body," hasn't discussed the project.
A few weeks ago, Tapiriit's president, David Simailak, and Sakku's chairman, Joe Kaludjak, had written to the Department of Public Works proposing a joint venture between the two companies to pursue the tank farm contract.
Negotiations on that contract were suspended by the GNWT last fall when Sakku and NTI had complained that the GNWT was violating Article 24 of the Nunavut land claim agreement by offering to negotiate only with Tapiriit and no other Inuit-owned companies.
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by TODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT--Premier Don Morin launched an "attack on the free-thinking of northerners," the GNWT's largest union charged last week.
The union reacted to a crib sheet of "key messages" that Premier Don Morin sent to cabinet ministers on Jan. 19. The premier's press secretary says the four-pages of quotes and sayings were offered to ministers as a guide to help them answer questions from the public or media.
But when the Union of Northern Workers got hold of a leaked copy of Morin's messages they decried it as government propaganda.
"We found it to be more puppeteering," Scott Wiggs, director of membership services for the UNW, said from Yellowknife.
Wiggs said the Morin has already decided on the government's agenda and is mounting a "propaganda campaign" to coerce the public into following along.
"The government is supposedly directed by the public. This makes it look like it's the other way around."
In a news release issued last week, Wiggs said the information sheets smack of the kinds of tactics used by political parties in southern Canada.
"Considering this well-planned attack on the free-thinking of northerners, I don't know what we can believe," Wiggs said. "Will wasteful government policies and sweetheart contracts really be examined, or are they just saying they will because they know it sounds good."
Nothing secret about it
But Art Sorensen, the premier's press secretary, said the "key messages" are used routinely as a communications tool and that there's nothing confidential or clandestine about it.
He said the premier is even willing to send any further updates of the key messages to the media if they want.
Sorensen said he wasn't surprised by the union's assertion that "spin doctors" and "puppeteers" were running the government.
"Nice wording. But it's to be expected. They are only doing their job. They can use words like that. We don't use them in return," Sorensen said.
"It's good fodder for them. It gets them some ink."
He says the messages are taken mostly from speeches, interviews and other public pronouncements by the premier and other ministers.
Sorensen said the government hasn't been able to say much publicly about their intentions because they haven't yet decided what to do. But he said that the public can expect more detailed answers from ministers in the next few weeks.
In a news conference with reporters last Thursday, Morin dismissed suggestions that he was telling any of his ministers or MLAs what to say.
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JANE GEORGE
Special to Nunatsiaq News
COOKSHIRE, Quebec--The icy streets of Puvirnituq have fallen quiet.
People in this close-knit community say they're simply trying to come to grips with a dramatic hostage-taking last weekend that left two of their young people dead.
"It just hasn't sunk in yet," says one woman reached by telephone. "There are just no words to describe it."
Hostage-taking
For two days the collective attention of Puvirnituq was focused on House 167.
That's where a young, armed man held his former girlfriend hostage.
Local constables tried to convince 18-year old Noah Tukalak to leave the house where he had sequestered his ex-girlfriend, Minnie Kenoajuak.
But in the early hours of Saturday, the Kativik Regional Police Department finally contacted the Sureté du Quebec's Tactical Squad in Montreal for assistance.
By the time the tactical squad arrived on the scene, nothing had been heard from inside the house for hours.
Sureté du Quebec Information Officer Gerard Carrier said that a visual examination of the house finally revealed that a body was lying on the bed in a second-floor bedroom.
Another body, that of Noah Tukalak, was later found on the floor by the squad when they entered the Kenoajuak home at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Puvirnituq had been quiet
"There hasn't been anything like this in so long," says Puvirnituq's chief Constable Jean Marson. "We'd just gone through days without even a call."
Tighter controls on alcohol in this officially "dry" community, increased education programs and more effective policing had led residents here to believe that they had finally turned the tide on violence.
Puvirnituq has had more than its share of troubles in recent years, beginning in the late 1980s with an epidemic of teen suicides. Then, in the spring of 1993, more than 100 children in the village were found to have been sexually molested by two men.
Later, that year, a two year-old girl was taken from her home and raped.
Schools closed
During this same tumultuous period, violence also erupted against teachers, as one female instructor was brutally assaulted by a local man.
Puvirnituq's school closed in protest, and not long afterwards, teachers went on strike, threatening to leave the community, because their houses had been broken into and trashed.
Now, the school is again closed as students and staff mourn the two young people. Both Tukalak and Kenoajuak are remembered as nice kids, from "good" families. Relatives of the deceased are said to be devastated.
