Yellowknife will soon get its own Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) service centre.The new CRA office will be open year-round and include a phone line that will connect Northwest Territories residents with tax agents with knowledge of Northern tax matters.
Agents at the office will also make trips out to the communities.
"The CRA has recognized that Northern residents deductions are complex, and they're necessary for Northern residents," Ross Ermel, CRA assistant commissioner of the Prairie Region, told Yellowknifer on Monday.
He said posting agents in the North full time is the CRA's attempt to help simplify the tax filing process.
Northern tax deductions are notoriously tricky to file, which has led to a greater percentage of Northerners having their tax returns reassessed compared with taxpayers in the south.
Staff at the new CRA centre will not take payments or complete tax returns, but they will offer information for residents and hold seminars for small business owners.
The federal government is investing between $3 and $6 million in new CRA stations in each of the three territories before February, 2019 and the start of the next tax filing season.
– Sidney Cohen
Search and rescue need volunteer ground searchers
Yellowknife Search & Rescue (YKSAR)will offer basic searcher training over two weekends end of September.
Sept. 28 to 30 will be in-class training. Oct. 12 to 14 will be in the field overnight.
"If you are interested in helping our community search for lost/missing persons, come train," stated a YKSAR news release.
"You will learn skills in map reading, compass, GPS, grid search, radio operation. You will learn survival skills. You will acquire formal accreditation."
There is an information session on Wed Sept. 26 7 to 9 p.m. at Arctic Response, on Old Airport Road.
For more information call or text 867-446-3377.
– James O'Connor