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GNWT reveals community empowerment plan

Empower us carefully, Baffin leaders tell GNWT

KIMMIRUT-The GNWT unveiled its community empowerment strategy here last weekend, and won a cautious endorsement from Baffin leaders.

The policy, which would see the transfer of authority of GNWT programs to municipalities, has been the target of skepticism from municipal mayors and MLAs.

Critics say the strategy is a sneaky way for the GNWT to download costs onto municipal governments, and that transfers will be forced on communities whether they want them or not.

The Baffin leaders had a lot of tough questions for Municipal Affairs Minister Manitok Thompson and deputy minister Penny Ballantyne during last Friday's session. But when it was over, some emerged with a more conciliatory tone.

"I'm more confident now that they've put down on paper a strategy," Iqaluit Mayor Joe Kunuk said in an interview Saturday. "We have a good start now-the government has a document."

That's a marked change from last spring, when Kunuk criticized Thompson for being vague about the GNWT's approach to community empowerment.

"She was either non-committal or uninformed," was Kunuk's assessment of Thompson's performance at the Northwest Territories Association of Municipalities meeting in Inuvik last March.

In her presentation to the delegates, Ballantyne said repeatedly that community empowerment will not be imposed on municipalities, that the communities would dictate what areas they want to take over and to what extent.

"This is not an enforced measure," Ballantyne said, adding later, "Communities would not have to take the whole package-they could take one strand at a time."

The GNWT has said community empowerment is what municipalities have been asking for all along: the power to run programs locally, instead of having decisions made by far-away bureaucrats in Yellowknife.

Still, Kunuk and others have lingering doubts. The Town of Iqaluit is negotiating with the GNWT to take over areas like public health, mental health and economic development, but Kunuk said the town is approaching any transfer carefully.

"We're not against community empowerment-community empowerment is a good concept," he said. "[But] it's still too early to tell whether this is downloading or empowerment."

Igloolik Mayor Aime Panimera agrees that the concept of community empowerment is a good one, but says his community is "taking it very slow" in its talks with the GNWT.

The hamlet is negotiating to have authority over social services transferred to the hamlet from the GNWT, and Panimera says he hopes the contract will be signed by next month.

"As a hamlet council, we felt we were closer to the community and could deliver the program better than the government ever could," he said Saturday.

But for now, the hamlet would only be taking over the delivery of social services (much like Iqaluit's long-standing arrangement with the GNWT, which is renewed on a yearly basis). Taking the transfer any further has been delayed by wrangling over the amount of block funding the GNWT will supply the hamlet, Panimera said.

"They only wanted to use figures based on 1994 and we didn't want to do that because it doesn't take into account population growth and unemployment," he said.

Igloolik is also interested in taking over functions from the Department of Public Works and the NWT Housing Corporation, but Panimera said those plans are on hold until the hamlet has some assurances they'll get enough money from the GNWT to run the programs properly.

"We don't want to rush into it because we feel it could cause problems in the future."

Kimmirut Mayor Kowisa Arlooktoo said he's is interested in taking over one or two programs, but he's been waiting to see how "empowered" municipalities will fare.

"We've sort of been hoping that one community would get up on stage and say if it's a good program or a bad one," he said in an interview.

"I'm into giving it a shot and I'm going to bring it up with the community to see what they think. If they push the hamlet council into doing it, we'll get a good lawyer or advisor to look into it."

On Saturday night, delegates passed a resolution declaring their "support in principle for the implementation of community empowerment."

But attached to that support are several conditions that reflect the leaders' concerns with the way the GNWT has handled community transfers in the past-and how it plans to implement community empowerment in the future.

The resolution says several issues have to be resolved, including making sure that community empowerment is driven by the communities and considers their financial and administrative capacity.

When the GNWT transferred the upkeep of Iqaluit's utilidor system to the municipality, it also transferred several hidden costs, Kunuk said.

"If that's the concept of community empowerment-'It's yours, do well, we want you to succeed,' . . . to me, that's not community empowerment, that's offloading," Kunuk told Ballantyne.

Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco says he's concerned with a proposal to change legislation to allow non-tax based municipalities (in Nunavut, that's everyone except Iqaluit) to borrow money for implementing community-run programs.

"If these communities borrow money, how would they pay it back?" Picco asked.

