Whether North or South, Canadians are up in the air about whether or not their communities will be the next to picket in Canada Post’s rolling strike.

Residents must show government issued ID in order to pick up personal packages, and vendors must show official letterhead with name of the individual and the individuals’ government ID.
Vendors, clients and students who are set up with direct deposit will not be affected.
Those wishing to be set up with direct deposit can complete a PDF form for Payment and Financial Transaction Authorization for Vendors and Customers available on the Department of Finance website or by contacted the GNWT Department of Finance.
For income assistance and childcare user subsidy, payments to larger companies for rent and utilities will be hand delivered.
GNWT has contingency plans for remote communities and residents who are receiving pay cheques, income assistance, child care user subsidy, and student financial assistance which can be picked up at a local ECE office or Band office.
For more information visit www.gov.nt.ca.
The Hay River post office is still unsure at this point whether or not they will be striking, and will not be informed until the day of if the decision is made to strike.
More information on the strike including current striking locations and regular updates can be found at the Canada Post website at www.canadapost.ca.
As of Monday night, Canada Post had rejected the Union’s latest offer and strike rotations were expected to continue.

$182 million bridge’s southern truss won’t be launched until after breakup at the earliest

Government of the Northwest Territories officials announced last week that work on the Deh Cho Bridge’s southern truss has been delayed.
Speaking to reporters in Yellowknife on Thursday, Kevin McLeod, the project manager for the GNWT, said the south truss will now be launched in June – over two months behind schedule.
With work on the bridge’s north truss nearing completion, McLeod said the bridge’s general contractor, Ruskin Construction, has decided to delay the launch, rather than risk having only part of the truss in place before the spring breakup.
“For him it was all or nothing. He could either get the whole 400 metres done on the south side or get nothing done,” McLeod told reporters on March 3. “He worked through the issues that if he got 100 metres out and then the ice came and destroyed that 100 metres, he would be $50 million in the hole and he would have to take that risk. I think he assessed that, and said it’s just too risky for him”
According to the GNWT’s most recent schedule, which was released to reporters in December, work on the southern truss was supposed to be completed by the end of April so that the installation of deck panels could begin in June. The one-kilometre span over the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence is scheduled to open in late November.
McLeod said Ruskin officials are confident that some of the latest delay can be made up through lessons learned on the construction and installation of the northern truss.
“That November date is not completely out the window,” McLeod said. “It’s something the contractor has to clearly articulate how they’re going to take care of that delay.”
The temporary work bridge will be removed prior to breakup and then be reinstalled once it is safe to do so, McLeod said, adding that officials should have a good indication of what the latest delay will mean to the project by the end of the month.
The announcement comes on the heels of the release of Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s report on the controversial project.
Fraser’s report, which was released on March 1, found that while the GNWT identified the risks inherit with building a bridge, it did not adequately manage them.
“The GNWT waived approval of the bridge design so construction could start, despite the Department of Transportation’s concerns about the design,” Fraser told reporters. “We also found that what was supposed to be a partnership with the private sector became a publicly-funded project with all the costs and risks resting with the government.”
Fraser’s audit was requested last year by regular MLAs.
She told reporters that she wouldn’t be surprised if the project came in over budget, or was delayed.
“I can tell you, in all honesty, that I will not be surprised if the final cost of the bridge is more than $182 million.”

Mayor and Council

February 28, 2011:

An Open letter to Hay River Town Hall from The Hub publisher, Chris Brodeur:

Dear Mr. Schofield and Councillors:

I thought I should clear up some misunderstandings regarding the Hay River Visitors Guide. From what I have heard the Mayor and some councilors appear to believe that the Hay River Visitors Guide is and was a proprietary Town publication. It is not, and in fact, if anything it is a proprietary publication of Hub Publications Ltd.

A little history will illustrate why this is so.

In the early 2000s, my editor of the time, Sean Percy, felt it was time Hay River had a proper glossy visitors guide. He and the team at The Hub did all the writing, used photos from The Hub’s archive and sold all the advertising to produce Hay River’s first such guide. The advertising paid for much of our work and for a small press run. However, since the Guide would also benefit the Town, the decision was made to approach the Town to partner with us and to put money into the guide to pay for an increased press run so The Guide could have a larger reach. The Town agreed and as the Town was now contributing some cash to the project and was our partner, I decided that it made sense to put the Town on the masthead beside The Hub to recognize the partnership.

So it was with some consternation when we learned the Town was going to tender the project The Hub originated and did all the creative work on (which is, by the way copyrighted The Hub), without even the courtesy of consulting with us first to determine the ownership of “Hay River Visitors Guide” or if the Town wished to continue contributing to the printing costs of the Guide. We question the wisdom of spending additional taxpayer dollars with an out-of-town business to re-invent a wheel that we had already invented and were happily partnering with the Town. Admittedly, we feel a little like we’ve been stabbed in the back by a partner. We must also caution the Town and its contractor Kellett against using any of the copyrighted articles or photographs from past Hub publications.