"We're all in shock," says Claude Vallieres, the assistant principal of Iguarsivik school. "We never had any idea that this would happen."
"Now, I'm worried about the backlash," says teacher David Bell. "I'm worried because after everything else, we finally thought we had said goodbye to suicides."
Community still in pain
A community worker (who wishes to remain unnamed because of her association with the families) believes this latest tragic incident reveals, once again, the deeper pain that Puvirnituq is still suffering.
"It was sad all weekend, but that young man Noah Tukalak must have been very hurt to do what he did. He got that from somewhere, so it's just the tip of the iceberg we're seeing now. There must have been a very big pain for him to have gone so far."
After the uncovering of mass sexual abuse among the community's children, healing services were set into place with a $450,000 emergency grant from the Quebec government.
Now, people in POV are hoping that the experience gained from dealing with that social catastrophe will help to understand the events of the past weekend.
Back to TopIn a story headlined"ITC struggles to pay $300,000 deficit"on page 3 of last week's Nunatsiaq News, we incorrectly reported that ITC vice-president Mary Sillett had said, "That's not even true," to a question about ITC president Rosemarie Kuptana's using the organization's credit card for personal expenses.
Sillett, in fact, had said the words "That's not even true" in response to a different question.
As for Kuptana's personal expenses, Sillett says it is true that Kuptana did owe ITC some money, but that it has been repaid under an arrangement that has existed between Kuptana and ITC for several years.
Back to Topby Alootook Ipellie
About a month ago, I received correspondence from a fellow writer, Michael Kennedy, who teaches Canadian literature at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
Before going on with the serious business in the later body of his letter, I quote two sentences from his first paragraph:
"It does indeed sound as if you have had some life experience which will serve as material for a story. I must say, however, that I hope that you will find a less painful way to gather material."
I had written to him in a previous letter that I had recently spent a couple of weeks sleeping in at least a half dozen different homes in Ottawa on account of an eviction from my rented townhouse. And adding that this life experience will one day become one heck of a good short story.
I had to laugh. Just a little laugh, when I read the two sentences.
I wrote back to him the same day that the majority of my writing derives from some experience of pain, whether this is personal, or that of my fellow Inuit.
I suppose, if I had been born in paradise, all my writings would be full of blissful happiness-- Heaven-on-earth-sort-of-life-experiences.
But Michael Kennedy was right, of course. In this day and age, in the scheme of things, and in a perfect world, I should not be mired in this kind of life experience.
I am always raring to go--to let creativity bloom; to interpret the imagination; to inspire my fellow humans with carefully selected words through the printed word.
Just make sure to give me the time and the resources to continue writing about human nature's odyssey in this imperfect world.
My little adventures sleeping from chesterfield to different chesterfield was a reminder of the heady days when I was growing up in Iqaluit.
As painful as those days were, due mainly to a family member's alcoholism, I have never hesitated in deciding to write about them in a magazine serial beginning in 1974.
Some readers in Iqaluit will recall I had often slept over at their homes because I was too afraid to go to my own home at night for fear of physical abuse brought on by over-indulgence in imialuk, "bad water", by my step-father.
Without access to my home here in Ottawa, I was reminded of how much we humans take for granted the things we hold dear, whether these are fellow humans or materials things, until they are taken away from us by circumstances out of our control.
I must admit I felt a little like a mindless moron walking around the streets of Ottawa without access to my computer or my drawing board. Writing and art are my chosen professions which help me keep sane... er, saner... while living among my fellow humans.
I tell ya, running around like a headless chicken in the smack middle of Ottawa winter chill is not my idea of living happily ever after.
Homelessness slaps you in the face with a dose of human mortality. It robs you of your personal dignity and self-esteem. As the song says, "It's not hard to be humble." And my middle name ishumility.
I am, for now, safely back in my cozy, little abode, contemplating life as a nomad wearing civilized clothes.
Who said human life would be a painless exercise in this humbling quasi-paradise called country Canada?
Welcome to reality.
I have already been there, done it, many times.
Back to Topby John Amagoalik
The spacecraft, travelling at warp speed, approached the bright blue planet orbiting an average-sized star.
There were eight other planets orbiting the star, but it was only this one that showed signs of life.
The spacecraft dropped to impulse speed and established an orbit about a thousand miles above the northern hemisphere. The two occupants went to work recording anything they picked up on their radios. They also started photographing the surface.
TORG: "What do they call this planet again?"
ZORG: "They call it Earth. We refer to it as planet #B-147."
