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4 Tuesday June 30 2015 The Northern Journal is an independent newspaper covering news and events in the western Arctic and northern Alberta. 2013 CCNA BLUE RIBBON CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2013 C M C A AUDITED The Northern Journal is published weekly by Cascade Publishing Ltd. Printed at Star Press Inc. Wainwright AB. Publisher................................................................................. Don Jaque 867-872-3000 ext.21 donnorj.ca Editor.........................................................................Meagan Wohlberg 867-872-3000 ext.24 newsnorj.ca Reporter....................................................................... Dali Carmichael 867-872-3000 ext.25 reporternorj.ca Comptroller ..................................................... Dixie Penner 867-872-3000 ext.23 dixnorj.ca Advertising.............................. Heather Foubert Hay River 867-874-4106 adsnorj.ca Administration............................................Jeremy Turcotte 867-872-3000 ext.26 adminnorj.ca Production Manager ......................................Sandra Jaque 867-872-3000 ext.22 sandranorj.ca Graphics........................................................Paul Bannister 867-872-3000 ext.27 graphicsnorj.ca Letters to the Editor Policy The Northern Journal welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and include a phone number so the author can be veried. Names will be withheld on request in special circumstances where the reasons are determined to be valid. The Journal reserves the right to edit letters for length libel clarity and taste. Opinions expressed in letters and columns are not necessarily those of the publisher or editor. Advertising Deadlines Display ad deadline is Thursday at 400 p.m. Classied ad deadline is Thursday at 500 p.m. Email adsnorj.ca Subscription Rates Prices include GST. 47.25 in Fort Smith 52.50 elsewhere in Canada 105 in the USA overseas 164.30. EDITORIAL COLUMN Fostering an innovative energy future For the past four decades the NWT govern- menthasborrowedpoliciespracticesandpro- gramsfromConservative-runAlberta.Nowthat a fresh wind has blown through the Alberta legislature will the new populist ideas of the NotleyNDPgovernmentbesimilarlyadopted The 60th parallel is but a geographers sym- bol when it comes to economy. What happens with industry in the NWT is an extension of Alberta. The NWT only recently began stray- ing from the Alberta education curriculum with a few additions of homegrown texts with Aboriginal content. Albertas social services programs approaches and attitudes have been emulated over the years. Theapproachtotaxingcorporationshasbeen routinelycopiedaswell.Highlyprotablemul- tinational resource extraction companies have been allowed to accrue fortunes yet pay mini- malfeesandtaxesintheNWTasinAlberta.For example natural gas that has owed from the Liard basin for decades has been given away at headinHayRiver.TheSenatereporthighlights the bleak situation caused by the high cost of energygenerationacrossCanadasNorthhow it is a key contributor to the unaffordable cost oflivinginNortherncommunities.Thereport says the federal government must step up and nance more efcient power generation infra- structure including grid lines that connect to cheap power in the south plus new innova- tive technologies. The Harper Conservatives have been AWOL on this. It is particularly bad in Nunavut where 14 of 25 communities have powerplantsthatarewellbeyondprojectedlife - unreliable inefcient and ready to fail. One ofthosecommunitiesisCambridgeBaywhere the new High Arctic Research Station one of thefewNorthernaccomplishmentsbythefed- eral Conservatives placed additional demand on the power plant ignoring the plight of the communitys future power needs. The NWT faces similar problems of aging inefcient diesel power plants but is also saddled with two power providers the Northwest Territories Power Corp. NTPC a crown corporation and Northland Utili- ties NUL a private sector corporation. As a result many NWT communities are stuck paying both for power. One of those is Hay River where town council bravely said the price of power is too high and they are not going to take it anymore refusing to re-sign the contract with NUL which buys its power from NTPC. In doing so they have forced the NWT government to take action. The current thinking in government is that one of the two providers has to be eliminated. Cabinetledbyseveralformercivilservantsis leaningtowardkeepingthecrowncorporation and excising the private company but NUL is ghtingback.TheElectricityReviewPanelthat touredtheNWTin2009heardmanycriticisms of the crown corporations lack of efciency poor reliability and high costs. Of particular note though was the frustration that was ex- pressed regarding the GNWTs seeming lack of overall direction to NTPC and the failure of the GNWT to articulate how the corporation ts into its plans for ensuring affordable reli- able electricity in the future states its report. Alternatively if the crown corporation were to be sold off there is a pitfall in setting up a monopoly as has been fostered by the NWT government the single largest user with Northwestel in telephone and internet com- munications. The smart approach to a private sector solution to the NWTs energy supply problemswouldbetoopenupthemarkettoall energy providers and let competition thrive. A competitive environment would also moti- vate the development and implementation of new sources of