With no source of tax revenue to repay a loan "they would be indebted to the bank for 10, 15, 20 years," he added.

The resolution says that community empowerment shouldn't deter hamlets from moving to tax-based status.

Despite the leaders' reservations, MACA Minister Manitok Thompson said she got the support for community empowerment she's looking for.

"They just want to be consulted and I agree with that," she said Saturday. "They had a lot of concerns and questions last night, but that's what we came here for."

The GNWT will now take its community empowerment show on the road, meeting with aboriginal groups from across the NWT throughout the summer.

Sillett new boss of debt-ridden ITC

IQALUIT-As of July 1, Mary Sillett of Hopedale, Labrador will have the unwelcome job of rescuing the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada from financial ruin.

Sillett, who's served as ITC's vice-president since last summer, was appointed interim president of ITC at a board meeting in Ottawa held June 21.

She replaces Rosemarie Kuptana, who resigned last March.

ITC's board members had to decide whether to keep Sillett in that job or hold another costly election.

"I think there was no alternative," said ITC secretary-treasurer Jose Kusugak. "There was not even room to look at different options, because of the financial situation."

Canada's national Inuit organization is now groaning under the weight of a $600,000 deficit.

Last January, ITC officials said the organization's deficit stood at around $300,000-but that was before they had a chance to see ITC's consolidated financial statements.

According to those documents, the total shortfall now stands at $600,000, Sillett said.

"I'm almost embarrassed to say how high it is," she said.

Also in January, ITC's former executive director, David Gladders, and ITC's former communications director, Kirt Ejesiak, were suddenly dumped from their jobs.

At the time, both Sillett and Kuptana denied that the sudden departures of Ejesiak and Gladders were connected to ITC's debt.

That happened after an ITC board meeting during board members discussed the issue of money owed to ITC by Kuptana, and other organizations and individuals. Starting in 1992, ITC had been handling Kuptana's personal expenses.

As for Kusugak, ITC's secretary-treasurer said board members have great confidence in Sillett's ability to do the tough job that lies ahead of her.

Sillett was a commissioner with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and was once president of Pauktuutit, the Inuit women's association.

"It wasn't a very hard decision to make. She's financially well accountable," Kusugak said.

And he admitted that Sillett doesn't have an easy job.

"She has to put up with creditors that are calling her constantly, using not very polite language," Kusugak said.

An interim vice-president will be chosen later in a teleconference among ITC board members.

As for Sillett, she said that although ITC is going through difficult times right now, the organization's current staff members are pulling together.

"It's a group that gets along really well," Sillett said. "I'm really proud to be part of this particular group."

And she said the organization is doing everything it can to cut costs, which means not filling vacant positions, and subletting parts of its office space to other organizations.

"We have to be very, very careful," Sillett said. "We're implementing as many cost-cutting measures as we can."

As well, ITC's board is now looking at two new ideas for raising money. One is to hold a fundraising auction, similar to one recently held in Iqaluit by the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, and the other is to hold a raffle or lottery.

Another idea that ITC's board is now looking at is to find a new way of choosing future presidents.

Sillett said the board passed a motion aimed at ending the pan-Inuit elections that have been held over the past several years, and having the president chosen by delegates at annual general meetings.

That would require a bylaw change that can only be approved at an annual general meeting.

But Sillett said ITC's board doesn't yet know when they'll be able to hold such an AGM-although it's likely to be held late in 1996 or early in 1997.

But wherever, and whenever it's held, ITC's next annual general meeting must be run as cheaply as possible.

Sillett said ITC had budgeted only $25,000 for its 1995 annual meeting, which, to save money, ITC held in Toronto at the same time as the opening of the Inuit pavilion at the Canadian National Exhibition.

But the cost of that meeting rose to $75,000, Sillett said.

Kusugak and Sillett both said it's essential to recognize that ITC's role has changed radically since the organization was founded in the early 1970s.

That's because the work that ITC used to do is now done by other organizations-like IBC, Pauktuutit and the regional Inuit associations.

"Every organization you can think of had its beginning in ITC," Sillett said.

Kusugak said that if ITC is to be reduced to being a kind of "Inuit embassy" in Ottawa, then it's reasonable to look at things like restructuring and a new way of choosing a president.

He also said the Inuit Circumpolar Conference is also doing work that ITC used to do.

