NWT curling royalty crowned in InuvikTeams Koe, Naugler and Gillis advance to respective national championships

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Volume 57 Issue 9 Thursday, March 11, 2021 75 cENTs

Premier's award goes to GTC land claim team

Town of Inuvik moves forward in reconciliation Letter fuels outreach

campaign in Aklavik

"It really highlights a lack of psychiatric treatment available in the North."– Defense lawyer Robin Parker on a Feb. 24 sentencing decision, page 8.

NewsNews Education

Eric Bowling/NNSL photo

Chasity O’Keefe, right, and Cole Parsons follow a rock thrown by Jamie Koe, cen-tre, during the final round of the NWT Mixed Curling Championship at the Inuvik Curling Centre March 6. Team Koe held on to a lead to win the championship.

2 INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021

Inuvik has officially adopted the recommenda-tions from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, almost a full decade after the town hosted a national event for former residential school students.

Mayor Natasha Kuli-kowski said implementing the recommendations is an important next step in the healing process and a good reminder to keep the issues it highlighted top of mind in day-to-day decisions.

"Fort Smith had done a very similar declaration," said Kulikowski. "It was around that time that we real-ly started considering how we could do it.

"From there, it was just getting the research, get-ting the Inuvik component in there and seeing how a municipality could support the TRC action."

In a series of four motions, town council voted unani-mously on Feb. 24 to adopt the United Nations Declara-tion on the Rights of Indigen-ous Peoples and to repudi-ate the concepts used to jus-tify European sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and

lands; to reiterate the need to establish and maintain inter-governmental communication with Indigenous governments; to add truth and reconciliation to council's regular priorities; and to write a letter to the Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) School of Community Government – as well as to the Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) and the Inu-vialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) – to offer training to both elected and non-elected municipal staff to address cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity in the work-place.

Senior Administra-tive Officer Grant Hood said MACA had already responded to the motion dur-ing its annual general meet-ing and upcoming cultural sensitivity training videos for GNWT employees will be available for municipalities across the territory by the end of April.

"We have received con-firmation from the GNWT," he said. "We're just now working on trying to fill that into our own training."

As most of the recom-mendations are oriented towards territorial and fed-eral levels of government,

most of the implementation involves advocating and lob-bying other levels of govern-ment to follow suit. One area the town can affect positive change however is ongoing monitoring of the language used by the town in its com-munications to ensure coloni-alism is not being perpetu-ated in the ways people are addressed.

Advocating for the reten-tion of post-secondary health care education in the Northwest Territories, to help increase the number of Indigenous health care professionals, is specific-ally mentioned as a possible action the town could par-take in. The town could also potentially take on a greater role in helping to implement Jordan's Principle in partner-ship with the GTC and IRC to ensure children are getting sufficient access to essential services.

Other changes recom-mended in-step with imple-mentation include more infor-mation about local Indigen-ous athletes at the Midnight Sun Complex, and expanding the call for additional housing in the community as well as more cultural and language programming in early child-

hood education.Kulikowski said a per-

sonal goal of hers now was establishing a leader's work-ing group to better collab-orate with Gwich'in, Inuvi-aluit and Metis governments, noting bringing a shared voice would help improve the regions chances of being

heard.While the town itself had

no involvement in the resi-dential school system, Inuvik was the site of the infam-ous Grollier Hall, which was finally demolished in 2014. Kulikowski noted the town has put many years of work into helping the region heal

from the past."By having the munici-

pality then take the recom-mendations that apply to us," she said. "I think it's not only a logical but important next step.

"We're keeping it in the forefront of council's decision making."

Town passes series of four motions committing to recommendations of Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Taking the next steps to reconciliation

by Eric Bowling Northern News Services

photo courtesy Michael Swan/Creative Commons

A ceremony held around the memorial fire pit at Chief Jim Koe Park June 28, 2011, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held its second National Event. Over 1,000 survivors came to Inuvik. The Town of Inuvik officially adopt-ed the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Feb. 24, 2021.

news

INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 3news

A project spearheaded by the Gwich'in Tribal Council has been awarded a 2019-2020 Premier's Award.

Premier Caroline Cochrane announced the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agree-ment Treaty Modernization Team (GCLCAT-MT) was named the winner of the Indigenous Partnership Award during a Feb. 16 video broadcast.

