Former Fort Res mayor defends fiscal record
In response to recent criticism, the former mayor of Fort Resolution said he and his council didn’t break the hamlet’s finances, and he has documents to back it up. “There’s always been a deficit with the hamlet,” said Garry Bailey, who served a term as mayor before losing to current mayor Louis Balsillie in the...
Feds announce $1.6 million for Northern women’s groups
The federal government is giving $1.6 million in multi-year funding to four organizations that serve women in the NWT. The YWCA NWT will get about $600,000, the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning will receive around $360,000, FOXY will receive about $370,000 and the Yellowknife Women’s Society has been granted $268,800. “Our government is demonstrating our...
Folk on the Rocks announces final wave of artists
Friday Folk on the Rocks festival announced the third and final wave of artists hitting the stage this summer.
Canadian storyteller Fiver, garage rock band Light Bulb Alley, Lazarus and Leanne
Betasamosake Simpson will be joining...
City facilities will have reduced Easter hours
A number of city facilities will have reduced hours this weekend. City hall will be closed all day today and on Monday. The library will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday, Sunday and Monday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The dump will be closed Friday and Monday but open...
EDITORIAL: Family services without the services
If we accept a mother of three’s story of the neglect and incompetence she alleges to have suffered at the hands of child and family services, then the hill this beleaguered service of the territorial government must climb to regain the public’s trust just got a little more mountainous. The Yellowknife woman, who cannot be...
Young girl with cerebral palsy heading to US for specialized surgery
A five year old girl with the most severe form cerebral palsy is in need of a unique surgery in the United States after her hip becomes dislocated. As an infant, Mikaela MacNaughton suffered strokes and had blood clots in both her cerebral arteries, the two main arteries supplying blood to her brain. This led...
TALES FROM THE DUMP: Not so brilliant ideas
This is a tale that happened years ago, at an exploration camp far out on the barrens. Summer was over and winter was fast approaching. It was decided to close the camp down until they could start up the program the next spring. To put a big camp to bed for the winter can take...
Sentencing adjourned for woman who sent sexually explicit messages to girl
The Ulukhaktok woman admitted to sending sexually explicit texts and Facebook messages to an underage girl, pleading guilty to an offence that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three months in jail. Her lawyer says the sentence would amount to cruel and unusual punishment for his client, a young victim of abuse herself, who lives in...
Military training coming to Kam Lake
Canadian Armed Forces members will march along Deh Cho Boulevard in a military training exercise next week.
The soldiers of C Company, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment, will march from around 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April...
Police increase downtown patrols in an effort to reduce crime
Law enforcement have long acted under the accepted belief that the presence of police is intrinsically tied to the prevalence of crime: More officers on the streets means people are less likely to break the law. But in Yellowknife, where a brewing clash between the rights of business owners, residents, and the needs of a...
CT scans, sterilization machines down at Stanton Territorial Hospital
The Stanton Territorial Hospital is experiencing "service interruptions" with its CT scanner and sterilization units, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) stated in a Wednesday news release.
While the interruptions are affecting the...
Feds invest $2.7M into nine NWT projects
The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) is investing $2.7 million into nine economic development projects in the Northwest Territories. The benefiting projects range from tourism, film, and Indigenous cultural tourism to support for entrepreneurs, businesses and francophone markets. MP Michael McLeod announced funding for the following projects in Yellowknife today. Tourism research and marketing...
Focus on Business: Old Town Glassworks
In the early 90s then Mayor, Pat McMahon, once told Matthew Grogono that recycling was not something that would be done in the Northwest Territories. “We’re a mining town. We make it, we break it, we throw it away. We are at the end of the road,” Grogono quotes McMahon. “You can’t recycle in the...
We spoke to Yellowknifers about climate change, here’s what they said
France Benoit is a farmer on the Ingraham Trail, and explains how she sees the effects of climate change on her daily work. “I have been here almost 30 years and I have seen a lot of changes. More so, I would say in the last five or six years. The season’s changing … it...
Remote family lodge to be operational this summer
Much like the six-foot saplings and fireweed growing back into the area where old growth trees used to be, longtime family getaway Namushka Lodge is slowly coming back to life at Harding Lake. The family business, owned by the Chorostkowskis for 30-plus years, is located southeast of Yellowknife. It had become inoperable after suffering damage...
TALES FROM THE DUMP: It’s the law
A couple weeks ago at the salvage area, someone had dumped out a big pile of law books. There had to be between 50 to 100 of them. Books of different statutes, case studies, codes and ordinances. Books that may well get a lawyer or law student excited, but not of much use or interest...
