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Should Iqaluit mayor quit NPC board?

The people of Iqaluit have one more chance, on Nov. 29, to speak publicly before the Utilities Rates Review Council against the one-rate power proposal and the draconian rate increases proposed for Iqaluit and many other communities. At the last hearing, the City of Iqaluit's chief administrative officer, Ian Fremantle, spoke on behalf of the City, and he spoke well.

But why haven't we heard from our mayor, Elisapee Sheutiapik? Probably because she is also on the board of the Nunavut Power Corporation, the very body that put forward this ill-considered proposal that will do so much harm to Iqaluit, its homeowners, businesses, and all its citizens.

But we elected Elisapee to represent the interests of the city - not the power corporation. She was elected by the people of Iqaluit as mayor, but appointed by the minister responsible for energy to the board of the power corporation. And right now, she has a huge conflict of interest because of the power corporation's rate proposal. Where do her loyalties lie?

It's not enough that she send the CAO to speak for the City. It is important that we hear from the mayor herself. With a conflict this blatant, she should resign from one position or the other. I suggest she resign immediately from the board of NPC, and speak out forcefully on behalf of the city and the people who elected her.

Kenn Harper
Iqaluit

November 19, 2004

Thanks for saving our father

My name is Annie Ittukallak from Puvirnituq. I am writing to say a big thank-you with all my heart to the people who helped us at the camp when my father Jackusi Ittukallak had a skidoo accident on June 19, 2004.

If we were only the family that time at the camp, for sure my father would not make it but with the help from you guys he did make it and I want to say a big thank-you to all the staff at the hospital in Puvirnituq, especially the doctors and the nurses and all the staff of the northern module at Nunavik house in Montreal.

Right now my father isn’t supposed to be alive but God as a miracle gave him another life. I am so happy that I’m still going to have a father.

Thank you once again and God bless all of you.

Family of Jackusi Ittukallak
Puvirnituq

November 12, 2004

Inuit have an accommodating society

This is article is so one-sided (Gossip leads to firing of GN worker, Nov. 5). We as a new territory are experiencing new growing pains.

From time immemorial, Inuit have been the most accommodating society experiencing colonization, subjected to relocation, forced to give up our way of life, and forced to attend schools to attain education, and we are now the most racist people in society?

Obviously, this person is disillusioned about an incident that happened within one department and community, but his comments are atrociously maliciously untrue. Not all Inuit people are racist, not one society is racist, at some point in time, racism occurs, but incidentally and unfortunately this happened to this person and he paints a picture that all Inuit people are racist. I demand a retraction of this unfair, malicious comment in your newspaper.

As the spokesperson for the department said, this is a employer-employee issue and should have remained within the realm of the department.

Joan Kalaserk
Rankin Inlet

Editor’s note: Harbir Boparai’s allegations are supported by e-mails, letters and faxes produced by GN employees. If those allegations were “malicious and untrue,” we’re sure the GN would have contacted us by now to have them corrected. They haven’t. We have no intention of retracting any of the words published in the story.

November 12, 2004

What is happening to the Arctic?

This letter is addressed to the government leaders (especially those who are elected,) concerned citizens and those who are teaching the vulnerable, the children.

I’m hearing a lot about the ‘scientists’ doing a lot of research in regards to the climate in the Arctic. Who lives in the Arctic? The Inuit and other people who want to make Nunavut their home.

The food the Inuit depend on comes from the land in the Arctic; flowers, leaves and berries that Inuit eat come from the land. The water the people drink in the Arctic comes from the land in the Arctic. Everything that is in the Arctic is dependent on one thing after the other as an ecosystem.

It’s time for the elected officials to start learning and get involved with what is really happening to the environment in the Arctic. It’s time for the citizens and those who are concerned to start asking questions. If you don’t ask, you will never learn.

High school kids, if you don’t get an answer or you’re not satisfied with the answer you get, go to the top and demand the answers. You have a right to know! Start asking questions like, why are there so many people with cancer these days? I bet it’s not only from cigarettes.

I bet it has a lot to do with what they’re breathing in from the air also. It’s not time for elected officials and those who have a good income coming in to sit back and relax. It’s time to start listening and caring about what’s going on in the Arctic.