"This award recognizes the work of Gov-ernment of Northwest Territories employ-ees in collaboration with Indigenous gov-ernments and organizations," said Cochrane. "The Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is made up of nominees that came together to utilize Canada's recognition of Indigenous rights and determination approach in order to implement a first-of-its-kind in Canada treaty modernization process that pro-vides flexibility to advance treaty rights and interests in new and exciting ways."

This is the first time the Indigenous partnership award has been presented. The GCLCATMT shared the award with the Pro-

tected Areas Act Technical Working Group, which helped develop the new Protected Areas Act.

Cochrane said the working group was able to word the act in such a way that it reflected the needs of both the GNWT as well as Indigenous governments in the NWT.

"The final bill received overwhelming support from Indigenous governments and the legislative assembly when it assented in June, 2019," said Cochrane.

Given annually to recognise the excellence in performance of government employees, the Premier's Awards of Excellence had to be held online this year because of Covid-19 concerns.

Also awarded for exemplary services was John Boudreu, an airport marine service electrician who works in the Department of Infrastructure, the Aurora College student information team and the Stanton renewal project leadership team.

GTC Grand Chief Ken Smith said the award was a nice recognition of import-ant work the modernization team had been engaged in to keep the agreement current and up to date with modern legal practices and

definitions."It's an ongoing process," he said. "It's

things like this that keep this agreement rel-evant and focused on the spirit and intent of the agreement itself.

"There are periodic discussions required. Right now, we're focused on such things as board appointments, dispute resolution. Those have been problematic in the past, so those among other items we've been looking to address."

He noted the work also reflected a renewed interest from the federal government on reviewing release clauses and other conces-sions in the original agreement which are inconsistent with the United Nations Dec-laration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – which both Ottawa and the Northwest Ter-ritories are moving towards adopting.

With that in mind, the Smith said GTC was trying to be ahead of the curve when that happens.

"We would like to thank the GNWT for the nomination and the recognition of the good work of our team," he said. "Most notably for-mer Deputy Grand Chief Jordan Peterson and implementation advisor Diane Baxter."

Did we get it wrong?Inuvik Drum is committed to getting facts and

names right. With that goes a commitment to acknow-ledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in Inuvik Drum, contact the editor at (867) 777-4545 or email inuvikdrum@nnsl.com.

Modernization team working to prepare Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement for Canada's adoption of UNDRIP

Gwich'in land claim team nets premier's award

by Eric Bowling Northern News Services

photo courtesy GNWT

Members of the Gwich'in Tribal Council Comprehensive Land Agreement Modernization Team were named the 2021 Premier's Award for Indigenous Partnership. They are, back row from left, Roshan Begg, Jordan Peterson, Maxime Faille, Eleanor Jerome, Sue Bowie and Manuela Haemmerli. Front row from left, Monica Van Huystee, Tanya Schum, Tina Bohnet and Sahara Morin.

NewsBriefs

Vaccinations available for all adults

Anyone who wishes to begin the Covid-19 vaccination process is now able to do so by way of a simple phone call.

GNWT officials announced March 5 it was opening the door to allow all eligible adults 18 years of age or older to book an appointment for the Moderna vaccine, which is administered through two shots 28 days apart.

"I am pleased that we continue to be able to expand the priority groups eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in the Northwest Territor-ies and I look forward to seeing our territory get to the position where the vaccine is offered to all eligible residents, in all 33 communities," Julie Green, HSS Minister said in the news release.

Almost 20,000 doses of vaccine have been delivered to the NWT's 33 communities since Dec. 31, 2020. An additional 16,300 doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in the terri-tory this month.

Councillor Gary McBride steps down

Council will finish its term off with one less member after coun. Gary McBride tendered his resignation, effective March 10.

Mayor Natasha Kulikoski noted McBride had been given an opportunity that will require him to move away from town and wished him well.

"We wish you the best Gary," she said. "Thank you for your service to the town of Inuvik."

Acting RCMP-boss gives council update for FebruaryCriminal activity in February is up slightly

from 2020. Acting district commander Sgt. Mark Bish-

op told Town council the latest numbers in his monthly report during council's March 8 com-mittee of the whole meeting.

"Numbers for February is a slight increase since last year," said Bishop. "That seems to be common theme."

RCMP received seven complaints of impaired driving, one of which resulted in a driving suspension. Two complaints were deemed unfounded as the drivers were not impaired, but turned out to be distracted.

