Tag: #NWT
Two earthquakes hit the Northwest Territories
Two earthquakes struck hours apart in the Northwest Territories yesterday. The first earthquake happened at 10:33 a.m yesterday and registered at a magnitude of 4.5 just 92 km north west of Fort Good Hope at a depth of 10 km. The second occurred in roughly the same area just after 2 p.m. at a magnitude...
500-million-year-old worm tunnels in NWT contain clues on life in early oceans
About 500 million years ago in what is now Northern Canada, the ocean floor was covered in a network of tunnels built by prehistoric worms. Some of the structures were inhabited by predatory worms who used their slender, tube-like burrows to ambush unsuspecting prey. Others were made by species that inched through the muck looking...
MP McLeod reacts to 2019 federal budget
Northwest Territories MP Michael McLeod said he was pleased overall with the 2019 federal budget. “I think it was a good budget for us,” McLeod told Yellowknifer on Wednesday. “I was quite impressed that the budget had a section dedicated to the North.” The budget promises a range of investments in Canada’s North over the...
Government drafts new mental wellness and addictions plan
The territorial government is working on a new plan to deal with mental health and addictions issues in the Northwest Territories. The Standing Committee on Social Development (SCOSD) received a briefing on the draft Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Action Plan from Health Minister Glen Abernethy on March 13. The plan is the final deliverable...
Council supports proposed cannabis ‘green’ house
Several councillors are praising a proposed cannabis production facility in the Engle business district at a Governance and Priories Committee meeting March 11. Jordan Harker, the developer behind the project, said the facility will produce competitively priced products and would create roughly 12 full-time jobs and 20 to 25 part-time positions. Specifically, council and administration...
On the Dead Carpet: Film Reviews
Top Dead North films as selected by a news zombie By Brett McGarry The Unloving – A true psychological thriller from Ben McGregor, the film slowly exposes a terrible incident between a father and son on a hunting trip. The film is told through the twisted perspective of the father, revealing the story scene by...
Dead North Film Festival 2019: Zombear Award Winners
Last weekend was the 2019 Dead North film festival – the world’s only circumpolar genre filmmaking festival. This year’s festival saw 40 original short films produced by Northern filmmakers across the territories. Scroll down for the full list of who won what at this year’s Zombear Awards Ceremony! Best Film – Bearlord Best Screenplay – Bearlord Best...
Slave Geological Province road planning, aerial surveys funded $5M
The GNWT and federal government are spending $5.1-million toward aerial surveys of the Slave Geological Province and planning an all-season road from Yellowknife to the Nunavut border. The proposed road would replace winter roads with year-round access, cutting costs for NWT diamond mines, facilitating resource exploration and development and connect an area with mineral potential...
Dene Nation critical of proposed Forest Act
The GNWT’s proposed Forest Act undermines land claims, self government and inherent treaty rights, said the Dene Nation in a March 1 news release. The Dene Nation criticized the conduct of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) in drafting the act, which combines two existing pieces of legislation: the Forest Management Act and the...
Border bathroom problem: Overflowing outhouse discussed in legislative assembly
The Department of Infrastructure, Tourism and Investment (ITI) said it is reviewing what can be done about an overflowing outhouse on the NWT-Alberta border. A post in the Hay River Classifieds Facebook group, which has since been deleted, showed a photograph of the overflowing toilet at 60th Parallel Territorial Park. Several people commented on the...
Fight for traditional names on birth certificate enters fifth year
Five years into Shene Catholique Valpy’s fight to have her daughters’ Chipewyan names Náʔël and Sahᾴí̜ʔᾳ printed on their birth certificates, she is asking MLAs to support her push for the GNWT to register traditional Indigenous names in formal documents. “When we had our daughter we knew we wanted traditional spelling. When we got denied, it...
MLA calls eight-month wait to see counsellor ‘unacceptable’
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson wants more mental health support for his community, and faster. On Feb. 22 in the legislative assembly, Simpson said patients looking to speak to mental health counsellors in Hay River are put on an eight-month wait list. Waiting eight months is “completely unacceptable,” said Simpson. He said mental health...
Wing flaps blocked cargo doors in fatal Simpson Air crash
An Aug. 16 plane crash that killed three people was marked by a “significant safety issue” in Cessna 206 planes that has claimed eight other lives in five similar accidents in Canada in the U.S, a letter from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada shows. A Simpson Air Cessna U206G floatplane took passengers on a...
Sweet success for artist
Darrell Chocolate’s painting, Serene Fall Season, has been selected to be featured on the cover of NorthwesTel’s NWT phone directory for the coming year. Chocolate, originally from Gameti and now Yellowknife resident of 13 years, says winning the phone directory cover is a big deal for him and his work. “This is the most publicity...
K’amba Carnival gets first mascot
K’amba Carnival is getting something completely new this year – a mascot. The winter festival on the Hay River Reserve has apparently never had one in its 37-year history. “I don’t really recall any mascots for the K’amba Carnival,” said Aaron Tambour, vice-chairperson of the organizing committee. The suggestion to create a mascot came from...
