volume 48 issue 9 $1.00 farm guru floats gnwt seed bankthe town recently hired a tem-porary bylaw...

Farm guru floats GNWT seed bank

A $100,000 investment would improve food security, Jackie Milne says

Volume 48 Issue 9 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020 $1.00 (.95 + GST)

HubHay RiveR, NoRtHwest teRRitoRies

T H e

Team connects with video challenge

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Dozens complete self-isolation in Hay River

News

Seniors controlling Covid-19 message

Community

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"We always share fun things like that to our private hockey page."– Hay River Hazard team secretary Christy Schwartz got rolled up in a viral video, page 7.

Paul Bickford/NNSL photoJackie Milne, president of the Northern Farm Training Institute in Hay River, has proposed that the GNWT fund a seed bank to help increase food security in light of the Covid-19 crisis and help her organization offer online agricultural classes for small communities. Read the full story on page 2.

www.hayriverhub.com2 ▼ WedNeSday, aPRIL 22, 2020

Jackie Milne has pro-posed that the GNWT fund a seed bank to help increase food security in light of the Covid-19 crisis and to help her organization offer online agricultural classes in small communities.

Milne is the president of the Northern Farm Training

Institute (NFTI), which is based at a farm campus in Hay River.

She expected an increased demand for seed when the Covid-19 crisis began, pre-dicting it would become the next toilet paper.

"I knew it would hap-pen, absolutely," she said. "Because it's instinctual. It's like the animal part of us immediately starts to think

about the most essential. And seeds are a little, small, inexpensive packet, so it's really easy to hoard and take more than you need."

Milne noted that some seed companies in Canada are no longer accepting orders because of the demand, or there are delays in having orders filled.

"So a month ago, I imme-diately wrote up a propos-al and asked the GNWT to invest in purchasing the seeds that we need," she said, noting she suggested govern-ment invest about $100,000 for a seed bank.

"And that seed would be enough to grow 25 per cent of the Northwest Territories' caloric needs," she added. "Not that we'd have to plant it all, because if we purchase it and we put it in proper stor-age that seed would be there for next year and it could last."

Milne narrowed the seeds down to nine kinds.

"So I'm not talking about growing every single type of vegetable," she said. "I'm just focusing on the nuts and bolts."

They are potato, leek, onion, parsnip, beet, carrot, radish, salsify and rutabaga.

Once you have the plant, you can grow the seeds, said Milne.

"It's not like you'd have to purchase it all the time."

She said she's not even suggesting the government give NFTI the money for a food bank.

"I'm just saying someone needs to buy this," she said. "I gave them the information. I'm fine with them doing it as a direct purchase."

The second part of Milne's proposal involved GNWT support for NFTI to con-tinue delivering agricultural information and supplies to smaller communities over the internet, instead of having people travel to Hay River.

"They don't have to feel afraid or worried, because the small communities aren't going to want people going out and aren't going to want people coming in for a long time," she said. "So how are we going to help them? It's very serious. I want to be able to send in critical supplies – seeds, live plants and tools."

Plus, Milne noted she already has contacts in many communities with residents who have already attended classes at NFTI.

She submitted the pro-posal to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Invest-ment, but said she has not yet received a response.

The Hub requested a reac-tion to her idea from the GNWT last week, but had not received a response prior to deadline.

As a backup to funding

online courses and supplies for smaller communities, NFTI has also started a Go Fund Me page with a goal to raise $25,000.

"This year we have developed a NWT Collab-orative Growing Plan, which includes activating our past students as local food ambas-sadors in their home com-

munity so that we can send them seeds, bedding plants, tools and supplies for produc-ing local food and administer training through online les-sons that follow the season," the appeal states.

The Go Fund Me page was created on April 4. As of April 19, the initiative had raised $1,080 from 17 donors.

