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February 2017 - NWT Year in Review

Millions in payments questioned

The organization managing the Sahtu land claim was accused of holding back millions of dollars from beneficiaries and abusing its power.

Behchoko’s Joe Black was surrounded by his family as he recovered in Stanton Territorial Hospital on Feb. 26. Black had been missing on the barren lands about 150 km northeast of Yellowknife. He was spotted from a helicopter and rushed to hospital aboard a Canadian military plane. With him from left is son Chris Black, daughter Jolene Beaulieu, son Daniel Black, wife Margaret Black and granddaughter Desiree Black. John McFadden/NNSL photo

Richard Hardy, a Sahtu lawyer who worked on the land claim, went public in January 2017 with accusations that $25 million that should have been distributed to beneficiaries over the years had been held back. The Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated (SSI) is the trustee for the Sahtu Trust, which was originally established in 1993. The trust was set up as part of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement to manage nearly $117 million in capital transfer payments from the Government of Canada and royalty payments.

GNWT promises to fund junior kindergarten

Education Minister Alfred Moses confirmed Feb. 3 in the legislative assembly that the government would fully fund junior kindergarten in fall 2017.

Moses said the government would roll out all of the $1.5 million earmarked in this year's budget, the additional $2.7 million the government promised to spend before the end of the 2017 assembly, as well as another $900,000 in internal funding from the education department.

Money for junior kindergarten was one of many long-anticipated announcements made in Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod's annual budget address at the legislative assembly on Feb. 1. Other announcements included implementing 911 services in the territory.

Trudeau visits NWT, defends offshore drilling ban

During Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to the Northwest Territories, he was questioned about the offshore oil and gas ban in Arctic waters.

At a town hall-style event with several hundred people in Yellowknife Feb. 10, Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Darrel Nasogaluak said people in the region were upset.

Trudeau had flown in from Iqaluit and began his morning in Yellowknife by meeting with members of the Canadian Armed Forces at Joint Task Force North, followed by the town hall.

He met with Premier Bob McLeod for 30 minutes where concerns with the oil and gas ban, infrastructure and need for jobs were discussed. Trudeau also visited an Aboriginal Head Start classroom in Ndilo, the Snowking castle and Mildred Hall School.

Aurora College cuts social worker, bachelor of education programs

On Feb. 2, Aurora College president Jane Arychuk announced the school was cutting its social work diploma in Yellowknife and bachelor of education program at the Thebacha campus in Fort Smith due to reductions in government funding.

In response to the announcement, students and Fort Smith residents held a rally Feb. 4 to protest the cuts. Protestors pointed out that the cuts directly disadvantaged female students, as the majority of students enrolled in the bachelor of education program were female and many of them were mothers. There were also concerns that losing the program would also have long-term impacts on Fort Smith's economy, which saw benefits from having not only students living town, but their families as well.

One dead in Hay River house fire

One person died and a woman sustained life-threatening injuries during a house fire on the Hay River Reserve on Feb. 15. Officers arrived on the scene at about 5:30 p.m. to find a house engulfed in flames. The injured female was removed from the house on Wolf Drive by members of the Hay River Fire Department and transported to the Hay River Regional Health Centre for medical attention.

An investigation into the fire was set to include the Hay River RCMP, the RCMP G-Division's forensic identification unit and major crimes unit, the Office of the Fire Marshal and the NWT Coroner Services.

Behchoko man rescued from barren lands

Behchoko’s Joe Black, who was reported missing on the barren lands north of Yellowknife, was found alive on Feb. 22, two days after he was reported missing.

Black, 65, was found about 40 km east of Murdock Lake, near the Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine ice road, about 150 km northeast of Yellowknife.

Black was spotted from the air Wednesday by searchers on board a helicopter owned by Yellowknife-based Acasta Heliflight, which had been contracted by RCMP to assist in the search. RCMP noted blowing snow and high winds made the search challenging.

Black was the second hunter from Behchoko to go missing in the same general area in less than a month. The body of Antoine Betsidea, 46, was found near MacKay Lake on Feb. 1 after he was separated from his hunting party.

Coroner calls for review after ranger rifle used in murder-suicide

A .303 British Lee-Enfield rifle – standard issue for Canadian Rangers members patrolling the North – was the weapon used in a 2015 murder-suicide in Lutsel K’e.

Vanessa Marlowe shot her husband Tobie Marlow before turning the gun on herself on Feb. 10, 2015. In a report, Northwest Territories coroner Cathy Menard referred to an unnamed man, but who was widely reported to have been Tobie Marlowe. She reported that the man had had a serious criminal record, which included a four-year firearms prohibition order at the time of his death. He did not have a criminal record when he received the rifle. Both Marlowes, however, had been investigated by RCMP repeatedly after that time for physical and verbal abuse toward each other. Menard said there did not appear to be any checks and balances in place for the Canadian Rangers to monitor its members and complete routine criminal background checks.

Sahtu launches on-the-land school

The Dene Ts'ılı On-the-Land School was officially launched on Feb. 16. The school combined

bush skills with digital storytelling and local knowledge to create a one-of-a-kind program for Sahtu youth. The program ran until March and was available to youth between 18 and 30 years old. Local instructors were expected to teach traditional skills such as setting fish nets, tanning hides and sewing, as well as hunting and trapping. Students also learned about the history and implementation of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claims Agreement and earned their firearms possession and acquisition licences.

Building connections between youth and elders was one of the school’s main goals.

H. pylori research testing begins in Inuvik

A research team visited Inuvik in February to test for Helicobacter pylori (shortened to h. pylori), a common bacterial infection in people's stomachs that exist in an estimated 60 per cent of Northerners in the communities CANHelp Working Group visited.

The bacteria infects the lower part of the stomach and infection usually happens during childhood. Many people carry it their whole lives until it is treated. Most people show no symptoms at all, but it can cause peptic ulcers and in rare cases, stomach cancer. The research began in Aklavik a decade ago and expanded to Inuvik and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region communities at the request of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.