New associate deputy minister of post-secondary education appointed
Dr. Thomas Weegar has been appointed the associate deputy minister of post-secondary education for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). Premier Bob McLeod and Caroline Cochrane, minister of Education, Culture and Employment made the announcement on Feb. 22. The appointment is effective March 4. The creation of a deputy minister-level position responsible for the renewal of...
GNWT asks public to help name New Government Building
The GNWT is engaging the public on the naming of three government buildings in the NWT, including the New Government Building on 49th street, from now until March 15. The 6,000 square metre building, which opened it’s doors in 2015, houses several territorial government functions, including driving services and Health and Social Services offices. Yellowknife...
NWT SPCA petition calls for funding from GNWT
A new petition is calling on the Government of the Northwest Territories to provide funding to the Yellowknife-based NWT SPCA. The NWT SPCA is the only animal welfare organization in the territory and runs a shelter out of Yellowknife. The volunteer-based non-profit relies on public donations and fundraising to support work like bringing spay and...
NTPC gets new president and CEO for April. 1
In a news release Thursday, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation announced that MLA Robert McLeod, has appointed Noel Voykin as president and CEO of NTPC. “I look forward to working with Mr. Voykin as the Corporation continues to provide the power that fuels the growth of our territory and its economy, and supports sustainable communities,”...
Minister Alfred Moses defends hiring longtime aide
Housing Minister Alfred Moses is standing by his decision to award a longtime aide with a $130,000 a year job. Facing questions from Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart in the legislative assembly on Feb. 21, Moses denied he was in a conflict of interest when he made his former aide Maia Lepage a Workers’ Safety and...
‘Slow’ progress on third-party sexual assault reporting
Third-party reporting has been identified by RCMP as a way to address underreporting of sexual assault in Canada, but the NWT is making “slow” progress to implement such a measure, says MLA Julie Green. “I don’t get a sense of when it is going to be important,” said Green. “I don’t get a sense that...
Lutsel K’e Dene vote 88 per cent for Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve
Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation members voted in favour of designating Thaidene Nene as a national park reserve on Feb. 19. Eighty-eight per cent of Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) members supported a resolution to sign establishment agreements with the territorial and federal governments to turn Thaidene Nene into a park. The LKDFN plans...
MLA: Improve safety on Dempster Highway
Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake is calling for safety improvements to the Dempster Highway close to Fort McPherson. Blake asked Infrastructure Minister Wally Schumann if the GNWT would install guardrails at kilometre 87 along precarious sections of highway, including a southbound section that leads on to a steep embankment. “Last summer, we had a group...
China trade mission on ‘backburner’: Premier
The GNWT has shelved its trade mission to China following diplomatic tensions and the arrests of Canadian citizens. After Canadian authorities arrested China’s Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in December at the Vancouver airport, China detained approximately a dozen Canadians, including entrepreneur Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat. “The fact...
Choosing Wisely Campaign marks first anniversary
The Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority celebrated the first anniversary of its Choosing Wisely Northwest Territories campaign on Friday. The NWT campaign is part of a national initiative that aims to help doctors and patients talk about unnecessary tests and treatments. It targets commonly ordered but not always necessary tests and treatments like...
Supreme Court ruling on environmental liability could warrant NWT legislative changes
The territorial government is analyzing whether the Supreme Court of Canada’s Redwater decision, which ruled that companies facing insolvency must pay environmental liabilities before repaying creditors, could compel legislative changes in the NWT. Frame Lake MLA Kevin O’Reilly raised questions in the legislative assembly Feb. 14 about whether the territory’s legislation lines up with the...
Yellowknife Women’s Society awarded multi-year funding from United Way NWT
The United Way NWT has announced that 20 non-profit organizations will receive their annual grants. This year the Yellowknife Women’s Society has been awarded $45,000 over three years as a part of the United Way NWT’s multi-year funding for a court outreach support program. Bree Denning, executive director of women’s society says the new program...
Canadian report finds gaps in U.S. draft plan on coastal oil leases
A Canadian report found the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has information gaps on the risks that oil and gas development in coastal Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would pose to the harvest and habitat of Porcupine caribou. The Canadian vulnerability analysis found that BLM’s 2018 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) “does not have...
Ecology North launches climate watch Twitterbot
Ecology North has launched a Twitterbot that will tweet the difference between the daily temperature in Yellowknife and change normals registered between 1971 and 2000. The @ykclimatewatch bot is a partnership with Wilfrid Laurier University and relies on data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to track anomalies compared to historic climate data. Ecology...
Mineral Resources Act will legislate online staking, benefit agreements
The GNWT is introducing its made-in-the-North mining legislation, enabling the territory to create and implement regulations for exploration and development post-devolution. The proposed Mineral Resources Act (MRA) creates provisions for online map staking, mandatory benefit agreements and ministerial powers to create exploration zones nominated by Indigenous governments. “We think this legislation balances the NWT’s unique interests,” said...