NFTI's Jackie Milne proposes seed bank for the territory

The new toilet paper

Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Jackie Milne, president of the Northern Farm Training Institute, has proposed that the GNWT fund a seed bank to help increase food security in light of the Covid-19 crisis and to help her organ-ization offer online agricultural classes in small communities.

PAuL [email protected]

WedNeSday, aPRIL 22, 2020 ▼ 3www.hayriverhub.com

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facts and names right. With that goes a commitment to acknowledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in Hay River Hub, call 874-2802 and ask to speak to an editor, or email [email protected]. We'll get a correction or clarification in as soon as we can.

As of April 15, there were 18 people in GNWT-organized self-isolation centres in Hay River as a preventative measure against the spread of Covid-19 according to Ivan Russell, director of the public safety division with the Department of Municipal and Com-munity Affairs (MACA).

"Since the public health measures went into effect on the 21 of March, 44 people who were staying in the self-isolation accommodations in Hay River have completed the required 14 days self-isolation and returned home," Russell reported. "These numbers change daily as new clients arrive and others return home."

Under the public health order, people entering the NWT must self-isolate for two weeks, either in their own homes – except in smaller communities – or in accommodations provided by MACA in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik and Fort Smith.

For people in GNWT-supported isolation centres, Russell noted meals are delivered to them (or grocer-ies dropped at their door in a few locations) and laun-dry services have been made available.

MACA does not have a count of the number of individuals whose self-isolation plans allowed them to spend the 14 days at home or with family in Hay River.

Anyone arriving in the NWT must complete a self-isolation plan. Public health officials with the Depart-ment of Health and Social Services review the plans.

According to the information provided by Russell, the guidelines for self-isolation either at home or in an isolation centre include avoiding all situations where a person could infect others, such as social gatherings, work, childcare centres, health-care facilities, grocery stores, restaurants and elsewhere.

A person in self-isolation may go outdoors alone for fresh air, but cannot use a taxi or share a car.

They are not to have face-to-face contact within two metres with anyone while outdoors.

If a person must run an urgent errand, such as to pick up medication, that person is to wear a surgical mask to reduce the risk of spreading infection.

Russell noted that, if members of the public have concerns about compliance, they can be reported to [email protected] or by calling 1-833-378-8297.


NeWsBriefs

Kandola welcomesHay River's assistanceDr. Kami Kandola, the GNWT's

chief public health officer, has wel-comed the Town of Hay River's help in enforcement efforts against Covid-19.

The town recently hired a tem-porary bylaw officer and one of his goals will be to provide information to the GNWT on compliance issues in Hay River.

When asked about that hiring during an April 15 news conference, Kandola replied, "My Compliance Enforcement Task Force, which is headed by Conrad Baetz, is welcom-ing and soliciting partnership with RCMP and bylaw officers. Together we can be stronger."

Pandemic plan expected this week

Brian Willows, the public admin-istrator for the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, is hoping that the Territorial Pandemic Response Plan will be released this week.

In a Facebook post on April 17, Willows noted that the health authority is a full partner in the Ter-ritorial Pandemic Response Plan.

"I had an opportunity to review the draft of this plan which we hope to be released (this) week," he said. "It is a sobering document that is designed to respond to levels of the pandemic in the North."

Willows, who is also a Hay River town councillor, said his message is that people have to stay vigilant and committed to the rules around social distancing and self-isolation.

"It is our only defence against this virus," he wrote. "Our health system and in fact no health system, is designed for this type of plague. These measures are for the collective good and more importantly to limit the strain on our health system and its employees.

"Please consider that at this time it is not about the individual but about the collective wellbeing of each other and the systems we have designed to protect us all."

GNWT announces newnumber for Covid infoIn an April 17 news release, the

GNWT announced a new number – 8-1-1 – to connect to Covid-19 information and services.

The new Service NWT Covid Support Line means residents can use one number to reach the estab-lished self-isolation, enforcement and regional centre accommodations lines.

The new line also has staff to provide callers with accurate infor-mation about Covid-19.

