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January 28, 2005

Nepotism doesn’t help community

I live in a community in Nunavik of no more than 500 people. I have been living here since the relocation to this site. I wanted to write and feel as if I have been heard. I am hoping this letter is going to make changes.

Our community has a low employment rate, lack of housing and a very high cost of living. Many of us depend on government assistance programs along with the support from family and neighbours’ help when it comes to meals. We have children that go to school hungry.

At the same time, we seem to have nepotism among the council when it comes to getting a job and a house. You do not get hired because of your credentials; you get hired because you are a family member of a councilor. The council is in a position of power to say who gets a job and who does not.

And then, when it comes to getting a house like the new ones built a few years ago in our community, if you are from the council, you are likely to get a house.

We now have new houses with no stairs which I thought were good for physically challenged people, but these new houses went directly to families from the council. The families who really needed them did not get the houses.

What we do best is start to put down a person and start ganging up against a person or family. It is easier to look at other people than to look at ourselves. We do not get to see the progress and the positive choices people have made for themselves.

I am full of questions. Does this kind of behaviour only happen here? And what can we do to change our community into a positive leadership community?

Because if we keep fighting each other with our tongues firing back and forth at each other, we will never get where we all deserve to be, that is, living the way we all deserve to live.

We have our young generation that gets to see and hear what we say and do. I want them to be able to become autonomous, responsible people. At the same time, I know it does not take overnight to change and it’s not easy.

I hope that whatever feedback I get from you readers will also change the way I think and believe to be the way it is to live in the community where I am from.

(name withheld by request)
Nunavik

January 28, 2005

Thanks from the family of Jessie Grey

Jessie Grey: an eastern Arctic matriarch passes away. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MINNIE GREY)

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We would like to thank all the people who supported us when our matriarch, Jessie Grey, passed away on Jan. 1, 2005 at the age of 83.

She was a woman of the 20th century who had a chance to see her family thrive in the 21st century. She lived through many hardships as a young widow raising a young family of five. She was a midwife and her hands helped bring 45 lives safely into this world. She leaves many relatives, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She taught us to be persistent and prepared us well to live in the modern age. She will be missed.

Thank you from the immediate and extended family of Jessie Grey.

Minnie Grey
Kangirsuk

January 28, 2005

Thanks for use of Cadet Hall

On behalf of the interim steering committee of the Iqaluit Homeowners Association, I would like to thank the executive and the staff of the Royal Canadian Legion for your in-kind contribution for the use of the Cadet Hall.

Without your contribution, it almost may have been impossible to host a large number of homeowners at our meeting. The meeting was a great success as evidenced by the participants.

Once again, a big thank you.

Simon Awa
Co-Chair, Interim Steering Committee
Iqaluit Homeowners Association
Iqaluit

January 28, 2005

Nunavut gets praise from state of Georgia

It is very good to see that our neighbors to the far north have taken great steps forward to address smoking issues.

We think it is tremendous that the Nunavut government has banned smoking in workplaces and public places. The Georgia General Assembly will be considering such a law to ban smoking in those places throughout our state. By the end of March, we hope that another letter may tell you that our workplaces, including restaurants and bars, will be smoke-free on July 1.

The tax rates in Canada are outstanding. Until July 1, Quebec’s low tax rate beat our best state tax by one cent, but now New Jersey has gone up to $2.40 per pack.

In Georgia, the excise tax on cigarettes was 12 cents for 32 years. That brought in $81 million a year, but it cost the Medicaid system $419 million to treat tobacco-caused diseases.

Thus, non-smokers were picking up much of the burden. Then in 2003, we were able to push our legislators to increase it. They gave us only a 25-cent increase on cigarettes but that, and new taxes on other tobacco products, brings in another $180 million.

But as you can figure, money is still taken out of the pockets of nonsmokers to pay for tobacco’s ill effects.

Keep up the good work Nunavut. You are a good example for Georgia.

Dr. Gordon Draves
President
Georgians Against Smoking Pollution (GASP)
East Point, GA 30344
nonsmoke4ga@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~nonsmoke4ga/

January 21, 2005

Judo program benefits many Iqaluit children

I would like to express my concern and outrage at the way the City of Iqaluit is handling the John Howard Society’s bingo application.

I’m writing to support my son and the many other kids who have a right to a judo program.

The City of Iqaluit is putting the judo program sponsored by the John Howard Society in serious jeopardy by denying the society’s bingo application. Part of the revenues generated by the bingos help support the judo programs financially, not to mention the many other programs that help support people in need.

My concern now is that it would appear to me that the City of Iqaluit is contradicting itself and being hypocritical at the same time.

I’ve been reading and listening to the news about the society’s activities and the handling of their finances by the City of Iqaluit. The city questioned their finances and checked to see if everything is done by the book, and the City questioned where the monies are going and how much. It seems to be they are looking for ways to deny the application from going forward.

Now for my outrage at this whole matter. The City says all applicants for bingo licensees must follow bylaw rules set by the City of Iqaluit — then it must be the same for Nevada license applications.

I know for a fact that the Iqaluit Senior Mens Hockey Association has been granted their Nevada license because I see the license stapled at the old arena on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays during senior men’s hockey games.

I guess the association must be receiving revenues from it, right? I guess all the monies from the Nevada sales are being looked after accordingly, right? Well, as a player member, I don’t know for sure. I’ve looked into this carefully. I’ve checked at the legal registrar to see if any audited reports have been handed in, and guess what? There haven’t been any in the last four years.

My outrage is that the City of Iqaluit is contradicting its own bylaws and being hypocritical to one organization that keeps track of its own finances while another association is not being scrutinized for its poor financial record. Why are there double standards for rules governing bingo and Nevada licenses?