Meanwhile, Sillett said ITC is still hard work defending Inuit constitutional rights.

At the recent federal-provincial first ministers' meeting in Ottawa, Inuit officials from ITC attended a June 21 rally held to protest the exclusion of aboriginal leaders from that gathering.

"This was our first National Aboriginal Day and it was a day of protest," Sillett said.

She said ITC also participated in a June 18 information meeting with federal Constitutional Minister Stephane Dionne, Justice Minister Alan Rock, and Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin.

"At the time it was clear that the federal government had only called the meeting to explain why we would not be allowed inside the conference," Sillett said.

But she said ITC is still talking to the other national aboriginal organizations and to federal officials about including aboriginal concerns in any constitutional process that might emerge in 1997.

Baffin leaders tackle economy in Kimmirut

KIMMIRUT-In the flurry of pie charts, bar graphs and tables that were passed around the meeting table at the Baffin leaders' summit in Kimmirut last weekend, one in particular stood out.

John Parker, from the GNWT's Department of Economic Development and Tourism, showed delegates a graph entitled "Growth Trends in the Baffin Region."

On it, a line representing population growth in the Baffin sloped steadily upward. Another line, representing government spending, sloped downward, after peaking in 1991.

"When this line starts going down, we've got to find new things to do to raise money," Parker said, adding that more than 80 per cent of the Baffin's economy is driven by government spending.

Not coincidentally, a line representing unemployment in the Baffin was at its lowest point in 1991. Since then, however, the line has climbed steeply upward.

Those are the circumstances Baffin leaders had to work with when they met in Kimmirut to come up with an economic strategy for the Baffin region.

But the grim statistics, and a meeting agenda dominated by discussions about community empowerment meant leaders came away with a pile of resolutions-but no new, common economic strategy.

One of the resolutions, however, was to form a committee that will come up with innovative new ideas on how to kickstart the Baffin's economy. The committee is scheduled to be formed by the fall and will include two mayors, one MLA and one representative from the Baffin Region Inuit Association.

Most of the other resolutions dealt with shoring up support for the Baffin's three largest industries: tourism, arts and crafts, and fishing.

At $10 million a year, tourism brings in the most money from outside the Baffin region. The delegates passed a resolution calling for the development and promotion of tourism in the Baffin, and that communities should have a say in how their resources are used.

In a presentation to delegates, Archie Angnakak from the Department of Renewable Resources said that sport fishing has become a valuable component of the tourist industry. Most of the fish are caught and released. Tourists come to the Baffin for the experience of catching the fish-not to eat them.

In terms of what it adds to the economy, a fish that's caught and released is worth $20 a pound-compared to $1.50 a pound for a fish bound for the commercial fishery, Angnakak said.

Statistics from the Department of Economic Development and Tourism say that commercial fishing is worth $3.5 million to the Baffin economy each year.

The leaders passed a resolution calling on the federal Department of Fisheries to increase quotas for turbot and ground fish in the waters off Baffin Island.

At the same time, GNWT statistics show that in the Arctic char fishery, fishermen catch consistently less than the quotas allow.

The leaders passed a resolution calling on the government and the local fish industry to come up with a strategy to get the most out the char fishery's potential.

The leaders also passed a motion calling on the GNWT and the federal government to develop the seal industry in the Baffin.

The motion urges the GNWT to take some of the money it spends on trapping-an industry based mostly in the western Arctic-and put it towards the seal industry, and for the GNWT and Ottawa to support research into finding new markets and uses for sealskins and seal byproducts like meat and fat.

In the arts and crafts industry, several delegates complained that the market for carvings is slumping and that carvers often don't get good prices for their carvings.

The delegates passed a motion calling on the GNWT to form a marketing co-operative for artists in the Baffin region so artists can get the best economic return for their work.

Eva Adams-Klassen, the arts and crafts coordinator for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, said that kind of organization has helped artists in Cape Dorset. On its own, artists in Cape Dorset make a whopping $3.3 million of the $8.5 million in annual revenue generated by arts and crafts in the Baffin.

One of the more novel ideas for economic development wasn't even part of the official discussions.

Pleased with how smoothly the meeting went, Kimmirut Mayor Kowisa Arlooktoo said hamlet officials are going to look at how much hosting the Baffin leaders meeting cost, and see if it would be profitable to lure other groups to meet there.