There were eight calls to family and domes-tic violence incidents, five of which resulted in criminal charges. Police responded to 56 com-plaints of assault, three sexual offences, two break and enters and five calls related to mental health issues.

There were 11 complaints of theft under $5,000 and one complaint over, and one com-plaint of drug trafficking. Fourteen charges were made under the liquor act, no complaints were made about bootlegging, 158 calls were responded to for causing a disturbance, mischief and public intoxication. Police responded to 109 "other" complaints, which Bishop told council 21 of which were breaches of court orders, eight were well-being checks, 10 were false alarms and 20 were general assistance.

New Nihtat boss after high-turnout election

Nihtat Gwich'in Council may have a new president at the helm following a March 3 general election that saw 174 members cast votes – a substantial jump from the 65 votes cast in the last election. Preliminary results have challenger Kelly McLeod unseating incumbent Robert Charlie in the president's seat. Official results were posted March 10.

Also elected to council were Chris Smith, Michael Francis, Mary Ann Villeneuve, Lenora McLeod, Wanda McDonald, Tony McDonald, Barry Greenland and Richard Ross.

Active cases: 1Confirmed cases: 74recovered cases: 73Completed tests: 15,069Negative tests: 15,000Pending tests: 31

days since first confirmed case: 355days since last confirmed case: 16VaccinesFirst doses administered: 17,057Second doses administered: 11,151Total doses administered: 28,208

fact filEnwt coVid-19 situation as of March 9

Source: Office of the Chief Public Health Officer

Scan for thelatest GNWT

Covid-19 statistics

ARI awarded $1.69M for research facility projectInuvik's Aurora Research Institute could soon be in possession of

a new space for facilitating research, thanks to funding from Ottawa.NWT MP Michael McLeod made the announcement that the ARI

was awarded $1,686,897 through the Canada Foundation for Innova-tion's (CFI) 2020 Innovation Fund on March 8.

Intended to expand support for research at the Western Arctic Research Centre, the funding will be put towards a steel warehouse to provide space for cold storage as well as a heated loading bay, garage and workshop. The building will replace the current three garages in the lot at the Aurora Research Institute. While the new warehouse is intended to help improve research capacity, it also will be used for training students and others to assist with research.

With the Covid-19 pandemic still in full force, research will likely be completed remotely again this summer, so the college is also hoping

to use the new space to provide more training for Indigenous partners.However, researchers will also be able to enter the territory if they

can meet the GNWT's safety requirements.Noting Aurora College is the only post-secondary institution to

receive money under the grant in 2021, president Andy Bevan said the funding will help the school as it transitions into a polytechnic university.

Bevan added the grant was only the first step, as the college was still looking for fellow partners to cover the remaining costs of the facility. The funding announcement from Ottawa will cover 40 per cent of the costs.

– Eric Bowling

nEws in brief

4 INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 opinions

It's no exaggeration to say we're all getting a bit stir-crazy up here.

Now close to a full year since the Covid-19 hammer fell, we're certainly all a lot less panicky than we were when we didn't know exactly how deadly coronavirus was, how quickly it could spread or how it was trans-mitted.

we still don't know what long-term effects could result from surviving the virus, however. we know other viruses can lead to side-effects later in life, such as shingles resulting from chicken pox infections.

But it's obvious people

are feeling confident about the direc-tion we're going. we have multiple vaccines now available and more in development – which I'm pretty sure is the fastest turn-around from a new virus to vaccine in recorded history – and jamborees and celebrations that were limited to cyberspace or out-right cancelled in 2020 are coming back to the physical plane.

All that being said, I think having waited a full year to get back to nor-malcy, we can afford to wait a little bit longer. The Yukon just wrapped up their Rendezvous and if we're planning to host our jamborees here in the Delta, we probably should limit how many people are able to attend them.

You only need to look at the out-break in Hope Bay that rocked Nuna-vut back in October to get a sense how easily Covid-19 can capitalize on a mistake. Reports out of the NwT's mines also show that the virus has not stopped hitching rides across the border on people.

so I'm glad the town has opted to not write a letter to pressure Dr.

Kami Kandola to accelerate re-opening the border. Not only is it not particularly safe yet, I really doubt it would sway her decision-making regardless.

An interesting trend I've noticed over the last year is the same lead-ers keep giving in to the same demands from the same people and getting the same results. even after losing Christmas, Halloween and other major gatherings, we're still hearing outrageous claims about how oppressive mask-mandates are, and ongoing delusions that reopening the economy won't lead to another spike a fourth time.