Why am I in the south and shooting my mouth off? I ate those flowers, the leaves the berries, looked for little fish along the edge of the lakes and ocean, drank the water, ate the fish, seals, rabbits, ptarmigans, caribou, and polar bear that my father and mother caught many years ago. These are beautiful memories I have that I hope will also be a beautiful memory for every little child that is growing up in the Arctic.

Martha Peet
Winnipeg

November 12, 2004

A law to safeguard our language

About a 100 years ago, there were approximately 7,000 languages spoken worldwide. Now, there are only about 2,000.

The English language has dominated almost every culture around the world, including ours. We Inuit are very fortunate to be able to speak our native tongue, not many aboriginal groups still do, and it is sad to say that our language is on the verge of extinction. Unless we want Inuktitut to be a language that our children only read about in history books, we have to make the necessary changes to preserve and strengthen our language.

Quebec made a crucial step in preserving the French language when they introduced Bill 101 in 1977, the charter of the French language which makes French the “normal” language in Quebec.

Since then they have seen incredible changes, French is now the primary language for business, and Quebecers can receive all of their services in French. Bill 101 was so successful that it is now nearly impossible to obtain services in English. The best thing is that it is continually enforced, there are “French Police” that roam the cities to make sure that all businesses comply, and if they don’t then they are charged. To some it might seem extreme, but how else can you safeguard your language when there is always the threat of losing it to the English language.

I believe Nunavut would benefit greatly by adopting some of the laws that were introduced by the Quebec government. Even a law as simple as making sure that Inuktitut is prominently displayed on all government and commercial signs and publications would make a big difference, in that our language would be used in everyday life. All venues should have Inuktitut-speaking staff, and all Inuit should be able to carry out their everyday life in Inuktitut, including at their workplace.

There should also be several Inuktitut classes for people moving to the north, because instead of Inuit learning to speak English to accomodate the southerners, they should be learning Inuktitut.

In order for our language to survive in a country flooded with anglophones we must make these critical changes now, because if we wait any longer, I am afraid that it might be too late. Right now we have a very strong culture, and language, but what about tomorrow?

Jeela Maniapik
Yellowknife

November 12, 2004

Wind power for the Arctic?

I just read that you area consumes 40 million liters of diesel per year.

May I recommend looking at wind power technology. It has come a long way in the last decade. One would think that people living in the “garden of eden” would want to use a power source that would leave no traces of use, such as toxic byproducts such as air pollution.

I visited (drove to) Radisson this past winter and was extremely impressed with the James Bay Territory. Good luck and I hope your area will be implementing wind power in the near future.

This would also allow Quebec Hydro to stop its plans to divert the Rupert River and other ridiculous projects in the James Bay Territory — the grid is there — perhaps in the future your area might attach windmills instead of diverting rivers for almost free power production.

James Forgione
Quebec City

November 12, 2004

Patience is a virtue

I’m writing concerning money paid out to various agencies from the federal government.

The radio tells us that you have to watch your spending because 2007 is not far away.

We’ve lived this long with housing shortages, bad roads, high food prices. I suggest wait on all your spending, invest it in sound investments.

We are smart at adapting to change. I’m sure the people can wait three more years. Patience is a virtue.

Enoo Bell
Cape Dorset

November 12, 2004

Can businesses absorb higher power costs?

An editorial is a place for opinion, but your readers also deserve full and substantiated information.

There is little evidence of such informational prudence in statements made by Oct 29 editorial such as “food bills could go up by as much as 20 per cent,” and the rate system “will strangle all real economic development in Nunavut.” Editorial opinions are one thing, but making bold statements that sound like expert opinion is another.

The editorial makes a dangerous assumption: businesses will automatically pass on the full cost of the energy price increase to customers. In fact businesses have a choice. If a business is operating in a competitive environment and has healthy profit margins, it may choose to absorb part of the increased energy cost to stay competitive.

Take for example Northern Property REIT, a real estate investment company with 71 per cent of their properties in Nunavut’s large communities, or the North West Company, operator of North Mart, Northern stores and Quickstop. According to their financial statements the companies have profit margins of 30 and 4.6 percent, respectively, or $12 million and $36 million. Industry comparisons based on the Financial Post’s industry reports indicate that these margins are quite healthy in comparison to an average of 20 per cent in the real estate investment trust industry and 3.4 per cent in the foods retailing industry.