EDITORIAL: If only blue-green algae had a carbon tax
The good news is that humans are not the first creatures to have emitted a critical amount of planet-imperilling gas. Way back about 2.5 billion years ago when the Earth was a very different place with no plants, no animals, no insects and no oxygen, our primordial atmosphere was made up mostly of carbon dioxide,...
Farming in Yellowknife
After years of discussion, Yellowknife is finally developing an urban agriculture strategy. Urban agriculture, as defined by the city, is “the growing and raising of a diversity of plants and animals within the boundaries of the City of Yellowknife.” On April 8, about two dozen citizens met to discuss the draft strategy at Northern United...
Feds pledge $100K for accessible washroom at Northern United Place
The NWT Community Services Corporation in Yellowknife is receiving $100,000 in federal funding to build an accessible washroom in Northern United Place, announced Liberal MP Michael McLeod on Tuesday. The money is coming from the federal government’s Enabling Accessibility Fund, which makes annual payments to projects that promote inclusivity in public spaces. “Today’s announcement is another example...
Lone goose arrives early in Yellowknife
A lonesome goose has been causing a stir in Yellowknife.
Many residents have reported seeing the bird in recent weeks, including former NWT commissioner Tony Whitford, who said he first saw it in front of...
Yellowknife RCMP charge 2 in weekend Taser incident
Yellowknife RCMP have charged two men in connection with a weekend incident that saw RCMP use a Taser to subdue and arrest a suspect downtown. A Taser, otherwise known as a Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW) device was deployed by RCMP after officers responded to the scene of an “altercation” near the area of 51 Ave...
Climate change has mental health risks, says Yellowknife doctor
In 2014, the Northwest Territories saw its worst wildfire season since the 1990s, with three million hectares of land burned in one summer. While the dry conditions that caused the fires have been linked to climate change, their psychological impacts on residents of Canada’s fastest warming region are just starting to be understood. Through her...
‘I felt like I was criminalized just for being a victim’
She was stabbed repeatedly in her home in Yellowknife, allegedly by her estranged partner, while her children watched. By the time she arrived at Stanton Territorial Hospital, the young mother says the NWT Health and Social Services Authority was already trying to take her kids away. “I felt like I was criminalized just for being...
New scholarship funding for mine jobs
A new scholarship fund aiming to get Northern youth more involved in the mining industry was revealed during a special ceremony last week. The Mine Training Society was awarded $25,000 in scholarship money from the Diamond Empowerment Fund. The new scholarship fund, announced at a special ceremony April 12 at the Kimberlite Career and Technical...
Krause talk bashing Tides buries painfully obvious conclusion
Environmental activists bankrolled by the American oil interests through influential charitable trusts pose a serious threat to Canada’s oil and resource industries, including the North. That was the warning trumpeted by keynote speaker Vivian Krause at the recent NWT Chamber of Commerce AGM in Yellowknife. One of the main targets of Krause’s research was...
Woman sustains non-life threatening injuries in Highway 3 crash: Yk RCMP
Yellowknife RCMP located an “extensively damaged” vehicle along Highway 3 over the weekend after responding to a report of a single vehicle collision – but the driver was nowhere to be found. Mounties arrived at the site of the wreck, at km 308 near Boundary Creek, around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, only to find the...
Nabbed by undercover cops at Hay River baseball tournament, woman gets 5 months for...
They looked and played the part, running bases and rubbing shoulders with unsuspecting teammates and opponents at the 2017 Coors Mixed Slo-Pitch Tournament in Hay River. But the group of players, actually a lineup of undercover RCMP officers, were looking for more than a home run. Assembled as part of Project Grand Slam, an elaborate...
Yellowknife RCMP charge man, 60, in alleged assault downtown
Yellowknife RCMP have charged a 60-year-old man in connection with an altercation at a busy downtown intersection last week that sent two to hospital. A man and a woman were taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries just after 4:30 on Tuesday, April 9 following what police described as an “altercation,” near the...
Two males arrested after police deploy Taser: RCMP
Police deployed a Taser device while arresting two males Saturday afternoon after RCMP responded to “altercation” on a downtown vacant lot across from Centre Square Mall. The incident occurred on 50 Street between 51 and 50 Avenue at around 3 p.m., states a news release from the RCMP. According to police, both Yellowknife RCMP and Yellowknife...
Girl allegedly offered ride by man in red van; Yellowknife RCMP investigating
Yellowknife RCMP have launched an investigation after a girl in her early teens was allegedly offered a ride home by an unknown man Friday afternoon. A 14-year-old girl was walking “near St. Joseph’s Park, west bound on Finlayson Drive between Range Lake Road and Dagenais Drive,” on Friday, April 12, when a man in his 40s...