Conversely, there are places in the world where society was able to resume semi-normalcy long before the vaccine was ready for distribu-tion – by limiting how much people can move or interact in-person. while some of these jurisdictions, such as New Zealand, had the benefit of

being an island, others like Mongolia were able to keep the virus at a min-imum in spite of being landlocked.

simply put, it should be pretty obvious at this point what does and doesn't work.

Lastly, even if we are able to enter into a travel bubble agreement with the Yukon, it doesn't mean we'll be able to spontaneously decide to drive to whitehorse. Avoiding the 14-day isolation period when trav-eling between Nunavut and the NwT requires pre-approval.

Compared to our southern counterparts, Northern Canada is doing very well in containing Covid-19, which as of this writing has infected 117 million people and killed 2.6 million of us since it came on the scene late-2019.

If we pop our safety bubble in hopes of a travel bubble right now, we may very well end up with nei-ther.

Northern News Services

Pop travel bubble hopes

Youth of the week

HeiDi Blake

Our Youth of the Week is Heidi Blake, a Grade 3 student in Tsiigehtchic. Blake models dene law at her school by sharing what she has and help-ing others out whenever needed. On top of that, she loves to bake and is always bringing treats to school and other community functions to share. She shows respect to everyone at the school and always has a smile on her face.

eRIC BOwLINg

Published thursdays

Send uS your CoMMenTSLetters to the editor are welcomed by the drum, especially new contributors. We attempt to pub-lish a cross-section of public opinion. Not all let-ters will necessarily be published. Preference is given to short letters of broad interest or concern. Letters of over 200 words, open letters and those published elsewhere are seldom used. We reserve the right to publish excerpts, to edit for length or taste and to eliminate inaccurate or libellous statements. We may also choose to use a letter as the basis for a story. All letters submitted must be signed with a return address and daytime phone number. Opinions expressed in letters and by columnists are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the editor or publisher.

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INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 5

A letter from an Aklavik house-hold questioning the Beaufort Delta District Education Council's policy on LGBTQ2S+ inclusion was mis-informed, according to BDDEC administration, and staff are follow-ing up on to ensure parents under-stand how the policy affects children in the school system.

BDDEC superintendent Frank Galway told the council during its Feb. 18 to 19 annual general meet-ing that administration had received a letter from a parent citing several concerns with pro-LGTBQ2S+ les-sons in the curriculum.

He added that he felt the auth-or had not done adequate research. While the author of the letter was not named, Galway read the letter for the record.

"The fact is that according to the law schools should not be promoting the beliefs of any one group over another," reads the letter, "When a school begin to proselytize an LGBTQ(sic) lifestyle to children they are abusing the power and position of educating."

The letter goes on to question the curriculum's motivations and claims it discriminates against families that "do not believe in same-sex relation-ships."

Galway said BDDEC would need to engage in more outreach with par-ents to explain the human rights por-tions of the curriculum and that no

portion of the curriculum encourages students to move towards one type of sexuality or another – it simply encourages students to accept each other regardless.

"The health curriculum is well written and was vetted through human rights and lawyers," he added.

Guidelines on LGBTQ2S+ equity, safety and inclusion in the NWT came into effect in 2020.

Noting research has shown that LGBTQ2S+ students tend to experi-ence significantly more mental health issues, risks of suicide and drop-out rates, the guidelines pro-vide sample inclusive dress codes, literature on how to support a stu-dent-led gay-straight alliance, which is a safe social space for kids to gath-er and socialize and discuss relevant

issues to LGBTQ2s+ students. It also includes guidelines for working with students with fluid gender identities.

The guidelines were developed in response to feedback from students themselves at the first NWT Rain-bow Youth Conference, which was held in Yellowknife March 6 to 10 in 2017. LGBTQ2S+ youth from across the NWT came together to collabor-ate on a number of art projects to express a message of inclusiveness.

Assistant supt. Devin Roberts noted that as the new human rights guidelines only came into effect in 2020, more outreach was needed to ensure parents understood what the policy was.

"It's important for people to become educated on it," he said.

"They need to be aware of grade

levels and how the curriculum rolls out and there's a whole slew of things I don't think that letter has been informed by.

"So we need to get the word out for everyone, not just this person."

