Friday 24 June 2011

The latest column of The Digital Eye is online; This time - panoramic photography

The latest column of The Digital Eye
<http://whatsupyukon.com/index.php/the-digital-eye.html
>is online at What's Up Yukon
<http://whatsupyukon.com/index.php/the-digital-eye.html>. This time
dealing with panoramic photography. Feel free to email my questions or add
comments after the article. Enjoy.

--
Peace, Health and Harmony

Norm Hamilton, Freelance Writer and Photographer
137-1 Klondike Road
Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 3L6
<http://www.normhamilton.ca>www.normhamilton.ca/blog
email: <normATnormhamiltonDOTca>ytnormATgmailDOTcom
PH: (867) 333-0595

Thursday 23 June 2011

GNWT Housing Policy Review


Please see attached news release in regards to:

 

YELLOWKNIFE (Thursday, June 23, 2011) – NWT residents are invited to participate in a review that will refocus the GNWT's approach to providing housing programs and services. The online public survey is available at http://survey.stats.gov.nt.ca/ShelterPolicy/ and the deadline for responses is July 29.

 

Provided courtesy of the Office of the Press Secretary - Premier and Cabinet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Amber O'Reilly

Constituency Assistant / Assistante de la circonscription électorale

MLA - Frame Lake / Députée, Frame Lake

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories / Assemblée Législative des Territoires du Nord-Ouest

 

office / bureau   (867) 669 – 2273

fax / télécopie      (867) 873 - 0276

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail and/or attachments. / S'il-vous-plaît considérer l'environnement avant d'imprimer ce message et/ou ses pièces jointes.

 

GNWT Looking to Revamp Housing Programs

YELLOWKNIFE (Thursday, June 23, 2011) – NWT residents are invited to participate in a
review that will refocus the GNWT's approach to providing housing programs and services.

The Shelter Policy Review will include workshops with regional and community leadership,
meetings with residents, clients, and non-government organizations that provide housing
services, and an online survey for NWT residents.

"We know that housing is one of the most important issues in our communities," said Robert C.
McLeod, Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. "This review is an important
step in re-focusing the GNWT's approach to housing. We want to hear the views and ideas from
as many NWT residents as possible."

When completed, the review will outline a long-term vision for housing in the Northwest
Territories. It will increase consistency in the way programs are developed and delivered,
address the decrease in funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and
propose solutions to housing infrastructure challenges. The report will be submitted to
the Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly for their consideration in setting the next
government's policies.

"Improving the quality and cost of shelter is a priority for the GNWT," said Minister
McLeod. "Housing costs are a significant factor in the cost of living in our territory. I am
committed to finding greater effectiveness, efficiencies and a more client-focused, service-
oriented approach to housing programs in our communities."

The survey is available online at http://nwthc.gov.nt.ca, at Local Housing Organizations, and at
the NWT Housing Corporation's regional offices until July 29, 2011.

For more information:

Paula MacFadyen
Manager, Strategic Planning, Policy and Communications
NWT Housing Corporation
873-3051

Media requests for interviews with Members of the Executive Council may be directed to:

Office of the Press Secretary • Premier/Cabinet
Government of the Northwest Territories • PO Box 1320 • Yellowknife • NT • X1A 2L9
Tel: (867) 669-2302 • Fax: (867) 873-0111

Wednesday 22 June 2011

URGENT: #YZF #NWT Taiga Camp leadership program for girls needs participants

FYI – if you know of any girl 11 – 17 that may be interested in a very worthwhile program.

 

From: Amy Lizotte [mailto:amyruthlizotte@gmail.com]

Cc: miranda@taigacamp.com

Sent: June-22-11 7:23 PM
Subject: Information to circulate in your network asap?

 

Hello, 

 

I am hoping through your newsletters or email list serves that you all might be able to assist Taiga Camp?? http://www.taigacamp.com Our camp is starting next Friday and we don't have enough applicants for every session. I am hoping that you could circulate the following little blurb - whatever you can do is appreciated! Thanks

 

Taiga Camp (www.taigacamp.com) is an NWT summer camp program designed specifically for teenage girls. We focus on leadership and environmental literacy. Our vision is 'to inspire the next generation of courageous young northern female leaders'. Our programming includes: canoeing, kayaking, hiking, camping, storytelling, traditional knowledge teachings, outdoor survival skills, dance, yoga, filmmaking, music, and workshops that build self esteem, healthy relationships and healthy lifestyles. At Taiga, girls are valued, respected, and challenged. We believe that in every girl is a leader and a source of inspiration. 