"We want to be a meeting place for Baffin," Arlooktoo said in an interview. "Kimmirut is a good community to hold meetings-it's dry and it's cheaper than other communities."

July 9-a day to celebrate Nunavut

People all over Nunavut will celebrate Nunavut Day on Tuesday, July 9. Iqaluit residents will get to participate in a full day of activities-and organizers hope you'll wear something traditional.

IQALUIT-Make sure you scrawl a big check-mark into the square that says "July 9" on your calendars this week.

That's when people all over Nunavut will celebrate the day on which the Nunavut land claim agreement and the Nunavut Act became the law of the land.

The first Nunavut Day was July 9, 1993. Many Nunavut residents will remember the elaborate proclamation ceremonies held that year in Coppermine.

Now, thanks to $1,000 grants provided by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to each Nunavut community, Nunavut Day will be marked in all Nunavut communities.

This year it's being held in combination with National Aboriginal Day-the June 21 national holiday recently proclaimed by Governor General Romeo Leblanc.

In Iqaluit, people can celebrate Nunavut Day all afternoon in front of Nakasuk School, and all evening at the new Parish Hall.

Eric Joamie and Lucie Idlout, two members of the Iqaluit organizing committee, say they're hoping people will regard the occasion as even "bigger" than Canada Day.

That's because, while there's nothing wrong with Canada Day, Nunavut Day just means more to Nunavut residents.

"From our perspective, I see Nunavut Day and National Aboriginal Day as something bigger than Canada Day," Joamie said.

That's a view that's shared by NIC chief commissioner John Amagoalik, one of several guests invited to speak at Nunavut Day's opening ceremonies in front of Nakasuk School.

"I certainly view it as being important, because as I've said before, our land claim agreement marks our entry into Confederation," Amagoalik said. "I think it is more meaningful to us up here than Canada Day."

"I think it is more meaningful to us up here than Canada Day." - John Amagoalik, explains what Nunavut Day means to him

Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak says Nunavut Day has great spiritual significance for Inuit.

"People realized their hopes," Kusugak said. "It's opened doors for our people. It has helped people walk with their heads held up high. It's an incredible day. It's quite a spiritual kind of hope for many Inuit."

And for Kusugak it's also the day that marks the recognition of Inuit within the constitution.

"For me personally, it represents the fulfillment of a dream for my people in getting our land recognized once and for all," Kusugak said.

"It's an incredible day." - Jose Kusugak, on the significance of Nunavut Day

Idlout and Joamie say the Nunavut Day celebrations in Iqaluit will start off at 1:30 p.m. with a prayer from an elder and a drum dance by Celestine Erkidjuk.

After that, master of ceremonies Jonah Kelly will introduce several guest speakers, including Iqaluit Mayor Joe Kunuk and NIC chief commissioner John Amagoalik.

The Baffin Region Inuit Association and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will also send representatives, Idlout said.

Iqaluit elder Akeeshoo Joamie will then talk about the origins of the community of Iqaluit.

After that, Iqaluit residents will be entertained by throat singers, drum dancers, Mary Wilman's youth dancers, demonstrations of Inuit games, and an Inuit fashion show.

In addition to the activities on the main stage, various tents will be set up in front of Nakasuk school to demonstrate Inuit games, story-telling, traditional clothing displays and to serve tea, coffee and hot dogs.

In the elder's tent, there will be qulliq lighting, drum-dancing, throat singing, string games, bone games, and other traditional activities.

In the children's tent, there will be story reading and bone games. Children will also be able to participate in children's races and Inuit games.

A highlight of the day will be an outdoor feast by Nakasuk School. Organizers recommend that you bring your own cups, plates and cutlery.

That evening, at the new Parish Hall, you can hear music by Iqaluit's Uvagut band, and take part in an Inuktitut dance all night.

Organizers urge you to dance 'til you drop.

Frobisher Inn wants new lounge for hotel guests

Teens fight new Frobisher Inn liquor license

IQALUIT-There are more than 1,000 places for you to sit if you want to drink booze in Iqaluit, and Patricia Ell says that's plenty.

That's why Ell, a 17 year-old HIV-AIDS outreach worker, started a petition to keep the Frobisher Inn from converting their Husky Lounge dining room into a 38-seat licensed lounge.