Galway said the board would pass the issue on to a working group but added he was going to respond to the letter on behalf of the board.

He pointed out the curriculum and the human rights policies were part of the Education Act and the board was obligated to teach the curriculum as determined by the legislature.

"We have to follow all legisla-tion," he said.

"It is about giving students a safe place to express themselves and giv-ing them an opportunity to under-

stand that individuals, regardless of their gender identification, have rights and we have to provide those safe places at schools.

"It is concerning the public would be questioning the human rights of children."

Other stakeholders chimed in, expressing their concerns about the complaints and asking the board to expand outreach to parents to make sure they're aware of the importance for the policy.

"I feel sad for the students of Aklavik if this is the environment they may be a part of," said BDDEC vice chair Jenn Parrott.

"I hope we can all rally together as a school community in response to this and help with some informa-tion."

Writer concerned with portrayal of LGBTQ2S+ lifestyle to children

Aklavik letter fuels outreach campaignby Eric Bowling

Northern News Services

photo courtesy of GNWT

A collage put together as part of nWT education renewal, a program ten years in the making, cumulating in the Rainbow Youth Conference of 2017 in Yellowknife. Much of the feedback from LGBTQ2S+ students helped shape the current inclusive curriculum.

6 INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 sports & recreation

SportS Cardcurling

tyanna bain

Our Athlete of the Week is Tyanna Bain, seen here concentrating on her next throw during the NWT Curling u18 girls championship game. Alongside her teammates Tyra and Tamara Bain and Pearl Gillis, the fearsome four were able to clinch the title and will begin high-level training this summer to prepare for the national championships next February in Timmins, Ont.

It's been quite the home-coming for Jamie Koe. The Inuvik-born curler's squad clinched the NWT Curling Mixed Championship in a Saturday morning showdown March 6.

Team Koe edged over Team Robertson in the final round, which had to be played to an extra end to determine the winner.

"My roots are here, so it's always a pleasure to come back," said Koe, who thanked his teammates Megan Koehler, Cole Parsons and Chasity O'Keefe for bringing the vic-tory home. "We're just lucky we could have this event with Covid-19.

"We got a big break in the second end when we stole four. From there we were just hitting the wave but they were clawing back and playing well, so we had to be sharp."

Koe thanked the Inuvik Curling Club for their service as excellent hosts and added it was always a pleasure to visit.

Team Koe will now repre-sent the NWT at the National Mixed Championships in Can-more, Alta, in November.

The NWT Curling Cham-pionships continued through the weekend, with the U18 boys and girls leagues squar-ing off throughout Sunday and the girls into Monday morning.

It was a late Sunday night for Team Naugler, who defeated Team MacNeil in a best-of-three just shortly after 9 p.m. The lone Yellowknife team defeated all three Inuvik squads on their home turf.

It was an early rise the next morning for Team Gil-lis, which took to the girls U18 final against Team Rog-

ers from Yellowknife. The two squads were neck-and-neck throughout the morning until a lucky curl from Team Gillis left a rock sitting right on the button.

"That was really scary," said Pearl Gillis. "But I'm happy I made it."

With the brooms sweeping their way, Team Gillis was able to hang on to a narrow lead to take the championship.

Noting the win had not settled in, Tyanna Bain said the team was going to be back to practice right away to pre-pare for the national finals in in Timmins, Ont. in February 2022.

Both winning U18 teams and the runner-ups will now be able take high-performance coaching lessons to prepare them for the national finals. Those lessons kick off in June.

In total, 12 teams came out for the tournament, with four per category. Three teams made the trek from Yellow-knife, while the remaining nine hailed from Inuvik.

To keep the event Covid-19 safe, rules were altered slight-ly. Instead of a double round-robin, the girls limited them-selves to three games apiece and the boys championship was reduced from a best-of-five to a best-of-three.

Sweepers were limited to one per throw and lanes were staggered to ensure safe social distancing.

Held off rally from team Robertson that went to seven ends

Team Koe takes NWT curling crown in Inuvik

by Eric Bowling Northern News Services

photo courtesy NWT Curling

2021's nWT u18 male curling champions follow a late night closer which saw team Naugler win a best of two series. Team Naugler will represent the NWT at the National Championship in Timmins, Ont. next February. Adam Naugler, Jullian Bowling, coach Tara Naugler, Shawn Dragon and Tasir Bhuiyan.