Although this sample is unrepresentative of the predominantly small businesses operating in Nunavut, it does highlight the likelihood that at least some businesses in Iqaluit have benefited handsomely from the region’s growth in the past few years and may be able to afford to absorb some of the increased energy costs.

As for strangling‚ economic development in Nunavut, increasing costs of power generation will play a role, but given the territory’s heavy reliance on air and sea transportation for goods and movement of people, rising world oil prices should be of greater concern. Or perhaps more concern should be expended for the territory’s high personal RRSP and savings rates, most of which will presumably be spent in the south thereby draining the local economy.

No doubt the one-rate system is a heavy burden that Qulliq Energy is asking citizens and businesses to carry, but has anyone stopped to think beyond their own cheque book?

How heavy is the burden for smaller communities under the differential rate system? It’s no wonder most private businesses are located in Iqaluit and other large communities.

One rate systems are used in many places in the world, and even in Canada many big city hydro customers often subsidize those living in remote communities, so that people and businesses in those communities are not disproportionately disadvantaged.

So while the some people aptly describe the one-rate system as unfair in economic terms, one could also choose to describe it as fair from an equal opportunity perspective. But no matter the perspective, everyone has the right to full and accurate information in forming their opinions.

Kate Odziemkowska
Iqaluit

November 12, 2004

Thank-you to Kakivak, QIA for assistance

On behalf of Jolly Atagooyuk from Pangnirtung, Pierre Aupilarjuk from Rankin Inlet and Thomasie Etuangat from Iqaluit, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kakivak Association and Qikiqtani Inuit Association for making it possible for us to participate at the Vestnorden Arts and Crafts Symposium, held in Reykjavik, Iceland, September 16 to 19, 2004.

The Symposium invites artists from northern countries to showcase their arts and crafts and provides a forum for participants to show their work and also to give workshops on how their art is created. The Inuit participants were able to share their skills, knowledge and experience with 17 other countries and with the Icelandic people who came to the exhibits.

We would also like to thank Keewatin Meat and Fish in Rankin Inlet for providing us with dried caribou and smoked arctic char that we were able to share with other exhibitors from the different Nordic countries and Icelanders who came to our booths. The sampling of the produce was a great success, in particular with the Sami and East Greenlandic artists.

Last, but not least, we would like to thank the Air Nunavut crew for not only flying us to and from Reykjavik, but also for their assistance in providing transportation and in attending at our booths.

Thank you to all of you for making it possible for us to showcase our Nunavut resources.

Without your support and willingness to help this trip would not have been possible.

Aaju Peter
Iqaluit

November 12, 2004

Thanks from the Awa family

Matthias Awa passed away peacefully on Oct. 9 at the Civic hospital in Ottawa. He was 83 years old according to the government records.

Our Dad’s life was full of challenges but somehow he managed to overcome them, which has been a lesson to us that life is not a bed of roses.

During the funeral in Pond Inlet, Mayor Peter Aglak talked about how Dad never complained about the type of work he did for 22 years or more and the mayor mentioned that he barely missed a day. He was told he had to retire even though he could have kept on working. He was a sanitation worker.

His 12 children looked up to their Dad for inspiration and were in amazement at his will to live despite the many hardships he faced.

During his later years, Dad became a very spiritual person. He made new friends that brought out a side his children rarely saw growing up. It was beautiful. Dad always had a big heart but, it was not always easy for him to express his feelings. His “new” life brought out the love and the caring he always had which made us closer to him than ever. And we wished he could live forever.

His six daughters and his sons would like to thank the many people who helped us during our time of grief. There are way too many people to thank so, if we miss anyone, we apologize in advance.

We would first like to thank the Anglican Church of Pond Inlet for the beautiful funeral service, which was a celebration of his long and fulfilling life.

We also want to thank our Dad’s good friends, Caleb Sangoya, Alice and Brenda Panipakochoo, James and Helen Arnatsiaq, Moses Kyak, Joshua and Geboa Arreak, Elisapee Ootoova and many others who shared his spiritual beliefs.

We also thank our Uncle Manuel Akat who flew all the way from Arviat to be with us and we thank his family for being there in spirit.

