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January 2017 - NWT Year in Review

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photo courtesy of Janelle Cumming Father James Colosimo and mother Janelle Cumming pictured with their baby, Oltin James Colosimo-Cumming. Oltin was the first baby born in the Northwest Territories in 2017.

Surprise New Year’s Baby Born in Fort Smith

The territory’s first baby of 2017 was born in Fort Smith at 2:54 a.m. on Jan. 1. Parents Janelle Cumming and James Colosimo had two reasons to be surprised – not only was the baby was born 10 days early, but the girl they had expected turned out to be a boy.

Father James Colosimo and mother Janelle Cumming pictured with their baby, Oltin James Colosimo-Cumming. Oltin was the first baby born in the Northwest Territories in 2017. photo courtesy of Janelle Cumming

Cumming said the couple had been out celebrating New Year's Eve by watching a fireworks show in the community and had been planning to watch movies that night. Instead, Oltin James Colosimo-Cumming, born seven-pounds, seven-ounces, came into the world at the Fort Smith Health Centre.

After checking Inuvik, Yellowknife and Hay River, it was decided that baby Oltin was the first baby born in the Northwest Territories in 2017.

Inuvik Gas backs out of contract

Two years into its 10-year contract with the Town of Inuvik to supply natural and synthetic natural gas, Inuvik Gas pulled out of the deal.

In 2014, the supplier renewed a 10-year agreement giving the company exclusive distribution rights. The deal will now end in 2018. Home heating bills more than doubled in 2012 after the company switched to mostly synthetic natural gas – a mixture of propane and air that must be trucked in from down south – upon discovering its Ikhill natural gas well was nearly depleted in 2011. Grant Hood, senior administrative officer for the town, said termination of the agreement would open opportunities to other suppliers.

Norman Wells road announced

The federal and territorial governments announced a $20 million project to build a 14-km section of all-season highway leaving Norman Wells, a small section of what will eventually become the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The gravel road would replace a winter route from the community southwest over Canyon Creek and would also include five kilometres of roadway in the area. The road would again become a winter road once it crossed the creek. The federal government promised to fund $15 million through the New Building Canada Plan and the GNWT would fund the remainder. Construction was scheduled to begin within two months of the announcement, with plans for completion in about two years.

Tuktoyaktuk man sentenced for arson, threatening police

Edwin Joseph Avik, 33, from Tuktoyaktuk was sentenced to two years less a day in jail for arson in Yellowknife Supreme Court on Jan. 13.

Avik, who had 50 previous convictions, set an apartment on fire and threatened to shoot the RCMP in summer 2016.

He was sentenced to 12 months for uttering threats, 15 months for breaching court orders and six months for assault, to be served concurrently. He was given eight months credit off his sentence for time served in remand and has a two-year probation period following his sentence. He must also submit a DNA order and will have a firearms ban ending 10 years after his release.

GNWT buys NTLC

The Government of the Northwest Territories purchased Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL) for $7.5 million. That price included all the company’s operating tugs, approximately 70 barges, land in Hay River, the synchrolift, the whole shipyard, the deck cargo marshalling yard, the crew accommodation and mess hall complex, the NTCL head office building, and all the cargo handling equipment which includes trucks, loaders, pumps and hoses. The government also acquired an office and warehouse in Norman Wells and property and terminals in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

GNWT representatives said that the purchase would protect the petroleum product supply chain – called an “essential service” – in communities along the Mackenzie River and Arctic Ocean coast, which do not have other economical options for obtaining fuel and other goods.

Erosion in Tuk threatens homes

Tuktoyaktuk residents sounded the alarm after erosion brought the Arctic ocean to their back doors. Sarah Adam in particular was concerned about her home, which housed 10 family members. She said the land had steadily been eaten away since she moved into the house in 1994. Scientists said a number of factors were contributing to the situation, including reduced sea ice on the ocean and thawing permafrost.

Public Safety Canada’s National Disaster Mitigation Program committed to providing $255,000 toward the Tuktoyaktuk Flood and Shoreline Erosion Mitigation Project. An additional $72,250 was being provided through the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, with the GNWT providing in-kind project management support.

Technical work was scheduled to begin in summer 2017.

Imperial Oil pauses production in Norman Wells

Imperial Oil suspended production at its oil field in the Norman Wells area due to the shutdown of Enbridge's Line 21 pipeline that transports oil south.

With the pipeline not operating, storage facilities in the community started filling up. The field produced about 11,000 barrels of oil per day in 2015.

Imperial began reducing production in fall 2016 after Enbridge shut down the Norman Wells pipeline, also known as Line 21. The pipeline runs 869 km from Norman Wells to Zama, Alta. with a capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil per day. It was shut down in mid-November because of concerns about riverbank slope stability concerns near where the pipeline goes under the Mackenzie River in the Fort Simpson area.

Deninu Ku’e First Nation members demand answers

Members of the Deninu Ku'e First Nation demanded the band hold an Annual General Meeting, which hadn’t been held in Fort Resolution since 2008.

Members said band managers were refusing to provide minutes from meetings and were keeping them in the dark about how the band was being managed.

In 2016, Leonard Beaulieu helped gather names for a petition calling for an AGM that was sent to the federal Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The department rejected

the request, stating that the First Nation creates its own governance rules. The statement went on

to say members could initiate court proceedings if a resolution couldn't be met.

Government criticized after entire cabinet attends mining conference

The Government of the Northwest Territories spent an estimated $75,000 to send a contingent of 30 government staff, including all seven cabinet ministers and Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne, to the four-day AME Mineral Exploration Roundup mining conference in Vancouver beginning Jan. 23.

The GNWT had four booths at the conference explaining the role of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI), Department of Transportation and the Department of Lands.

Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green was a critic of the trip and said she didn’t believe sending cabinet to the conference delivers the right message ahead of the budget session, which was scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 1.

Inuvik groups outraged after offshore oil and gas ban announced

The federal government’s plan to ban offshore oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean met backlash from groups in Inuvik, especially the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). IRC president Duane Smith said the organization has been dealing with onshore and offshore oil and gas in the region for at least 50 years and it's the primary reason the organization lobbied for its rights to be entrenched in the Canadian Constitution with the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. Smith added that the Inuvialuit have the right to be consulted not only as Canadian citizens but under their land claim agreement.

The IRC sent a letter to Trudeau on the subject. The Town of Inuvik, the Nihtat Gwich'in Council and the community of Tuktoyaktuk were also upset at not being consulted about the ban.