The phone service will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the excep-tion of the Protect NWT enforce-ment line, which will have on-call staff available 24 hours a day.

All lines will run seven days a week.

Interpretation services will be available.

Eighteen still housed in community by MACA

GNWT says 44 complete self-isolation in Hay River


WateR CRoSSingThe ice crossing to the Hay River Reserve has begun its annual melt, as evidenced by these vehicles driving through mostly water on april 16. The crossing was still open to traffic as of this past weekend.


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HubT H e

Will you ever shake hands again?

You Said It!

Dale Loutit: "yes, I'll definitely shake hands again with people. I think it's like a case of saying hi to people."

Robert chenard: "It will take quite a while, I guess, before we get to that point, if ever."

Brad Mapes: "That's a tough one. I think, honestly, we can't live our life without a hand-shake. Sooner or later we're going to have to handshake."

Brenda Penny: "If the coronavirus had a vac-cine and basically there was no more corona-virus."

We have to say we are impressed with the people of Hay River as they contend with the coronavirus.

As has been shown over the years, the people of this community can pull together in the face of an emergency, whether flooding during spring breakup, or the threat of a wildfire, or even last year's fire at Mackenzie Place, which displaced more than a hundred people.

However, a pandemic is a different thing altogether.

still, the people of Hay River have shown the same spirit to stand together to face the new challenge.

We're not talking about government, which is doing what it feels it has to do.

We're talking about the people, who have stepped forward to respond to the coronavirus in a multitude of creative and inspiring ways.

Just think about what has happened in the last few weeks.

Birthday parades have been organized on Fridays so young people and adults can be celebrated, even if they can't get together for traditional parties because of concerns about the

coronavirus.Make Noise, Hay River

gets people out in front of their homes every saturday evening to sound off as a way to express thanks to

front-line work-ers, who have kept the com-munity running

while most people stay at home.

Other special activities organized by residents include two photographers taking free photos of people while they self-isolate in their homes, churches offer-ing prayers and spiritual encouragement, special online programming and activities from NWT Centen-nial Library, a food collection for the needy at st. Andrew's Anglican Church and much more.

All of them are important, because they keep up the spirit of the community as it fights an invisible enemy.

some might say that Hay River has not yet faced the worst of coronavirus, since there has been no con-firmed case of Covid-19 in the community as of April 18.

(And, as we say every time we write about Covid-19, we hope there is still no confirmed case when you

read this.)We believe that the

people of Hay River – the vast majority, anyway – have been behaving as if the coronavirus is here. And of course, no one can say for sure whether it is or it isn't.

Whether it is here or not doesn't take away from the worry that you hear from people, especially seniors who are the most vulnerable and even more so if they have certain existing health concerns.

And since there has been a confirmed case in Fort Resolution, the pandemic is awfully close, since some consider that south slave

community a suburb of Hay River, even though it is 150 km away.

The people of Hay River have been staying home, businesses are closed and more and more people are starting to wear facemasks.

The vast majority obvious-ly feel like the coronavirus may be here and are taking the necessary precautions.

In that worrying and even dangerous situation, it's inspiring to see so many people step forward to help and encourage other resi-dents in this difficult time.

We are impressed by the people of Hay River, but not really surprised.

Living in the faceof a pandemic

edITORIAL

Northern News Services

NNSL file photo

A birthday parade turns into Delancey Estates on April 3. The weekly parades are to celebrate people's special days when par-ties can't take place because of concerns about Covid-19.


The Hay River Seniors' Society is taking extra efforts to ensure that its members are receiving information – accur-ate information – about the coronavirus Covid-19.

Sandra Lester, vice-chair of the society, said there was a lot of bad information on the internet, especially at the beginning of the crisis, but not so much now.

"Absolutely insane things people were posting," she said.

So she and Pat Burnstad, secretary of the society, are working to provide correct information.

"We've let people know, besides the facts that they're getting, the right information or the current information is from the GNWT," said Lester.

"We're also trying to weed out the stuff that's going to get them in trouble."