We also thank our Grandma Hannah Uyaraq of Igloolik who was Dad’s stepmother, but she treated him like her own. We love you and we are so glad you came to be with us.

We gratefully acknowledge the people of Pond Inlet for opening their homes and hearts to the big family that flew up for the funeral and for providing nourishment and love on a daily basis.

We would also like to thank: The Northern Store in Pond Inlet; Toonoonik Sahoonik Co-op; David and Pat Parks; Kigutikaajuk Anaviapik; Travis MacLeod in Ottawa; Joe and Mary Krimmidjuar; Ikey Milton; Mr. and Mrs. Katsak; Olayuk Akesuk and staff; Staff of Mackay Landau; Nancy Karetak-Lindell; Dept. of Environment (NU); Mr. and Mrs. Durdle in NFLD; Office of the Language Commissioner; The staff of CBC North; Peter & Rosie Kilabuk & family of Pangnirtung; Cedar Lodge Hotel in Pond Inlet. (Leo& Myna Maktar, proprietors);

Dept of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs (NU); Federation of Nunavut Teachers; Canadian Rangers (Pond Inlet); Pond Inlet Housing Corporation; Hamlet of Pond Inlet; Mike and Dr. Patricia DeMaio in Pond Inlet; and the medical team at the civic hospital (Ottawa).

And thank you to the many people who hugged us and provided support when we ran into them in different places.

It is never easy when you lose a parent or both. Our hearts go out to people that have lost one or both parents, we know what you’ve been through.

Thank you everyone for caring so much. It makes you realize there are so many good people with big hearts.

God Bless you all.

The Awa family: Oopah Qaunaq, James Arvaluk, Martha Arreak, Simon Awa, Jacob Awa, Rhoda Katsak, Solomon Awa, Joanna Awa, Salome Awa, Philip Awa, Ida Awa, and Nery Awa.
Iqaluit

November 12, 2004

May Goola Nakashuk rest in peace

The capital of Nunavut, lost a hunter well-respected to the city, and well known for his hunting skills. On about Oct. 29,2004, Goola Nakashook passed away while fighting cancer for some time.

He leaves behind his ex-wife, with children, and his wife Paniloo. He loved hunting. It was his way of life. He grew up at an outpost camp, where he learned his hunting skills. Every summer in Iqaluit he would go to his outpost camp, and return in the winter.

From there he started to teach our younger generation how to hunt at any time of the year. He was a good hunter, and he would donate meat to the elders, and to the community.

I would like to send my condolences to the following families: Meetuq Nowdlak’s family, Geosa Uniusaraq’s family, his ex-wife and kids, Goola’s grandchildren, the Tikivik family, the Atagooyuk family, and to the following people: Noah, Jonah, Ooleepeeka, Elisapee, Mosesee, Leetia, his family in Pang, and also to many others who I did not mention. May he rest in peace.

Salomo Kilabuk Jr.
Ottawa

November 12, 2004

Sick and tired of NTI overspending

In your Oct. 29, 2004 issue, buried amongst the many stories on the NPC debacle, was a totally frustrating article called “NTI seeking $10 million dollar increase.”

The article itself was great, it was the message that frustrated me.

We have young children who are counting on Nunavut Trust to do their job right and to manage the federal transfer money properly so that there will be something left for them.

Time and time again, I shake my head at the financial waste that I see coming from NTI. Why isn’t anyone talking about it? Why is it only the GN that gets bashed about overspending and useless spending? Maybe it’s time that the beneficiaries opened their eyes and started taking a long hard look at themselves and their own organization.

When are people going to ask how much money NTI spends on unnecessary travel to accommodate their Qallunaat staff so these people can add on a “stop-over” and visit with their spouse and children who live down south.

Why not ask how much money NTI spends on keychains, pens, bags, business card holders, picnic sets, T-shirts, and other promotional items that I have never seen distributed or given away to the general public, but only worn and used by NTI staff themselves.

Why not ask how much money NTI spends on paying salaries to people who don’t show up for work? If you think that the sick-leave benefits at the GN are good, you should check out NTI’s policies. Not to mention the IQ days that seem to crop up monthly.

And why not asking how much money NTI spends on paying people to drive around in NTI vehicles — getting personal groceries, going to the airport, and so on.