Ell did some homework. She phoned local bars, hotels and restaurants to see how many people they can seat.

By her calculations 1,040 people can be served alcohol in Iqaluit on any given night.

More than 100 people signed her petition, and she sent it to the territorial liquor control board in Hay River last week. She also sent them letters written by local youth.

"We wrote about what we see, violence, kids left at home, children starving because of their parents spending money on liquor instead of groceries," Ell said.

Ell said some young people didn't want to sign it, and others asked why she didn't petition the liquor license for the Malibu Grill restaurant that opens today.

She says, though, had she known about their licence, she would also have started a similar petition.

"We wrote about what we see, violence, kids left at home, children starving because of their parents spending money on liquor instead of groceries." - Patricia Ell, talking about letters youth wrote trying to block a new liquor licence

Mark Andrews, the general manager of the Frobisher Inn, says he'd like to meet with the youth who started the petition to explain the purpose for the new lounge.

He says it won't be a rowdy nightspot, but a quiet place mainly for hotel guests.

"You go to the Legion, it's head-banging music. You go to our other bar [Tulugaq Bar] over here, it's head-banging music," he said. "We feel there should be a spot they can go to where it's nice and quiet."

Although the bar will be open to the public, you won't get in with dirty clothes or muddy boots, because there will be a dress code, he says.

He says they won't be going out of their way to drag people off the streets to come in to drink either, and he plans to personally supervise the new lounge to make sure of that.

"We're not there to get everybody all drunked up. That will be my little baby to take care of," Andrews said.

"We're not there to get everybody all drunked up." - Mark Andrews, general manager of the Frobisher Inn

He says hotel guests have complained that they have to leave the hotel and walk right around the building to get to the Tulugaq Bar where they also complain about loud music.

"As you know the other bar is quite noisy."

$750 million mine expected to create 830 jobs

Panel says yes to NWT's first diamond mine

YELLOWKNIFE - An environmental review panel has recommended that Ottawa give its approval to Canada's first diamond mine, subject to 29 recommendations.

The BHP Diamonds/Dia Met Minerals proposed mine at Lac de Gras, on the barrenland tundra 300 km north or Yellowknife, is expected to cost $750 million and create 830 jobs.

BHP hopes that Environment Minister Sergio Marchi will approve the project by fall. The company must also obtain a water licence and land use permits.

After a month of community hearings, the four-member panel concluded that the environmental impacts of the mine are "largely predictable and mitigable."

"The project has the potential to provide significant benefits to the north," panelists wrote.

To realize those benefits, the panel recommended that:

* The federal government work quickly to resolve land claims of aboriginal peoples;

* BHP submit annual reports on its environmental and socio-economic monitoring programs;

* Governments set up a multi-party board to manage the 350,000 animals in the Bathurst caribou herd;

* BHP and aboriginal groups should try to reach impacts and benefits agreements before the mine is in operation;

* BHP should ensure that its contractors pay fair, adequate wages;

* The NWT government continue financial programs to assist northern businesses in taking advantage of opportunities with BHP;

* Canada provide for diamond valuation in the NWT.

When the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development develops new legislation resulting from land claim settlements, it should be done with a view to "consistency, integrity and continuity" in management, panelists advised.

If the mine is built, six lakes will be drained over a 25-year period. Mining and rock processing would continue 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

With projected revenue of $534 million in 1998, the value of diamonds from the BHP/Dia Met mine would approach that of the minerals produced by all other NWT mines combined.

Annual royalty and tax revenue to governments is expected to be $150 million per year.

The Lac de Gras area is home to a range of fish and wildlife, including grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, falcons, eagles and many other species.

Cheers and jeers for diamond mine panel

Environmental group disappointed by BHP panel review - but most northern leaders react with cautious approval.

YELLOWKNIFE-The Canadian Arctic Resources Committee will urge federal Environment Minister Sergio Marchi to beef up conditions for approval of Canada's first diamond mine.

The 29 recommendations of a federal panel that reviewed BHP's NWT Diamonds Project "do nothing to give us confidence that environmental assessment is going to become an effective tool for planning and managing our natural resources, our environment, our heritage," says CARC board member Robbie Keith.

"This has got to be a lesson in how not to do it," he said from CARC's office in Ottawa. "This project will set precedents that are very alarming. The monitoring processes are extremely weak."