 

We currently have NOT filled 2 camp sessions that will be running out at Prelude. These sessions are being opened up to any girl age 11-17. We have bursaries still available to assist payment. 

 

The sessions we need to fill run: July 1 - 9 and July 23 - 30. 

 

Please contact us ASAP if you are interested at c. 445 9603 office.  1-888-234-4485. Or download the application from our website and fax it in today!!!!

 

Don't miss out on an amazing summer opportunity! 

 

Taiga Camp - Results that Last a Lifetime

 

 

 



Monday 20 June 2011

BHP Billiton EKATI Diamond Mine Commits to $1.15 million to #NWT Breakfast for Learning



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Legaree, Alexander I <Alexander.I.LegareeATbhpbillitonDOTcom>
Date: 20 June 2011 09:40
Subject: BHP Billiton EKATI Diamond Mine Commits to $1.15 million to Breakfast for Learning



EKATI Diamond Mine - Community

BHP Billiton EKATI Diamond Mine Commits to $1.15 million to Breakfast for Learning

BHP Billiton EKATI Diamond Mine is pleased to announce its renewed partnership for $1.15 million over 5 years with Breakfast for Learning Northwest Territories (NWT).

Breakfast for Learning is the leading national non-profit organization solely dedicated to child nutrition programs in Canada. BHP Billiton's contribution represents a significant investment in the NWT from participating schools across the North.
 
Please join us on 24 June at 12pm for the donation launch in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly (Yellowknife, NWT, Canada), and a free healthy lunch.

Sent by: Alexander Legaree, Team Leader - Communications

EKATI Diamond Mine - Community

 




Friday 17 June 2011

Yellowknife's Summer Solstice Festival Monday, June 20th 2011 #YZF #NWT

Summer Solstice Festival
>Monday, June 20th
>
>6:00 pm to 10:30 pm o Somba K'e Civic Plaza
>
>With music by:
>Tracey Riley & Special Guests
>The Gumboots o Blackspruce o Godson
>
>Your MC. Heidi Raulin
>
>- Story Telling
>- Traditional Crafts Area
>- Face painting with Snooker Doodles
>- Big Dee Children's Magic Show
>- and Riley Wilson - Magician Extraordinaire
>

Yellowknife's National Aboriginal Day Celebrations #YZF #NWT

National Aboriginal Day
>June 21st, 2011
>
>Join in the celebration!
>
>Location - Somba K'e Civic Plaza
>
>National Aboriginal Day Parade starts at 11:00am
>Ruth Inch Memorial Pool to Franklin Avenue
>
>Featuring:
>- Live Entertainment
>- Interactive Events
>- Cultural Interaction
>
>Buses from Somba Ke' Civic Plaza to
>Yellowknives Dene First Nation Cultural Grounds
>2:00pm o 3:30pm
>
>Join us at Somba K'e Civic Plaza for a Fish Fry Lunch at 12 Noon
>
>...bring a camping chair and blanket…make yourself at home!
>
>**parking is limited so please car pool.
>

Friday 10 June 2011

Western Arctic Moving Pictures 48 Hour Music Video Competition Winners

Western Arctic Moving Pictures 48 Hour Music Video Competition Winners

They only had 48 hours to make the magic happen.

For the third year, Western Arctic Moving Pictures Association set teams of film makers, musicians and teams of creative people loose on the city to craft a music video with strict deadlines.

Musicians and filmmakers were paired off by luck of the draw and set out to get to know their music, their abilities and create.

The results? Six great videos were made. On Monday, June 6 the audience got to see the final products at the Artists Run Community Centre in downtown Yellowknife.

For the first time, the winners and the second place team were just a point apart. Here's a list of the winners and their videos! (If you're wondering why there are seven entries posted here, the one "Opal's Left Lung" chose not to follow the conditions to enter, but prepared a piece to view).

First Place - Riel Stevenson-Burke and Ashley Green
Musicians Erebus & Terror

Take That

Second Place - Joel Maillet, Rachelle Francoeur, Arwin Landry
Musicians Priscilla's Revenge

Brakes On

Third Place - Joanna Matthews
Musicians  The Dawgwoods

The Shack

Audience Choice - Jessica Young and Jean Escalante
Musicians Dumb But Awesome

Opal's Left Lung


And other participants

Nick Walker and Samantha Hefford
Musicians Los Flacos Locos
G String Boogie

George Lessard
Musicians Booze Cruise
It's Snowing - We're Skating

Brandon Marsh
Musicians Bison Ogon
Toleration

Wednesday 8 June 2011

#NWT's Premier "cautiously optimistic" about #PMHarper's infrastructure investments

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland told Postmedia News he agrees with Williams and said that without key federal infrastructure investments, Canada's regions can't lift themselves up.