It must be said when the Town went to tender for what it considered its guide, The Hub did not put much effort into the tender submission for three reasons: 1st We had produced the Guide for a number of years and the Town can see what we had produced in previous years. (Our effort would go into producing the Guide not producing a tender submission. 2nd This Guide is on our production schedule every two years and The Hub fully intended to produce The Guide again this year, regardless of if an out of town business were also to do one. 3rd The Guide is not the Town’s to tender out.

Further, attempts to get the terms of the Town contract with Kellett have been stymied by Town administration. Competing tenderers, and in fact the public at large, should have access to the terms of Town contracts. What is the Town hiding? However, this is just business as usual at Hay River Town Hall. Accountability and transparency are not currently strong suits with our Town fathers and the administration.

It is unfortunate The Town is in the situation of financing an out of town business to do what a local business has done well for years. Further it puts Kellett in a conflict of interest situation with one of its clients to whom it provides GNWT advertising on the one hand and is competing with in production of the guide on the other. (Who will get GNWT ITI advertising for this project). Perhaps the GNWT had better take a look at its advertising contract with Kellett to see if it is Kosher for it to be placing GNWT advertising with those newspapers it is also competing with.

At the end, what is unfortunate is that the Town did not see fit to partner with a local business, which has served this community for almost 40 years, to produce this year’s Visitor Guide.

Yours very truly,

Chris Brodeur
Publisher, The Hub

Premier Floyd Roland is set to sign the controversial devolution agreement today, regardless of the amount of support coming from aboriginal leaders.
The agreement-in-principle will be signed in conjunction with the federal government, and sets the terms for transferring Canada’s authority over NWT land and resources to the territorial government.
But aboriginal leaders in the NWT are not supportive of the agreement-in-principle, or the fact that Roland is going to go ahead with the signing regardless.

“We have major concerns,” said Dene First Nation Regional Chief Bill Erasmus on Monday.
Aboriginal leaders were meeting in Yellowknife to discuss the Premier’s plans.
“We don’t want this signed unless there are changes,” he said.
Erasmus said that according to the document, the only way to participate in later discussions for the devolution agreement is to sign the agreement-in-principle, but by signing it, it means all are in agreement.
“We need to make it known to the government that as aboriginal people we are not happy,” he said.
A letter was to be sent out on Tuesday to the ministers involved asking for changes to be made to the document, the same day a technical briefing was scheduled to enlighten the media on what the signing will mean for the NWT.
A document sent out by the GNWT on Monday outlined points to be covered during the briefing, including the statistic that up to 350 new GNWT jobs would be created, including up to 175 new jobs in the North. It also stated that NWT residents would finally have the authority to make decisions about the way NWT Crown lands are used, how the economy is developed and the way the environment is protected.
However, the agreement as written is between the federal government and the territorial government, Erasmus said.
“We can’t sign it because it does not reflect the future of the North,” he said.
“It will not have the support of the aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories.”
Roland was unavailable for comment as of press time.

The Merv Hardie ferry across the Mackenzie River could remain closed until the end of the week after low water levels forced a “sudden” suspension of the service on the afternoon of Nov. 17.
Department of Transportation spokesperson Earl Blacklock said water levels had made a fairly good recovery over the weekend, after reaching a low of 149.285 metres above sea level on Sunday evening. A minimum reading of 149.8 metres is required for the ferry to operate with restrictions. Normal operations will resume when the reading increases above 150 metres.

“It’s all a function of temperature. For some reason Fort Providence is a lot colder right now than Yellowknife is, which is apparently having an effect,” Blacklock said Monday, explaining water levels near Fort Providence made a “fairly good” recovery Monday morning before pausing. “We’re hopeful we’ll see a resumption of service by the end of the week.”
Hay River Airport manager Kelly O’Connor said the shutdown has led to increased traffic at the airport.
“I’d say there have been 30 or more freighters since the ferry went down,” O’Connor explained, saying he expects the increased traffic to continue until the ferry is back in service.
“That would be my guess. There’s no other option to get the stuff across right now.”
Buffalo Airways’ Mikey McBryan said the company sent two DC-3 passenger flights to Hay River on Friday evening to deal with the increased demand. The company’s fleet of DC-3s, DC-4s and C-46s have also been making frequent trips to Hay River to pick up freight since the ferry shut down.
“It’s insane,” McBryan said Monday afternoon. “It’s the busiest I have seen in a long while.”
Also on Monday, officials with the Government of the Northwest Territories issued a release asking residents in the communities of Fort Providence, Behchoko and Yellowknife not to stockpile fuel, as this would lead to an “artificial” shortage. The GNWT is working with fuel suppliers across the north to ensure there is “sufficient” supplies while the ferry is shutdown, the release stated.
While the drop in water levels is severe, Blacklock said it pales in comparison to what happened in 1988. That year water levels dropped so severely that the ferry was shut down for four weeks.
“This in comparison is not as severe, but we really can’t say for sure how long it will be,” he said.
If service resumes on Friday as anticipated, Blacklock cautioned motorists to wait until at least next week before using the service. Due to the “sudden” nature of the shutdown, priority will be given to vehicles bringing in essential supplies, including fuel and food, for the first few days.
“It’s best to avoid those first two days,” Blacklock said.
Updated information will be available on the department’s website, www.dot.gov.nt.ca.