Team Gillis celebrates after winning the NWT Curling U18 girls cham-pionship. They will repre-sent the NWT in Timmins, Ont. this fall. From left, Pearl Gillis, Tyanna Bain, Coach Tanis Bain, Tyra Bain and Tamara Bain.Eric Bowling/NNSL photo

INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 7alternatives

tuesday, March 16 to friday, March 19drum Making Workshopreindeer Station5:30 – 9 p.m.A traditional Gwich'in drum mak-ing workshop is being held for anyone aged 18 to 35. Priority will be given to Gwich'in youth. Travel and accommodations are available and other activities, such as hand games, will also be included in the workshop. Anyone interested should email director@wayc.ca to sign up.

wednesday, March 17Culture ConnectionsMidnight Sun Complex5:30 – 9 p.m.This week, beginner painting les-sons with Brian Kowikchuk. Cost to attend is $25, catering included in afternoon. Cash only, limited to 10 partici-pants per session. First come first served. To register, call 777 8617, email tour-ism@inuvik.ca or sign up online at tinyurl.com/wobmuqww

friday, March 19 to sunday, March 21Our Climate Our Arctic – Inuit Nunagat 2021virtual Youth ConferenceCall for all youth from 14-30 from across Inuit Nunangat! The second annual Our Climate Our Arctic Youth Climate Conference is now open for registration. The vir-tual symposium will feature discussions on permafrost slumps to coastal erosion to migration pattern disruptions. register at https://bit.ly/3v95rQS.

saturday, March 20Inuvik Comedy 2021 – Open Mic for Arctic PawsMidnight Sun Complex9 p.m.dez Loreen presents a night of comedy and open mic - with all proceeds going to Arctic Paws! – Tell a story, play your non-wind instrument or tell a joke! very special thanks to our sponsor Northwind Industries.

community calendar

To have an event listed in this free feature, call (867) 777-4545, or email inuvikdrum@nnsl.com. Submissions should be received two weeks prior to the event. Non-profit or community events only please. There is no guarantee submissions will be published.

eric Bowling is editor of the Inuvik drum. Send your ideas

to inuvikdrum@nnsl.com

nEiGhBourlYNews

Peel River Jamboree awaits approval

Fort McPhersonJamboree-lovers are being told to mark

their calendars for April 9 to 11 for the Peel River Jamboree, while organizers await a final go-ahead from the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer.

Once final approval is complete, a schedule of events will be published.

Last year, the 62nd Peel River Jamboree went digital with online jigging contests, talent shows and music. The contests drew hundreds of entrants and extended through-out the month.

While Covid-19 restrictions remain in place for the time being, other jamboree committees in the Beaufort Delta have got-ten approval for limited public gatherings like races.

Ulukhaktok loses internet for over a week

UlukhaktokResidents of Ulukhaktok were without

internet for eight days following a power outage on Feb. 24, with connections failing so badly people were having difficulties paying for food and groceries.

Northwestel was eventually able to fix the issue, caused by what the company stated was a case of internet network con-gestion.

The outage ended in time for the com-

munity to prepare for a blizzard as warming temperatures led to forecasts of snowfall throughout the Beaufort Delta.

Blizzards hit Arctic coastTuktoyaktuk

As winter slowly winds down, winds are gusting and blizzard conditions are in the forecast for Tuktoyaktuk.

Winds are expected to gust up to 80 kilometres per hour and average between 40 to 60 km/h as fresh snow falls on March 11.

Conditions are anticipated to have set in by the morning and are expected to improve by the evening.

Temperatures are forecast to top out at -18 C and drop to -28 C overnight with a 60 per cent chance of flurries.

New draft zoning bylaw up for debate in Tsiigehtchic

TsiigehtchicTsiigehtchic Charter Community is

serving notice to residents about a new draft zoning bylaw currently being considered by charter council.

Anyone living in Tsiigehtchic can review the bylaw by request from the SAO's office. The bylaw will be discussed during an upcoming council meeting.

To view the bylaw, contact SAO Grant Scott at sao@tsigehtchic.ca or by phone at 867-953-3021.

8 INuvIK druM, Thursday, March 11, 2021 news

A man who damaged private property and uttered threats to sever-al women who rejected his advances will spend six months behind bars.

On Feb. 24 in Inuvik Territorial Court, the man, who will not be named because of his mental health issues, was sentenced for one count of mischief and two counts of uttering threats to cause bodily harm. He had previously pleaded guilty to the char-ges. Judge Robert Gorin sentenced him to six months, placed him on probation for 18 months following his release and barred him from pos-sessing firearms for three years.