Keith says that since the panel didn't have any technical or legal experts, he thinks some of the technical presentations couldn't be assessed fully.

The panel's recommendations also lacked provisions to compel BHP to fulfill its promises, he said.

"This is an ambiguous, weak, un-enforcing document. This report fails to meet the challenge that a major industrial development poses for that place at this time."

BHP's proposed mine at Lac de Gras is on barrenland tundra about 300 km north of Yellowknife. The region was traditionally used by several Dene tribes as well as Inuit, but not all their land claims have been recognized by the federal government.

"The Inuit were allowed to select land with advanced third-party interest [for their land claim] and the Dene are not," Keith noted.

That policy must be changed, but the panel skirted the issue, he said.

The panel simply advised the federal government to make progress on aboriginal land claims, and encouraged BHP and First Nations to reach impacts and benefits agreements.

"There's nothing to require a company to come to the table in good faith," Keith said.

CARC has already sent a critique of the review process to Marchi and DIAND minister Ron Irwin. Keith admits it will take hard work to get the ministers to deal with what the call shortcomings in the panel's work.

Some northern leaders are reacting more cautiously to the panel's recommendations.

"We want to sit down with the environment minister and [Indian Affairs minister Ron] Irwin to make sure our concerns are taken care of," says Dene Nation Chief Bill Erasmus.

"There's a long process yet."

Many Dene communities, both affiliated and unaffiliated with the Dene Nation, voiced strong doubts about the project during the panel's hearings.

Their objections centred on the status of land rights and claims, socio-economic impacts, and potential effects on water, fish, land and wildlife.

But Métis Nation President Gary Bohnet, representing about 7,000 Métis in the western NWT says he's pleased the panel "addressed all our issues," including provisions for effective monitoring of environmental and socio-economic impacts.

"We're pleased that the project is a go," Bohnet said.

The Metis Nation will negotiate an impacts and benefits agreement with BHP, Bohnet said.

"Let's get to work and maximize the benefits to the North," Bohnet said.

Yellowknife Mayor Dave Lovell's first reaction to the panel's report was also positive.

"It's pretty comprehensive," he said. "They went beyond what I thought they'd do."

Lovell praised the panel for advising that diamond valuation be done in the NWT.

"That is great. They've taken a big view, not a little view here. We want to know what we're shipping out."

The panel also "recommended a good monitoring process" that should encourage BHP to honor the extensive promises made during public hearings, Lovell said.

But recommendations to ensure employment and training for northerners are weak or nonexistent, says Jim Evoy, president of the NWT Federation of Labour.

"It's very surprising. Regarding the employment and socio-economic components, this is one of the weakest [FEARO] reports I've ever seen.

"If you went out on the street right now, the biggest concern out there is jobs," Evoy added. BHP made some promises, but the panel "is not dealing with the bulk of the unemployed people" who live in small, predominantly aboriginal communities.

"You need qualified, competent, trained people. We should be into the training scenario right now," Evoy said. "If BHP hires trained northerners, they'll be hiring from other workplaces. If I were a northern employer, I'd be concerned."

With an expected 830 employees, BHP's mine would be the largest industrial employer in the NWT. The company predicts that two-thirds of its workforce will be northern residents.

The NWT Chamber of Commerce issued a news release Friday "applauding" the panel's recommendations.

"This recommendation sends a strong message to the Canadian economy that Yes we are open for responsible northern development," chamber president Don Yamkowy, said in the news release.

Yamkowy said it's now up to Ottawa to approve the mine and set a precedent for the future of the mining industry in the NWT.

The territorial government declined to comment on the recommendations without a close review of the panel's entire report.

Baffin man stars on Israeli television

What was a man from Grise Fiord doing riding a camel in a caribou suit? And why was Larry Audlaluk doing it on Israeli television?

IQALUIT - Para-sailing high above water behind a motor boat isn't as scary as riding a huge camel, says Larry Audlaluk, Israel's favourite Inuk.

Audlaluk did both-while wearing a caribou suit-all for the benefit of a national television audience in Israel.

"I was scared on the camel," he admits, but loved the view of Eilat, Israel while para-sailing.

Audlaluk became an overnight celebrity in Israel in April when he was a special guest on a popular television talk show, "The David Topaz Show."

