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NEWS BRIEFS: Prizes offered up for hosts with the most

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NWT

The GNWT is giving away $250 to the ten best hosts in the territory. The NWT Host contest run by the Department of Industry Tourism and Investment, aims to enhance the experience of tourists coming to the NWT. The contest runs from May 14 to June 1.

Residents are being encouraged to log onto social media to nominate who they believe to be a host who makes visitors feel welcome in the territory.

You can nominate a host via Facebook or Twitter and say how they make a great host, while using #NWTHost for officials to see the post, stated a news release.

The contest is in recognition of National Tourism Week, which runs May 29 to June 2.

– Michael Hugall

 

One killed, three injured in accident on Highway 5

Thebacha/Fort Smith

A 31-year-old Fort Smith man is dead following a single-vehicle accident on Highway 5 on May 13.

Thomas "T.J." Camsell was killed in the accident, the NWT Coroner's Service confirmed to News/North last week.

Camsell, along with three other passengers, were travelling along Highway 5 when the vehicle they were in rolled over approximately 140 kilometres from Fort Smith, stated an RCMP news release.

Fort Smith and Hay River RCMP officers responded to the scene of the accident around 11 a.m. and located four passengers. Camsell, who had been driving the vehicle, was found deceased. The other occupants, including one man and two women, suffered serious injuries.

The medical statuses of the surviving passengers are not yet known.

RCMP, along with the NWT Office of the Chief Coroner, are continuing to investigate the fatal crash. A postmortem autopsy has been ordered, NWT chief coroner Cathy Menard told News/North.

In the days that followed Camsell's death, an outpouring of condolences flooded social media, with friends and family sharing cherished memories of the deceased.

Police aren't releasing any additional information at this time

– Brendan Burke

 

Eight NWT communities to get faster, cheaper internet

NWT

Eight communities in NWT and one in Yukon next spring will get faster browsing speeds and see their high internet fees drop 60 per cent next April.

The federal government is giving Northwestel more than $4.6 million to help the telecommunications company build a fibre-optic system in Jean Marie River (Tthek'ehdeli) and extend its satellite reach, which will bring new or better high-speed internet to the nine Northern communities. Northwestel is investing $1.5 million of its own capital in the project.

Currently, a high-speed internet package in these nine communities costs about $200 a month. On April 1, 2019, that price will drop to $80, Paul Gillard, Northwestel's vice-president of business markets, said Wednesday.

MP Michael McLeod said faster internet will help people living in remote communities gain better online access to education programs and medical services and allow them to "participate fully in the digital economy."

– Sidney Cohen