How to make tragedies preventable

On June 7, 2011, a young Iqaluit family of four was annihilated.

A woman and two children died by homicide. The fourth, a 44-year-old man who was the apparent perpetrator of the first three killings, died by suicide.

The dead cannot tell us why or how this happened. That’s how death works. It’s...

Against the evidence

In the appalling rant he gave this past May 31 in the Nunavut legislature, Tagak Curley, the health and social services minister, opened his remarks by claiming that the press “continue to try and undermine the integrity of the Inuit leadership.”

Unfortunately, Curley’s words undermine him to a...

Nunavut likes a winner

When political leaders and senior bureaucrats across Nunavut woke up May 3 to contemplate the previous night’s election result, it’s a fair bet that most were smiling from ear to ear.

Given Nunavut’s utter dependence on the federal government, stability and predictability are crucial. The...

Nunavik: where fear reigns supreme

Ordinary people are dying in the streets as you read this, in countries like Libya, Syria and Yemen, for the right to choose who will govern them in free elections.

But this past April 27 in Nunavik, a majority of voters said no to that very idea: an elected government leader and an elected...

Wannabe MPs must get serious

During the October 1993 federal election campaign, many Canadians got angry at Kim Campbell, then the prime minister, when she suggested that election campaigns are poor occasions for the discussion of serious issues.

But this year, the candidates running in the federal riding of Nunavut have so...

On uranium, don’t look for simple answers

It’s wise of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to wait until after the Government of Nunavut finishes its uranium consultation work on May 15 before starting a review of its own uranium policy.

By then the emotionalism that surrounds this issue may have cooled. NTI’s board should then take the time they need...

Noble ends, bungled means

We should consider ourselves fortunate that members of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly sit each year for only a few weeks at a time — because this puts a severe limit on their ability to pass bad or unworkable laws.

Such is the Family Abuse Intervention Act, which the assembly passed Dec. 6,...