He also recommended the man receive a thorough psychological assessment while in jail, noting the man's legal problems were rooted deeply in colonial trauma and the

man was living with schizophrenia and an alcohol addiction.

"It would appear clear he has suf-fered many of the negative factors affecting Indigenous people that are all too common in Canada," said Gorin in his judgment. "It is far more difficult to stay out of trouble when you have a background like the one (this man) has experienced."

However, Gorin also noted the man's conduct led to several people to be very afraid for their well-being. He pointed out the man had an exten-sive criminal record.

Crown prosecutor Georgios Phil-lips told court the man's most recent problems with the law began May 12, when RCMP received a complaint from a local grocery store about a doorway that had been kicked in and damaged.

Surveillance footage showed

the man following a woman to the doorway of the building. When the woman went inside, the man began kicking the door. The doorway was jammed shut and cost at least $800 to fix.

Then on June 5, RCMP received a complaint from a convenience store about the man harassing custom-ers. Police then received a second complaint from an individual who said the accused had hit on and then insulted his girlfriend.

The individual had gone to the store and spoken to the accused. After-wards, the accused walked over to the vehicle and informed the individual he would "shoot him in the face."

Defense lawyer Robin Parker said the man did not remember the events in question, but agreed the complain-ants were telling the truth.

Phillips then told court that on

Aug. 22 the police received a report of the man harassing women at a convenience store again.

A woman reported he had approached her and had made derog-atory, sexual comments to her that she ignored. After not getting a reac-tion out of the woman, the man told her he would "take you out and (expletive) you up."

The woman waited for several minutes for the man to leave, but discovered he had waited for her in the parking lot. When he began yelling at her and approached her, she locked herself in her truck and called RCMP.

"These were random bystanders that he threatened," said Phillips. "The victims were quite frightened and in one case reduced to tears."

RCMP noted in their report when they arrested the man, he had slurred

speech and glazed eyes. Parker told court the man had no recollection of the event.

In his defence, the man apolo-gized to the court for his actions and said he wanted to find a way to deal with his mental health problems.

"I can only imagine what people in this courtroom are thinking," said the man. "I'm a different person when I'm sober than when I'm drink-ing."

Parker said the man was the sur-vivor of inter-generational trauma and had been coping with mental health issues, including schizophre-nia, for his entire life.

She added that all three victims in the case had said they would rather see him get help than go to prison.

"It really highlights a lack of psychiatric treatment available in the North," she said.

Damaged door to Northmart, threatened women who rejected his advancesMan sentenced to six months for uttering threats

by Eric Bowling Northern News Services

Yukon border closure 'under review' Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola's staff is reviewing

the current travel restrictions between the NWT and Yukon.Inuvik Mayor Natasha Kulikowski told town council she had

asked Dr. Kandola herself how the idea looked from her desk dur-ing the month's CPHO-Municipal and Community Association conference call March 5.

"While she wasn't able to give a definite answer or timeline, she wanted council to know it is being considered and also just said that even if her office was to approve, it would have to be reciprocated by the Yukon government as well (to establish a travel bubble.)"

Kulikowski noted she had been asked by a resident to pen a letter on behalf of the town in support of Inuvik-Twin Lakes MLA Lesa Semmler's push to reopen the border in the legislature and support an NWT-Yukon travel bubble.

Councillors opted to hold off on writing the letter, as the main intent was to put a travel bubble on the agenda. Many councillors also voiced their support for Kandola's expertise on the matter.

"I'm sure none of us like being in isolation," said coun. Clar-ence Wood. "We hire professionals. Dr. Kandola, as far as I'm concerned, has done an excellent job to date. Probably the reason why our rate of infection is as low as it is."

As of February, individuals traveling between Nunavut and the NWT who do not exhibit Covid-19 symptoms can apply for an exemption for the 14-day self-isolation.

Yukon had previously established a travel bubble with British Columbia, but popped it last November when Covid-19 cases began to spike in that province.

photo courtesy of GNWT

Premier Caroline Cochrane meets with border patrol at the nWT-yukon border on Jan. 6. Inuvik Mayor Natasha Kulikowski told council on March 8 that she had asked Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola about easing border restrictions and has been told the file is "under review."

nEws in brief