"The challenges that we face as a northern territory, a small population and having one seat in Ottawa, is trying to get our message in to Ottawa about the importance of investments in the North," he said.

The hydro potential along the N.W.T's rivers is substantial, Roland said, and mirrors the James Bay project — but it's unattainable without Ottawa's help.

"When you look at the potential we have, and what we can add to Canada, we're unable to tap into it with our existing resources and structures," he said.

Roland said he thanked Williams for bringing attention to the North's potential but said he's cautiously optimistic that the Conservative government is showing signs it will change that tide.

2011-2012 Request for Applications: #NWT NGO Stabilization Fund

2011-2012 Request for Applications: NGO Stabilization Fund

The NGO Stabilization Fund is a GNWT application based grant program that helps NGOs who deliver critical GNWT funded programs or services to the public to stabilize or develop their capacity to manage programs and services. Support can be granted for eligible one-time general management, governance, organizational development, and extraordinary operations costs. Collaborative projects that build the capacity of more than one NGO are encouraged.

Examples of projects funded in the past include board and staff training, strategy development, research projects, organizational planning, and transition support to stabilize operations.

Applications can be sent via e-mail to ngostabilization@gov.nt.ca, faxed to (867) 873-0104 or mailed to ngostabilization@gov.nt.ca

For more information about the NGO Stabilization Fund you can contact us or visit www.executive.gov.nt.ca/ngostabilization

Dealine: Thursday June 30, 2011

NGO Stabilization Fund
c/o Sigrun Geirsdottir
Department of Executive
P.O. Box 1320
Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9

Fax : 867-873-0104

Courriel : ngostabilization@gov.nt.ca

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Homeless in Yellowknife: An Emerging Social Challenge - Report Launch

#YZF #NWT Invitation to a free crepe lunch to celebrate tourism week on June 7th

Extracting Value, Not Just Resources - What Newfoundland & Labrador Can Teach the Rest of Canada About 21st Century Globalization

Facts from the Fringe

by Jim Stanford, Canadian Auto Workers

Extracting Value, Not Just Resources

http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columns/2011-05-21/article-2525176/The-opportunity-of-the- Voisey's-Bay-inquiry/1

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2011/05/20/what-newfoundland-labrador-can-teach-the-rest-of-canada-about-21st-century-globalization/

Natural resources are increasingly central to Canada's economic trajectory. Our
challenge is to maximize the positive spin-offs from resource developments, while minimizing
the economic and environmental costs. In that regard, imagine two extreme cases: one in which
resource projects generate diversified and lasting benefits, and one in which they do not.

Consider the negative case first. Suppose a resource is discovered in a remote northern
location. Using helicopters, a foreign-owned company flies in necessary capital equipment and
supplies, and even flies in labour. The resource is transported to global markets, also using
helicopters. The profits are exported to the foreign owner, and much of the spending on tools,
supplies, and specialized workers also leaves the country (since these are imported). Canada's
GDP is boosted for a while (until the resource runs out), but much of that wealth never "touches
down" here.

The opposite to this negative "helicopter" model is a strategy that maximizes Canadian
participation in every phase of the development: exploration, investment, production, supply
chain, and transportation. This doesn't happen automatically. It takes deliberate measures by
the developer (prodded and assisted by government) to maximize lasting benefits to Canadians.
Government can invoke all sorts of policy tools in pursuit of this goal, including investment
rules, tax and royalty rates, skills and training initiatives, conscious efforts to stimulate a
domestic supply chain, and even labour relations policies.

In this regard, a recent Newfoundland government inquiry sheds some fascinating light
on the broader social and economic effects of foreign-owned resource developments. The
commission, headed by John Roil, was established last October to investigate the long work
stoppage at the Voisey's Bay nickel processing operation in Labrador. That dispute between the
Brazilian mining conglomerate Vale and the United Steelworkers was subsequently settled in
January. But the issues at stake are much broader, as the inquiry recognized and addressed in its
recommendations.