Lester, a member of the Hay River Regional Well-ness Council, gets informa-tion from that board and other sources – the GNWT and the federal government, for example. She is also a mem-ber of the community's emer-

gency measures committee."I send it to all the execu-

tive and they can further it and then I send it to the Hay River Seniors' page," she said, referring to the organization's

Facebook site.Lester then provides the

information to Burnstad, who also gathers other information from the Town of Hay River, the GNWT and elsewhere.

Burnstad emails the infor-mation in an online newsletter to 110 society members every weekday.

"What I do is I actually take whatever Sandra sent

out and put on the Facebook page, because some people don't use Facebook. A lot of our seniors apparently don't," she said, adding she also adds information from the Town of

Hay River."And then I'll go online and

see if things are applicable to our seniors that they may not be looking at or whatever," she said. "Actually, I have had comments that they're pleased with what comes out."

Burnstad said her basic message is for seniors to play it safe, a message echoed by Lester.

"We always tell everyone to be really careful," she said.

Burnstad noted there is no printed version of the news-letter, but she suggested that seniors without the internet can obtain information from reliable sources via radio or television.

Both Burnstad and Les-ter also try to be cheerful and keep spirits up among the seniors when providing information.

"I put a couple of jokes a day on the page," said Lester, noting she had never done that before. "We're trying to tell them there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

Burnstad noted that Covid-19 has caused concern among seniors, especially those with existing medical conditions that may worsen cases of the virus.

Facebook and email used to keep people up to date

Hay River Seniors' Society providesaccurate Covid-19 info to members


Sandra Lester, vice-chair of the Hay River Seniors' Society, is using the internet to help keep members updated on the latest news about Covid-19.



Even though organized sports have stopped in the NWT because of the Covid-19 crisis, it doesn't mean that teammates can't share some fun.

The players with Hay River Hazard Women's Hockey joined together – via the internet from their own homes – to contribute segments to a video.

"I just called it the Hazard's Pass the Toi-let Paper," said Christy Schwartz, team secretary.

Basically, more than 20 players were filmed bounc-ing a roll of toilet paper like a puck on their hockey sticks before appearing to pass it on to the next player, who would then do the same thing in another house or outdoors.

"I actually saw a video on Facebook of a bunch of people doing it," said Schwartz.

"I thought it was pretty good, especially since it was right at the start of the toilet paper crisis or hoard-ing, whatever you want to call it," she added. "So kind of when all that came into the public eye this video popped up on my feed. We always share fun things like that to our private hockey page. So I put it on there and said, 'Does anybody want to do this?'"

Schwartz said some players were hesitant at first, before one of them suggested they do the activity and challenge other women's hockey teams in the

NWT to do the same."Everybody kind of did it in their own time and

sent it to me as they finished them up," she said. "And I pieced it together with iMovie and we had a video."

Schwartz noted the team was supposed to have one more tournament in Yel-lowknife until the Covid-19 crisis hit.

"We have a pretty tight club and we have a lot of fun together and for me it was sad the season ended kind of abruptly," she said, adding that the Hazard's Pass the Toilet Paper was a

way to connect with everybody.The Hazard challenged three other women's hockey

teams in the NWT to also take on the challenge."I haven't heard from Fort Simpson or Yellowknife,"

said Schwartz. "But the Fort Smith ladies compiled their video and sent it to us ... so that was pretty awe-some."

Along with the video of the Hazard's Pass the Toilet Paper, Schwartz also created and posted a blooper reel of the players trying to perform the challenge.

Hazard Women's Hockey players share fun online activity

Team keeps connectedthrough video challenge

Christy Schwartz, secretary of Hay River Hazard Women's Hockey, introduced the

team to a fun video challenge called Hazard's Pass the Toilet Paper.

photo courtesy of Christy Schwartz


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volume 48 issue 9 $1.00 farm guru floats gnwt seed bankthe town recently hired a tem-porary bylaw...

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