An agreement between the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories over the devolution of powers and resource revenue sharing is within the territory’s reach, NWT Premier Floyd Roland said in the legislative assembly on Monday.
Roland said a draft agreement-in-principal was brought forward in September by the federal and territorial chief negotiators. The negotiators have since recommended that both governments sign the document, and that Aboriginal governments sign on to take part in any future negotiations.

A copy of the agreement-in-principle was leaked to the CBC on Friday after Roland had presented the draft agreement to the MLAs.
The draft agreement is non-binding, but sets out the process for the transfer of authority over the NWT’s land, water and resources from the federal government to the territorial government, Roland explained. It builds on a joint agreement developed by the GNWT and four of the territory’s Aboriginal governments that was presented to the federal government in 2007.
Transferring authority to the territorial government would ensure that the NWT’s abundant resources are developed in a responsible way while allowing NWT residents to benefit from the financial and economic benefits future development would bring, Roland said.
“I have said all along that without devolution, our future remains more of the same – remaining dependent on Ottawa to make the major decisions about resource development in our territory, while watching the revenues from that development continue to flow south,” he said Monday.
“We have waited a long time to take this critical step in our political development. We are at a sensitive and critical juncture in this process.”
Calling the proposed agreement a “substantial” document, Roland said all parties involved have a few weeks to decide how they would like to proceed. The process is at a sensitive and critical juncture, Roland explained.
“Our negotiators have provided until October 31st for all parties to consider the agreement and determine whether they want to proceed as signatories,” he said.
Roland said more information on the provisions of the draft agreement will be released in the coming weeks.

The Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the GNWT have signed an agreement to support recovery of the Bathurst Caribou Herd.
On Oct. 7, the agreement was signed by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Michael Miltenberger and YKDFN Chiefs Edward Sangris of the Dettah and Ted Tsetta of N’dilo.
The interim agreement will remain in effect for two years as a way to help the caribou herd recover its numbers. The herd was surveyed at 32,000 last year, down from 128,000 in 2006.

With the agreement, the YKDFN and GNWT agree to form a joint committee, the Ekwo Committee, to monitor health and numbers of the caribou using both scientific and traditional knowledge, maximizing the involvement of YKDFN members; create a hunter education program for TJDFN hunters and establish a joint monitoring program for the caribou harvest, including monitoring the winter road station, snowmobile trails and check stops.
The agreement also states that seven members of the YKDFN, including a co-ordinator will be hired to assist in the monitoring program.
In terms of harvesting, the document states that the YKDFN may harvest 50 Bathurst caribou from the no-hunting management zone during the fall community hunt, 100 during the mid-winter hunt from December to April and a limit of 50 caribou from other herds within the Chief Drygeese area during an annual supplemental fall community hunt.
Individual members of the YKDFN may harvest up to 200 caribou from other herds within the Chief Drygeese area in the no-hunting zone.
The no-hunting zone was implemented on Jan. 1 and outraged Dene leaders, as this area is where the caribou are known to winter.
The final points include the GNWT agreeing to include the YKDFN in the development of a long-term management plan and for t he agreement to be reviewed after one year to assess the trends of the herd and review the harvest.
“This is an example of what can be accomplished by working together while respecting rights and traditional laws,” said Sangris in a news release.

Hay River Minor Hockey players received some top notch instruction over the weekend as part of the Puck Masters hockey camp put on by the Hay River Minor Hockey Association and the GNWT Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Young athletes from across the South Slave region met up in Hay River for classroom, on ice and dry land training, in order to further their hockey skills.
Various instructors were brought up from Edmonton for the workshop, each bringing years of hockey experience to pass on to the minor players.

On ice drills ranged from power skating to balance to cross overs and everything in between.
Dry land training provided the athletes with workout techniques and class room sessions taught about the importance of nutrition and healthy living.
But another thing that the instructors tried to bring to the ice was a positive attitude.
“We use lots of positive re-enforcement,” said Kim Kiddle, PuckMasters instructor, former pro and power skating and rehab specialist with the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
“If someone feels bad, we build them back up.”
This was the first time the instructors had been in Hay River, and they were all impressed by not only the players but the town itself.
“We have been treated like gold here,” said Bob Verstraete owner and manager of PuckMasters Edmonton.
Kiddle said that he hopes that the kids learned a lot from the camp, and take away skills that encourage them to continue playing the sport.
“I want them to be more confident in themselves,” he said.
“And have a good feeling of ‘hey, maybe if I can put my mind to it I can do something with hockey. Maybe even get a scholarship.”
“I want them to love the sport, and maybe they will be able to give back to a hockey team like I have.”
Janice Daniels, vice-president of the HRMHA was pleased by the turnout and the quality of the camp this year.
“I think it went really well. It was good to see the kids from Fort Providence and Fort Smith,” she said.
“We will try to do this every second year to give the kids a chance to see different coaching and different experiences.”
Overall, she said that feedback on the camp had been positive from the parents, but the most important thing was the hockey players, who took full advantage of not only the ice time but of the nutritional information sessions as well.
“The kids have come off the ice smiling,” she said. “They look like they are having fun.”