And the same questions go for the regional Inuit associations. Only they are much worse and far more blatant.

Nunavut Trust — hang on to the money please. My children are counting on you.

Sick and Tired in Cambridge Bay

(Name withheld by request)
Cambridge Bay

November 12, 2004

Thanks for letting us visit our mother’s grave

We would like express gratitude for the opportunity to go and see our mother’s grave. They were four of us, Ineak Akavak and her daughter, Pitsiulak Kilabuk, myself, Opik Pitsiulak and my daughter Aksatunguak Ashoona.

Thank you to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. in Rankin Inlet and their staff, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association president and his staff, and First Air. From Nunavik, Piita Aatami allowed discounts for our air fares and for our Nunavut Government Leader Pauloosie Okalik and his staff.

Thanks to everyone who helped for their kindness.

We also thank Pitsiulak Akavak for assisting in filling out forms that we had to send out, even though that was a difficult task, but it’s over now.

My sister, Ineak Akavak and I, thank our daughters who helped us out a lot.

In Quebec, we were taken care of very well, and we were able to go to the cemetery with a minister and funeral director.

There were 34 Inuit buried in a beautiful cemetery. My sister and I are extremely thankful now that in our memory, we are reassured where our mother’s body is buried and most of all, we won’t be questioning as to where she is. Both of us are grateful now that we can let it go.

God bless all of those who helped.

Opik Pitsiulak
Iqaluit

November 5, 2004

Thank you to NTI and extended family

Thank you so much to the staff at NTI for providing airfares for all family members of the Napayok clan to attend Andrea’s life and death emergency. NTI made sure that family members were included in coming to Winnipeg when Aki, whose brain was no longer functioning on its own, was on life-support.

I received a call from the hospital staff at the Winnipeg Health Centre and from her husband, Brent Ferguson, and the RCMP that Aki had been struck by a vehicle as she was leaving the college she attended for the day. She was crossing a street to catch her bus when a fellow classmate struck her accidentally. Aki never knew or felt what happened to her and she was immediately transported to the ICU.

Aki never regained consciousness again, but remained breathing with life-support. We had to make a decision that no family members should ever have to make. That was to end the life support that kept her breathing. With the greatest despair, we concluded and accepted that, in fact, mentally and consciously, Aki was no longer with us and that it was her body’s natural responses to functioning and machinery and not her will that kept her breathing.

My mother Annie, father Jack, sisters Donna, Della, Madeleine, daughter Janis, and myself and spouse were there for her, but she wouldn’t have known it. At one time I kissed her on her forehead and she reacted, but I think it was my hope that made it seem so. I really don’t know and I never will.

NTI was immediate and swift in their response to our grief; they arranged for the body of my daughter to be flown to Whale Cove and paid travel tickets for all of us to travel to Whale Cove (not including my spouse) and for those of us to return to our communities afterwards.

I also need to thank: Johnny and Rhoda Karetak for their constant attendance, caring and vigilance; Nancy Karetak-Lindell for flying from Gjoa Haven through Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Churchill, Rankin, and eventually Whale Cove to make it as soon as possible; Abraham and James Tagalik and Tommy Napayok for boating from Arviat part-way and for driving by snowmobile part-way in their determination to be there for us; Sally Karetak Kusugak for her assistance in keeping the food and tea hot, cooking and cleaning and comforting without asking for anything in return or for any recognition for her contribution; Emily Tagoona for being available 24/7 with answers, tickets, and countless other questions we subjected her to, regarding travel; Linda Paniyok for manning the constant telephone calls in spite of her enormous grief and hardship; Sheila Napayok and Jeanine; Andrew and Sheila from Panniqtuuq, and Little Megan from Panniqtuuq for being herself and for being unaffected by the grief and for being more interested in her toys or playing in the puddles outside and for demanding to have her way; it was just the distraction that we needed sometimes. She also looks uncannily like her own mother when Andrea was her age.

Thanks also to Willie Adams and Noah Paniyok for traveling by snowmobile to be with us; Hattie Alagalak for coordinating and leading the service at the gymnasium; the Nunavut Planning Commission for the beautiful flowers they had delivered; and the Fergusons for providing the coffin that would have been approved by Aki.