"It's like the Jay Leno show," Audlaluk explained this week during an Iqaluit visit. "He's the biggest talk show host in Israel."

He says the visit of an Inuk from the Canadian Arctic created quite a stir, and people recognized him wherever he went during his visit.

"I made all the papers in the country."

The Mayor of Eilat, in a highly-publicized presentation, even gave Audlaluk the key to his city.

Audlaluk met the Israeli television crew when they showed up in Grise Fiord to tape stories on Canada's Arctic. Audlaluk was hired to take them out on his dog team and build an igloo.

He doesn't quite know why they picked him to come back to Israel with them, but he figures that having a valid passport probably helped.

During the shooting in Grise Fiord, Audlaluk also hammed it up a bit for the cameras.

"I said, 'Look guys, I'm getting really cold. Could I come with you back to Israel, because I'm freezing my butt off up here,' " Audlaluk explained. "That was the beginning of my journey to Israel."

So the show's producers flew him to Israel for 10 days, all expenses paid. He even spent some time in New York city.

"I said, 'Look guys, I'm getting really cold. Could I come with you back to Israel, because I'm freezing my butt off up here.' " - Larry Audlaluk, Israel's favourite Inuk

Although many of the segments he taped were light-hearted and fun, he says he hopes he helped dispel some myths about Inuit.

He said they asked him questions like, "Do you swap wives? Do you live in igloos? Do you leave your sickly behind to die?"

He said some of the show's crew were even afraid that if he drank alcohol he might start getting out of control.

"It was good exposure for the Inuit of this country," he says, but adds, "I think Inuit have to start writing articles about themselves."

He says he was surprised that Israelis know so much about Inuit and even about the achievement of Nunavut. He says they see similarities with the Inuit because both groups are small in number, have great strength, and are fighting for their own homeland.

At the close of the show, Audlaluk hams it up a bit more, by crawling inside a freezer to sleep.

"I think Inuit have to start writing articles about themselves." - Larry Audlaluk, after encountering myths about Inuit

Taping for the television show was fun, but for Audlaluk, the highlight was touring the Holy Land, and seeing the homeland of Jesus Christ.

He even wore a yarmulke cap, touched the wailing wall and visited Masada, the ancient fortress built by King Herod and later the site of a dramatic standoff by the Zealots in 66 AD.

Audlaluk says he was so impressed with what he saw, he's considering leading future tours of Inuit to the Holy Land.

"I think there is a very good potential for Inuit to go there," Audlaluk says.

Audlaluk says he gained a great respect for the Jewish people, and was particularly moved by a visit to the Holocaust memorial.

One thing he had a hard time getting used to was the high security measures involved in getting into the country and moving from place to place. He says security was heightened while he was there because Israel was bombing their neighbour Lebanon.

Israel's minister of tourism gave Audlaluk a peace symbol, a stylized dove that forms the Star of David. Audlaluk gave that symbol to Baffin's Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

Although they don't understand Hebrew, Audlaluk says his wife and children laughed when he showed them a tape of his performance. When Audlaluk was shown spreading suntan lotion on a bikini-clad woman, he says his wife even understood that it was all for the sake of show business.

The show spent a lot of money on him, even buying gifts for him to take home to his family, but he figures all the publicity his visit brought was also good for the show.

"I'm sure it's worth ten times more in ratings."

My Little Corner of Canada

Much ado about nothing

by John Amagoalik

One morning I sat down at the computer and just started to write whatever came to mind. I was having a bad case of writer's block and didn't have any particular thing to write about.

My practiced fingers pecked the letters and the words flowed onto the screen of the computer. They were just words and still didn't have any substance to them. I guess this proves that you can say a lot without really saying anything. Some people are actually good at this.

For example, some politicians can talk and talk and, in the end, you are left wondering just what that person actually said. This is called hot air.

Many bureaucrats are also very expert at this. Some of them can talk for half an hour using words and sentences that go forward, backwards, sideways and upside down. They can talk for ten minutes just to say "I don't know".

Then there are the highly educated experts. They can write hundreds of pages using million dollar words, graphs, statistics, studies, surveys and formulas just to say yes, not, or maybe.

Millions of trees are destroyed each year to provide paper so that experts can tell you why trees should not be destroyed.

Millions of acres of forest disappear each year to satisfy the pulp mills that provide paper for politicians, bureaucrats and experts.