TORG: "Aren't you concerned that they might see us and attack?"
ZORG: "Their radar and other monitoring equipment don't seem to work too well on our ships. We have made several trips to monitor this planet and have never been discovered. They'll probably think we are just another satellite and ignore us."
TORG: "It's a beautiful place, isn't it?"
ZORG: "Yes, it is. It's ecosystem is very complex and it has a vast variety of life forms.
The problem is that the humans, the highest form of life on this planet, have been behaving not too well over the past couple of hundred years.
First of all, some sort of war seems to break out somewhere on the planet almost every week. They have had two terrible wars and countless other smaller ones in the last hundred years.
They recently had to kick some guy by the name of Saddam Hussein out of a small country he had invaded. The so-called western powers gave him a real pounding. They have also seen a terrible civil war around a country called Bosnia. There has also been a lot of human suffering in two countries called Rwanda and Burundi."
TORG: "Is war their only problem?"
ZORG: "No, they also have a huge problem with pollution.
"They have been using too many chemicals and it is starting to affect the food chain. The burning of fossil fuels and the chemicals it releases is having a bad effect on their ozone layer which protects them from the harmful rays of the sun.
"They also produce too much garbage and are having a difficult time finding places to put it. They depend heavily on oil and big spills and leaks have had devastating effects.
"The most recent accidents involved a ship called Exxon Valdez and they have had real problems with pipeline spills in the northern part of a country called Russia."
TORG: "There must be some good things happening down there."
ZORG: "Yes, it's not all bad news. The humans seem to be getting a bit more intelligent as time goes on.
Their technology is really starting to take off. They may be able to travel in space like we do in a few more generations. They have made the first few steps into space in the last thirty years. They have believed for some time now that they are not alone in this universe."
TORG: "Is there a particular country which has caught your eye?"
ZORG: "Yes. See that large Arctic country with all those islands in the north of it? It's called Canada.
It has a fascinating sport called hockey. There is also a group of people called Inuit who are impressing everyone with their homeland called Nunavut.
They seem to be opening up new frontiers in democracy. Canada was also selected as the best country to live in two times recently." TORG: "I guess their citizens are pretty satisfied."
ZORG: "Surprisingly no. There is a separatist movement led by a man named Lucien Bouchard who are trying to break up the country. They don't seem to realize what a good country they have."
TORG: "Why are they trying to break up the country?"
ZORG: "They want to create their own country called Quebec. The biggest debate right now is whether or not Quebec can be partitioned if they want to separate. It's a weird debate where Mr. Bouchard says he has certain rights which other people don't have."
TORG: "I guess humans still have some evolving to do."
ZORG: "Yes, they do. I think they'll do all right."
After having spend it's allotted time orbiting the blue planet, the space craft broke orbit and headed into deep space. A flash of light was seen on Earth as the ship went into warp speed.
Back to TopBoy, those computers. They're just amazing.
Nowadays, they can be programmed to do gosh-darned just about anything.
With these new-fangled software programs, you can push a couple of buttons, and the next thing you know, the computer can print out a bunch of neat phrases and sayings.
Incredible!
What's even more amazing is that some unelected bureaucrats and communications handlers who run our government in Yellowknife have figured out how to do the same thing for our politicians.
It's true!
Why even our new Premier, Donny Morin, who surely is no automaton sent out a bunch of those slogans and sayings to have them programmed into the brains of his underlings.
Morin's clever programmers have created a master list of "correct" responses that his cabinet colleagues or deputy ministers are supposed to automatically spit out when they are asked questions about the GNWT's deficit.
This eliminates the need for any deep thought, or honest reflection.
More importantly, it also eliminates the risk that someone representing the government might actually exercise the right to free speech or contradict stated government policy.
Imagine what would happen if any of them actually dared to utter the plain, unvarnished truth, as in: "We're damn near broke" or "We'll have to fire some employees."
Here's how it works.
Say for example someone questions Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo about the government's whopping $150 million deficit. Arlooktoo is authorized to come up with one of 27 possible answers:
"Everything is on the table," is one answer he came up with at January's Baffin leaders meeting.
Arlooktoo is well-programmed, because that's one of the answers on Premier Don's crib-sheet.
But he doesn't have all the slogans filed away on his hard disk just yet. Alas, we found that out this week when he read directly from the crib-sheet during an "intense barrage of questioning" during a CBC radio interview.
Another slogan Arlooktoo will have to memorize is, "The common agenda will guide program and service delivery and expenditures leading up to division of the Territories in 1999."