There are still others who phoned with their condolences and prayers, too many that I won’t go into detail; our deepest gratitude for their kindness. Andrea’s friends who miss her very much: Kathy, Michelle, Jenine, Cindy, Monda,and countless others: all the kids who were there to keep us busy and to remind us that life goes on and for us to hold them as so very precious.

I’ve tried to include everyone but inevitably I may have omitted some very important people; For that I apologize. Thank you again.

Suzie Napayok
Yellowknife

November 5, 2004

Homeowners and business should oppose one-rate system

Do the people of Iqaluit, and some other large communities in Nunavut, know what is about to hit them? I don’t think so.

Qulliq Energy Corporation (which is in effect the Nunavut Power Corp.) filed its General Rate Application a month ago, and there has been little said about it by the public. There will be community hearings in certain communities including Iqaluit, but unless people know what is in the General Rate Application, it’s unlikely that they will attend the hearings and object to what is being proposed.

Right now, every community has its own rate based on its own costs. This is the way it’s always been. What QEC is proposing is that there should be one territorial rate — everyone should pay the same. This means that in some communities the rate will go up and in others the rates will go down.

Under the present proposal, Iqaluit will face a 92 per cent increase in commercial power rates. (And Rankin Inlet 65 per cent, Igloolik 64 per cent, Pangnirtung 54 per cent, Baker Lake 41 per cent, Cambridge Bay 41 per cent.)

This will affect all businesses in these communities, and they will have to pass their increased costs on to their customers, who already face a very high cost of living. These increased rates will especially hit stores and restaurants and hotels which sell food, because of the high power consumption of freezers and coolers, but it will also affect every other business in these communities. This increase will make some existing businesses unviable. Some will fail.

These rate increases will also affect homeowners and renters who are not in government or public housing. Homeowners and renters will also face major increases in power costs, in the case of Iqaluit a rate increase of approximately 84 per cent.

This will be devastating to many homeowners who struggle with high mortgage costs, high land lease costs, increasing property taxes, high water and sewer rates, and already higher fuel costs. And there is no guarantee that the Government of Nunavut will continue to subsidize the first 700 kilowatt-hours of residential consumption — Qulliq Energy’s press release says so.

Iqaluit faces other costs that are higher than those in other communities, in particular the high cost of property taxes, which are expected to increase because of the need of Iqaluit’s city council to provide public infrastructure of benefit to all of Nunavut’s citizens by virtue of Iqaluit’s position as capital. Council has already stated that tax revenues are not adequate to keep up with the infrastructure needs, particularly in water and sewer and roads infrastructure.

Everyone will acknowledge that our power is diesel generated and fuel costs have increased. Everyone should therefore understand the need for a rate increase of some size.

However, larger communities that have economies of scale should not be expected to subsidize the costs of smaller communities, which lack economies of scale.

There is no justification for a one-rate system of power rates.

I do not agree with the concept of a one-rate system because it leads to increases of an unconscionable magnitude in some communities. Nunavut should continue to have community-specific power rates.

Nunavut Power Corporation should not be used as a means of carrying out GN policy (if there is such policy) in regards to the economic viability of small communities. If the GN wants to increase the viability of small communities which lack certain economies of scale, it should explore other means to support them, including community-specific GN subsidies.

Nunavut Power is in the deficit position it is in, in part because of mismanagement since the creation of Nunavut, at both the political and bureaucratic levels. Power rates should have increased long ago, and if they had, they would not need to jump now to such a high level.

Power Corporation officials had a proposal ready well before the last election to add a fuel cost rider to power bills, and this would have been justified, but it was killed because an election was coming. This only exacerbated the deficit and the rate at which it grew. The GN should seek ways to bail out the Power Corporation on a one-time basis, so that it can start again with a clean financial slate. We, the consumers, should not now be saddled with the responsibility of paying off a debt incurred in part through mismanagement.

The Nunavut Power Corporation should seek to recover, through legal means, the bonuses paid to senior management who got paid bonuses for fiddling while Rome burned.

There are other things wrong with this process. The minister responsible for Qulliq Energy is obliged by legislation to seek the advice of the Utilities Rates Review Council (URRC), but he is not bound by its recommendations. This body is therefore much weaker than what we used to have to deal with rate increases, a Public Utilities Board.