Another group that can write or say a lot without saying very much are journalists and newspaper columnists (like this little corner). You get my drift?

What the reader has to do is go through the pile, throw out the garbage and read what will expand your mind, make you think, and bring a smile to your face.

From the mouths of tourists

"Which beach is closest to the water?"

"Have we made peace with the Indians?"

"What is the best time of the year to watch a deer turn into an elk?"

Off for the summer

Tough life for dogs

Speaking for all living creatures "Thank you" for the fine editorial of June 21, "No town for dogs."

Having travelled extensively throughout the Canadian Arctic, I have personally witnessed what one would consider (at least in other parts of Canada) cruel and unacceptable treatment of animals.

Walt Sicinski
Key West, Florida

(Editor's note: Mr. Sicinski has worked as a pilot throughout the Arctic since the 1970s, and was in Iqaluit when he read last week's editorial.)

Doing it for yourself

If you could bring Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes back from their graves and sit them down around a table and order them to figure out how to fix the Baffin region's economy, you wouldn't likely get much more done than Baffin's elected leaders did last week in Kimmirut.

And if you were to bring in the ghosts of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, E.P. Taylor and any number of other long-dead titans of business to lend those long-dead economists a hand, you wouldn't likely do any better either.

It would be easy to heap criticism upon the Baffin's leaders for not coming up with ways of giving people what political leaders always say people want: jobs, free money and chances to own businesses that make even more money.

But that would be unfair.

And it would be easy to heap criticism upon the Baffin's leaders for talking about the same tired old stuff year after year after year.

Like the idea of an "economic strategy." Our leaders, apparently, now say that an "economic strategy" - whatever that means - would be a darn good thing for us to have.

About three years ago, the same leaders thought the same thing. So they took a bunch of money from the taxpayers of Canada, and gave it to the Baffin Region Inuit Association.

BRIA, whose bosses said they could do a better job than the GNWT, took that money and used it to hire a person by the name of Claudy Mailly. Then they said, "Claudy, go make us an economic strategy." And Claudy Mailly, why, she went out and she made one. Then she came back and said, "here it is."

Last weekend, the Baffin's leaders apparently forgot about all that, and, wouldn't you know it, they decided that an "economic strategy" - whatever that means - would be a humdinger of a good thing for us to have.

Yes, it would be easy to criticize them for the epidemic of selective amnesia that swept through Kimmirut's Akavak Centre last weekend.

But that would be unfair - especially to members of the regional steering committee who were to have made sure the last "economic strategy" got done and that somebody somewhere did something with it.

And to criticize them for not coming up with an "economic strategy" the first time around would be unfair for another reason.

And that is because we probably don't need the wretched thing anyway.

One of the great failings of our time is our over-reliance on the bureaucratic experts we hire to fix the problems we should be fixing for ourselves.

Various breeds of consultants, economic planners, failed academics and other social parasites have made a fortune producing paper for gullible governments and organizations in the Northwest Territories. Remember the SCONE report?

But if we're to fix our economy, we have to fix it for ourselves, individually.

A fellow by the name of Charles Siegel, in a recent book calledThe Preservationist's Manifesto,says we have to want to make life better for ourselves, we have to win our freedom back from the technocrats who now dominate our lives.

He says we can't continue to hand over power and control to bureaucracies whose paternalistic solutions rarely work anyway. By relying on those experts too much, he says personal decisions that ought to be made by individuals are taken over and redefined as technical problems that only bureaucratic experts can deal with.

There's a lot of truth in that. Take "jobs" for example. Nowadays, jobs have become a kind of consumer commodity, like fancy cars and stereos, to be delivered to us by the experts. Most of us have come to expect that it's the government's duty to give us those jobs.

But those days are gone. The government, even if it wanted to, can't give you jobs anymore. If you want a job now, you have to make your own. And if you don't have what it takes to make your own job, go out and get it for yourself.

If you're one of the many victims of the NWT's fourth-rate school system, then go out and get more schooling for yourself. If that means working for next to no money for a while, then go out and do that too. If it means sobering up so that you can get to work on time, then go out and sober up.

Whether the GNWT's planners know it or not, that's what the GNWT will achieve with its community empowerment policy, if that policy is carried out the right way.

You'll end up doing for yourself what the government used to do for you. And what's wrong with that? JB

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.