That trite saying is safe for all audiences and has the magical ability of sounding nice, while meaning nothing.
MACA Minister Manitok Thompson only has to think about six possible answers to any questions thrown her way on something called "community empowerment."
"More than anything, they want decisions made at the community level by locally-elected people who are better equipped to make the kind of choices that are needed on a day-to-day basis," is the best of the lot on the government-approved message list.
That answer nicely disguises the fact that community transfers are often the wolf in sheep's clothing approach to downloading debt. If anyone asks about the division of the Northwest Territories, Justice Minister Stephen Kakfwi, has about eight answers to select from.
If Premier Don is ever allowed to speak to any southern audiences, he has about five messages he can sell.
When the Union of Northern Workers got a hold of these "key messages" sent out by Premier Don on Jan. 19, they expressed their outrage and condemned the puppeteers in government for attempting to hoodwink the public.
But, alas, the government's communications gurus assure us not to worry, that preparing these "key messages" is routine, and that this is simply the way government works.
That pat response must be contained in another list of "key messages" that wasn't leaked to the media.
The problem, though, really lies with the sorry saps who actually stood for election in their communities.
You'll remember those are the simple folks who made promises to voters last October and risked their reputations on the foolish notion that one day they might be able to speak up for us in Yellowknife.
These simpletons are an earnest, hard-working, and passionate lot, but about as bright as a 30-watt bulb, even when assembled in a group holding hands and rubbing each others bellies searching for a "common agenda."
At least, that's what the people running the government seem to think. TP -30-
Back to TopI am very sorry this letter was delayed for so long. We originally wrote it on Dec. 23, 1995 and faxed it to Nunatsiaq News, but I guess modern technology is still not as reliable as the good old post office.
I've learned my lesson and without further due, I would like to continue our thank you letters to people for their support and kindness before and after my grandmother passed away.
Malaya Akulukjuk, "Granny" as we called her, passed away on November 30th, 1995 at 1:12 a.m. at the Baffin Regional Hospital, surrounded by family.
Granny was born in 1913 at Qikiqtaq, outside of Pangnirtung. She married my grandfather Nutaralaaq and gave birth to 13 children. The family moved to Pangnirtung in the 1960s because of an epidemic that killed many of their sled dogs.
Shortly after that, she started doing drawings for the Co-op. Her illustrations always had a story behind it from her life and legends passed on to her.
When the "Pangnirtung Weave Shop" (as it use to be called) opened they started transferring her drawings to tapestries. They made many of her drawings on the tapestries since their operation, and now have an exhibition and sale of the 1995 Malaya Akulukjuk Special Tapestry Collection celebrating their 25th anniversary.
For those people who have a beautiful, handmade "Malaya Sweater," those embroideries are from her drawings too.
Granny delivered many, many babies (some who now have grandchildren themselves), and knew what to do when difficulties arose.
She made clothing and kamiks for her family, hunted and skinned animals for food, told stories of legends and first seeing the whalers, and the list goes on and on.
Her family and friends have many recollections about her doing all sorts of things. She saw and did many things in her 82 years of life--there's too much to put down in this letter.
After she passed away, the whole family got together in Pangnirtung to bury her on the same land her husband and some of her children were buried.
There was tremendous support coming from all over the place. These are the people we wanted to thank: Kenn Borek Air and Air Baffin for their service to and from Pang; all the schools for their understanding and gifts of cards and fruit baskets; the Uqqurmiut Centre and staff for the tea and snacks, and also for their understanding in delaying the exhibition.
The Inuit Art Gallery for inviting us to the opening of their exhibition; co-workers and friends of the family; MLA Tommy Enuaraq; the doctors and nurses at BRH for their kindness and taking care of her during her last couple of months; the Iqaluit Elders Home staff for when she lived there; for all the prayers that were said, and to the rest that I might have missed, we thank you. It was good to feel the care and support you all gave us.
Granny was survived by a very large family including two sisters, one brother, many nieces and nephews, 9 children, 28 grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren.
Malaya Akulukjuk was many things to many people, but will be remembered in the same way, with love. She may not be here with us anymore, but she will forever be in our hearts. God bless you all for your kindness.
Sheyla Lonsdale
and the Akulukjuk Family
Pangnirtung, NT
These materials are Copyright (c) 1996 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit), and may be freely distributed throughout the Internet, or other electronic computer networks or bulletin boards, as long as this notice remains intact and the articles are reproduced in their entirety. These materials may not be reprinted for commercial publication in print or other media without the permission of the publisher.
Last updated February 9, 1996
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