Nonetheless, URRC is going to have hearings, and they have sprung them on us quickly — on purpose I think so that communities, especially Iqaluit, do not have an opportunity to get their opposition to these rates organized.

I hope that every business owner and every homeowner and every renter not in public or government housing, and everyone who aspires to buy a house in the future, in every community whose rates will increase to subsidize those of other communities, attend these hearings and avail themselves of their right to be heard.

Businesses, homeowners and renters should not rely on a few vocal spokespersons to represent them on this matter. The numbers of interveners will matter. Hundreds of people should attend these sessions.

Call your MLA. We have three of them representing Iqaluit, and each one of them represents a riding with lots of homeowners and lots of votes. Two of them are in cabinet where the decision will ultimately be made. Demand that they oppose this one-rate proposal. Call your city councilors and the mayor and demand that council vigorously oppose it as well. Call the Chamber of Commerce.

Demand that the URRC’s public hearings in Iqaluit be delayed to allow the people of Iqaluit time to consider this proposal, and to gather the necessary facts and figures to properly oppose it. And if the hearings go ahead as scheduled — or whenever they go ahead — go and speak your mind and kill this proposal.

Kenn Harper
Iqaluit

November 5, 2004

Furious with justice system

I have in my short life dealt with molestation in my family and I am furious with the decisions of the Nunavut Department of Justice. I feel that the offenders should go through some type of healing process before being released from custody.

Also, I am disgusted that most offenders only do a small amount of jail time, while the people who are traumatized have to seek help to make themselves better and to fix their lives because once again the justice system has failed.

I was very disgusted to learn that a man who has molested for two decades received two years of jail time and a probation period. He said he had been molested by Edward Horne. What Edward Horne did is terrible and disgusting, however that doesn’t justify giving him only two years because he molested for two decades.

He could have sought help if he really wanted to. Obviously he waited until he was caught to mysteriously want to better himself.

I was molested as a child, but I have overcome the guilt, humiliation and most of all the pain that it carries with it. I have been taking counselling and I talk to people who have been through the same things that I had to deal with. I seek help knowing that I would never overcome the hell that this brought me to on my own.

If the molesters really felt guilt and really wanted to change their behaviour, they would seek the help that they really need rather than wait to get caught.

What about the nine to 13-year-old boys who are the target here? What happens to them? When the molesters get out, who’s to say they won’t do it again? The justice department? Our court system? The lawyers? I remain apprehensive.

I feel that we as the community are the drop-off centre for those individuals who are banished from their home communities. May God forgive those people, for I will not.

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit

November 5, 2004

Fluorescent light-bulbs save power

I have watched with interest the issues about the cost of electricity.

It has struck me that a wide-scale introduction of compact fluorescent lightbulbs can be a major cost-saving. We replaced all of the lightbulbs not on a dimmer and saw a significant reduction in kilowatt hours used.

In one room I have four replacements. The total consumption is less than 60 watts but provides the same light as a 240-watt version of the old style lightbulbs. In the winter this can be a significant cost-saving and a reduction in power demand.

Perhaps there is room for some incentives by the GN or the power corporation. Regardless, with the new electricity rates, these bulbs will provide some significant reduction on the user’s bill and they will pay for themselves in no time. Less greenhouse gases too.

Just a thought for the dark season.

Per-Inge Schei
Toronto

November 5, 2004

Northern stores a rip-off?

I have been wanting to complain about how Northern stores deal with the North. The materials they send to their retail stores are obviously materials that nobody in the South wants to buy, and they purchase the cheapest materials and sell them at double the price. They seems like they come from a Dollar Store, and that is not fair.

As a client of these stores, obviously, in 20 years or so, I have never witnessed a Northern store holding sales, or reducing prices, never!

We as Northerners should start realizing how Northern stores treat the small communities, that we are being treated as third-class citizens. This has got to stop, this I think is abusing their customers.

Somebody has got to realize that Northern Store is actually a rip-off company. Northern Store is a Canada-wide department store serving the North, and it should be appreciative.

I can say that co-ops are very decent stores, and they care for us. But Northern stores, please, wake up. From your concerned customer, tired of being ripped-off.

Charlie Kowcharlie
Inukjuak

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