energy generation. That takes us back to how Premier Rachel Notley and her new government brimming with big ideas will infuse Alberta with in- novation. A similar wave of fresh thinking is badly needed in the NWT. The smart approach to a private sector solution to the NWTs energy supply problems would be to open up the market to all energy providers and let competition thrive. Dene Honi A truly Canadian government By DNEZE NAKEHKO How Canadian is this countrys government system The United States of American formed their governmentbasedofftheirDeclarationofInde- pendence borrowed heavily from the Iroquois Confederacytocomeupwithasystemthatmade sensetothepeoplelivinginthatgeographicloca- tion.Canadahasandcontinuestobeacolonyof BritishRuleofLaw.Asacountryweneverhad theopportunitytocomeupwithourownsystem of government that makes sense for the people wholiveinthispartoftheworld.Eitherbyforce oracquiescenceweveinheritedtheWestminster Parliamentary system from another people in another part of the world and established it as the rule of law over here on Indigenous lands. Thishasbleddowntotheprovincialterritorial andmunicipallevelssomuchsothatwhenthe VillageofFortSimpsonelectsaMayorheorshe has to pledge allegiance to the Queen. I believe the most recent example of a truly Canadian government is the Tlicho Govern- ment. Whether it is working or not is up to the peopleelectingtheofcialswhoarerunningthe government but the Tlicho Government was created by Indigenous people the Tlicho and Canadians representatives of the Federal and Territorialgovernments.Theycametotogether andmeldedtraditionalTlichogovernancewith thestandardBritishRuleofLawbuiltfromthe Treatyrelationshiptocomeupwithasystemthat makes sense for a particular group of people in aspecicgeographiclocation.Bymydenition that makes the Tlicho Government the most CanadianGovernmentwehaveinthiscountry. We could now add Deline to that list as well. Wearelivingduringatimeandinaplacewhere governmentsarebeingcreatedallthetime.This is not an example of devolution but the evolu- tion of this place we call home. Next up on the docket is the Dehcho. Last week the leaders elders and community peo- ple gathered in Liidlii Kue for the 23rd Annual Dehcho Assembly. With no Acho Dene Koe or Katlodeeche the assembly was not as full as previousones.Buttheresolvewasthesameas theAssemblystronglyreafrmedtheirstanceon theDehchoProcess.Fromtheverybeginningof negotiationsDehchoElderswerestronginnot going the comprehensive claims process route which was usually reserved for areas without a Treaty.TheElderswantedtobuildofftheTreaty 11relationshipandcomeupwithamodelabout sharedstewardshipandmanagementsotheDe- hchoandpeopleofCanadacanliveandprosper in peace and friendship. Thereareanumberofphasestonegotiations. The Dehcho are nearly done the Agreement in Principal AiP phase one step away from a nal agreement. AiPs usually outline the gen- eral areas that will be whittled down into more detail for the nal agreement. The Dehcho AiP is the most detailed and comprehensive ever created. The Dehcho have also put in the work coming up with a Land Use Plan LUP before anagreement.TheworkonaLUPusuallytakes placeafteranagreement.Thiswouldbetherst time ever that a plan for the land is completed before an agreement. The Dehcho LUP is 95 percentdone.Themainissueislandquantum. Sincedevolutiontheterritorialgovernmenthas made an offer on land selection to the Dehcho. For the people at the assembly it was an insult. ThebasisofthesetalksisTreaty11aninterna- tionalagreementbetweentwosovereignnations. Technically it should be the Queen at the nego- tiatingtableorattheveryleastCanada.Butto have the territorial arm of the Crown making offers to the people that come from that land is presumptuous and out of line. As Pehdzeh Ki ChiefTimLenniesaidattheAssemblyItsnot theGNWTwhoshouldbemakingtheoffersits us who makes the offers. With federal and territorial elections loom- ing it will be up to the incoming governments todecidethecourseofactionorinactionwhenit comestotheDehcho.TheDehchoisthegateway totheNorthandmaintransportationarteryto the resources beyond. Its one of the largest re- gions with the most communities. The Dehcho has put the work in and is primed and ready to continue on our growing tradition of creating governments. Dneze Nakehko is Denesuline and Dehcho Dene from Denendeh. resaleprices.Theapproachtoenvironmental protectionhasbeenlesscavalierintheNWTthan Alberta but disturbingly similar nonetheless. The same type of thinking permeates how the NWT government operates in the contro- versialenergysectorandintheextractionuse and regulation of fossil fuels. Such things as the approach to fracking will be re-evaluated in Alberta but will that happen in the NWT The NWT government has said it will model thewayitpursuestheregulationofenergyproj- ectspipelinespowerlinesandutilitiesatleast somewhat on the setup of the Alberta Energy Regulator AER but the AERs corporate- friendly approach to regulation is surely going tobescrutinizedundertheNotleygovernment. Will the NWT stay the course and sustain the relic Alberta Conservative way of thinking in spiteofthatkeepingtheMcCrankReportThe roadtoImprovementtheroadmaptotheen- ergy regulation future North of 60 Hopefully not. ThereleaselastweekoftheSenatereporton the dire situation of energy generation in the threeNorthernterritoriesistimelycoinciding withthecontroversyintheNWToverthefuture of its two power companies that has come to a PhotoDenezeNakehko Delegates gather at the Dehcho Assembly in Liidlii Kue Fort Simpson last week.