Newfoundland is a great laboratory for this inquiry. Voisey's Bay comes uncomfortably
close to the "helicopter" model of resource development. It is remote. Workers are flown in for
weeks at a time (including replacement workers which Vale used during the strike). There and
elsewhere in Canada, Vale has used its global bargaining power to drive down compensation and
pensions. That boosts Vale's profits, but undermines the share of resource wealth flowing
through the Canadian economy.

Indeed, Newfoundland's entire economy epitomizes the risks of helicopter-style resource
development. Thanks to oil and other resource industries, Newfoundland's GDP per capita is
high; along with Alberta and Saskatchewan, it is one of Canada's three "have" provinces. Yet
hourly wages are lower than the Canadian average. And personal incomes, shockingly, are still
the second-lowest in the country –$5000 per person per year less than elsewhere in Canada.
Workers' share of provincial GDP (captured in wages and benefits) is lower than any other
province. Profits are sky-high: before the global financial crisis, corporate profits peaked at 37
percent of GDP, a level unprecedented in Canadian history. But not much of that cream ever
flows through the province; instead, it flows directly to head offices, whether in Calgary or Rio
de Janeiro.

So how can Newfoundland keep a bigger slice of the resource pie at home? The
provincial government has been creative and aggressive in its efforts to do exactly that:
negotiating hard with foreign developers to boost domestic content in new projects, investing in
training, and spending expansively on social and economic infrastructure. Now the Roil report
highlights another important avenue: labour relations.

The power of a global mining giant to suppress compensation costs in any particular
location is daunting. Moreover, the inquiry emphasized the risk that global employers may not
reflect and respect Canadian labour relations values. The result is not just industrial conflict;
more broadly, it reduces the share of resource wealth flowing through the society which actually
owned and produced it. The commission recommended specific changes to labour relations
policies, including new powers to solve protracted disputes through arbitration. It also called on
government to use all its policy levers to level the collective bargaining field and push global
firms toward more harmonious labour relations.

The Roil report is a careful and thoughtful attempt to come to grips with concrete
challenges associated with Canada's growing reliance on globalized resource sectors. It should
be studied by policy-makers in all provinces.

A version of this commentary was originally published in the Globe and Mail.

JS/kvcope343

JOB: Leadership and Resiliency Program Coordinator in Arviat, Nunavut.

Friday, 03 June 2011

The Ungasiktumut Isumaksaqsiujuniq Leadership and Resiliency Program Committee invites applications for the following TWO YEAR TERM position with possibility of further extension.

http://jobsearch.educationcanada.com/index.phtml?a=v&j=107400

Ungasiktumut Isumaksaqsiujuniq Leadership and Resiliency Program Coordinator in Arviat, Nunavut.

The Ungasiktumut Isumaksaqsiujuniq Leadership and Resiliency Program is a community and school-based crime prevention project designed to build inner strength and resiliency in at-risk youth ages 14 to 19.The program consists of three components: Resiliency Groups, Service Learning and Advertures in Discovery. The successful applicant will be responsible for planning, implementing, and monitoring the SAMSA Leadership & Resiliency Program in Arviat. The successful applicant will also train and supervise an assistant coordinator.

The salary range for a qualified applicant for this position is $66,935 - $92, 587 /annum depending upon qualifications and experience and a Nunavut Northern Allowance of $21,113/annum.

Application and other Documents:

Required Qualifications

*Post-Secondary Degree in Experiential Education, Physical Education, Outdoor Recreation or Recreation Management. Equivalencies may be considered.
*Current successful Criminal Record Check AND Vulnerable Sector Search

Desired Qualifications:

* Experience working in cross-cultural settings
* Experience working in substance abuse prevention programs
* Couselling experience or is willing to participate in counselling training.
* Experience in planning and implementing recreational and/or educational programs
* Experience in working with at-risk youth

Other Considerations:

* Commitment to a high standard of professionalism and excellence
* Ability to plan using a collaborative approach
* Flexibility to work well with staff, youth, parents, Elders and the community

To apply:

Applications must be emailed. Ensure the SUBJECT of your email states 09-LRPAR. Attach a cover letter and resume with the names of 3 current references (including your most recent supervisor). Outline your experience and qualifications in chronological order. Attached the results of the Criminal Record Check and Vulnerable Sector Search and email to:

Judy Connor
LRP Selection Committee Coordinator
Ungasiktumut Isumaksaqsiujuniq Leadership and Resiliency Program
P.O.Box 450
Arviat, Nunavut
Canada X0C 0E0

Email: arviatlrp@gmail.com