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Happy in the North
Cece Hodgson-McCauley
Guest comment
Monday, July 7, 2008
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The quote of the day in the Globe and Mail made my day: 98-year-old Stephan Jinjolia from Georgia says of his good health and long life, " I don't know, all my life I've drunk, smoked and chased girls." It makes you wonder about people in Canada. We seem to have so many mental health problems.
They report in the papers almost every other day that mental health comes at a price. Create a $10 billion national health fund?
There are 12 steps to improve mental health, let's meet the needs of the mentally ill, the dysfunction of Canada's mental health, and on and on it goes.
Here we are, a young, huge, rich country with so few people. Why are people so unhappy?
The only place I can see where people could be so unhappy is in the isolated regions in the NWT and the Northern parts of all the provinces where they don't have roads. Alberta, with all their money, is ignoring the northern part of its province.
There was big excitement after the premiers met. Premier Roland has the support of the western premiers for the Mackenzie highway extension.
The premier must talk with Prime Minister Harper and the sovereignty of the Arctic region and number one on his list is to convince the feds that they need to complete the extension of the Mackenzie highway.
I see in the Globe and Mail "U.S. and Canada to chart path for Arctic future." This is a move they say could thaw the frosty relation of the U.S. and Canada over Arctic sovereignty. Somebody saw the light! We must joint-venture with uncle Sam in the Arctic ocean region. I see honourable Bob McLeod's visit to Washington, D.C. was a busy one.
I hope they didn't concentrate on the polar bear and exploration in the Arctic Ocean.
We can't just keep talking about our Arctic sovereignty and do nothing. We need a corridor from the mainland to reach the ocean. Just look at the Alaska highway.
The Americans built that in a flash when they thought they were going to be threatened by the Japanese in the 1940's. I hope honourable Bob McLeod has our Ambassador Michael Wilson's ear. He can do a lot for us in Washington.
I see a big shuffle in cabinet and within key positions in GNWT. Will it make a change or do any good? I don't think so.
Where they should really clean house is in the office of bureaucrats.
Those who make all the rules that our ministers follow. As they say, you can have degrees hanging all over your office wall but have no clue of what's what in the real world of three-quarters of our isolated territory. You need common sense to go with degrees.
Inuvik is celebrating 50 years. That's 50 years since the feds moved into our territory. A good time to look at the GNWT and federal government. Report card?
After 50 years the big question is: where are all the aboriginal engineers, geologists, geophysicists, game wardens, doctors, cooks, nurses, teachers, biologists, trades people, nurse's aids, etc.?
Where do all the grads go? There are pictures of them in their gowns and caps. So happy. What happens after that?
I see the editorial about net loss and gain, abuse of bursaries must be halted. Why are graduates, once they graduate, staying in the south and not fulfilling their agreements? They should pay back.
Well, in Yellowknife and Hay River, where the government, most action, and the majority white population is, you look at the grads each year and they are mostly all white students. And the system set up in the NWT has benefited southern people.
I don't blame them for taking advantage of the system.
If the aboriginal leaders weren't so busy with their infighting and self-interest they could have in the early days seen the light. Where are all the aboriginal professionals? To be second-class in your own territory... blame your so-called aboriginal leaders.
- Cece Hodgson-McCauley is the founding chief of the Inuvik Dene band and will remain honourary chief for life. She can be reached at fax (867) 587-3003 or by phone (867) 587-3037.