You, the City of Iqaluit, should look into this, because it’s not looking good on your part and, in the first place, I would ask yourselves who is responsible and how long this has been going on. You, the City of Iqaluit, are making decisions that could impact a lot of positive programs without looking at all the angles of the matter.

You, the City of Iqaluit, helped me to open my eyes and really see what can occur when unchecked for a number of years. I’m not happy that you, the City of Iqaluit, might force me and many other parents to tell our sons or daughters that there will be no more judo lessons because there is not enough money to fund the program due to a decision to cancel the bingo license.

All the people who buy bingo cards are actually helping little kids get off the streets and into judo, along with other programs that help other people in need.

It will be a sad day if that decision is made to cancel the bingo license, because the only people who will be hurt is little kids who won’t be able to go to judo lessons and people receiving charitable help from the John Howard Society.

Sylvain Degrasse
Iqaluit

January 21, 2005

Looking for descendants of Aua

I am researching on the Fifth Thule Expedition, so the film about it can be as correct as possible. (Nunatsiaq News, September 10, 2004)

I would really like to get in touch with Joanna and other descendants of Aua. Please don’t hesitate to contact me. Hope to hear from you.

Christine Zacho
Copenhagen, Denmark
christine@zacho.as

January 14, 2005

Nunavut’s MP should support same-sex marriage

I wish I could say I was surprised, stunned, or even a little saddened to read of the call by Nanulik MLA Patterk Netser for Nunavummiut to “call [Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell], e-mail her, write her, everything to encourage her to vote against [legislation to legalize same-sex marriage]. It’s not right for our nation to do that.”

But I witnessed the run-up to the election of Nunavut’s current MLAs, and Netser’s opinion is in line with his campaign platform. I’m surprised only that Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley was beaten to the punch.

I could write a rant about the intolerance, discrimination, and even hate in Netser’s position. But that would be plainly obvious to most who agree with my position; and that my statements are possibly intolerant, discriminatory, and perhaps even a little hateful would seem clear to most who share Netser’s worldview.

To write that letter would work only to fan the flames of this tired debate. Instead I want to say to the people of Nunavut that homosexuality is not a threat. Having same-sex couples marry, and share the same benefits as their peers, is not going to create chaos.

And they truly are peers: working, learning, and living, despite the denial of some, alongside heterosexual individuals. Whether or not to allow our neighbours, our co-workers, our friends, to share the benefits and pitfalls of marriage should not be a question.

We, as a country, barely bat an eyelash as we allow streams of people from around the world to settle in Canada to, hopefully, start a full and rewarding life. We selflessly don’t think twice before donating funds to help disaster victims, like last month’s Indian Ocean tsunami survivors, so they will, hopefully, start anew the realization of their dreams.

Yet there are some in our country, Netser and Curley being the most vocal of Nunavummiut, who would like us to, shamefully, deny our fellow Canadians an otherwise taken-for-granted right that would, hopefully, allow them to start a full and rewarding life with the person they love, and to begin the realization of their dreams.

I would like to see my gay friends have the ability to embark on a journey I already set out on; if only in the hope that they can succeed, and find happiness, in a gay marriage where I failed in my, already legal, heterosexual marriage.

And failing that, to take “attempt-at-marriage” from the “difference” list, and leave “sexual orientation” as the only entry, because that really is the only difference between gay and straight people. Their gay marriages and divorces will affect you as much as my straight marriage and divorce has: not at all.

Finally, I would like to counter Patterk Netser’s call with my own.

Call, write, email, fax, or visit Nancy Karetak-Lindell, and urge her to vote in favour of the same-sex marriage legislation. It’s the right thing for our nation to do.

Mosha Folger
Ottawa

January 14, 2005

James Bay agreement a blessing and a curse

On November 11, 1975, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed between the federal and provincial governments and the Inuit of Nunavik.

Since they signed the agreement, it has been very beneficial and a curse at the same time.

Why, you ask? It has been beneficial because of job creation, better health care, a better understanding of the world, etc.

A curse? Because of social problems, too much dependence on welfare, processed food, etc., and more importantly, no self-government to this date. It has taken 20 years even to sign an agreement-in-principle on self-government. That’s 20 years too long.

I wonder, if the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini (ITN) had more supporters from other communities, would we have our own government?

(Name withheld by request)
Puvirnituq

January 14, 2005

Ottawa Inuit Christmas festivities

I write this note of appreciation to two wonderful people who generously volunteered their time as well as their personal financial contributions to bring us a little taste of the “Arctic” during the holiday season as they hosted Inuit games.

My brother, Franco S. Buscemi, and my friend, Daisy Saunders, demonstrated such electrifying energy throughout the two days as they happily hosted local families, visitors and patients from Baffin Larga.

Franco graciously transported the patients to and from the events. As you walked into the little city hall of Orleans, the aroma of caribou stew and freshly baked bannock tickled your taste buds, children and adults played games, and everyone danced the night away to traditional Inuit music.

The indoor and outdoor games were held for two days. The closing ceremony was most touching, as folks demonstrated their gratitude to the coordinators. Many have already signed up to help coordinate next year’s “Inuit Christmas Games”

Great job guys, it is always a humble feeling to see the united front of our people. We applaud your efforts, hands-down!

Best regards, wishing all readers, family and friends, a prosperous new year. All the best!

Tooneejoulee Kootoo-Chiarello
Ottawa, Ont.

January 7, 2005

Freedom of speech

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

The following people sent letters to the editor of Nunatsiaq News in 2004.

We want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for exercising their right to freedom of speech.

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