Thursday 27 February 2014

#NWT Assembly& #GNWT websites ARE DOWN #Hacked? #NWTpoli #CDNpoli

#NWT Assembly ! http://ow.ly/u53qw  & #GNWT websites ARE DOWN http://ow.ly/u53t9 #Hacked? #NWTpoli #CDNpoli

RT @Northern_Clips: RT @shaunpdean: .@elizmcmillan @hilarybirdcbc Yes, GNWT websites are down right now; our IT folks are working on a fix. 


A TV series about daily life of the people who live in the houseboats on Great Slave Lake's Yellowknife Bay

An uninvited Ice Queen for Yellowknife's Snowking

"A fish mobile in a geodesic dome selling ice lanterns... I'm quite confident it hasn't been tried before.'

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/an-uninvited-ice-queen-for-yellowknife-s-snowking-1.2552805

[excerpt]

"...

Matthew Grogono and Mike Harrison have put up a yurt-like dome on the ice of Yellowknife Bay for a reality TV show that will air on Animal Planet. 

The network is producing a series about daily life of the people who live in the houseboats on Great Slave Lake.   

"They want to film musicians, they want to film artists, they want to film Yellowknife life," said Grogono.

He and Harrison are hoping to attract tourists and create a profitable relationship with the network by setting up a fish shop inside the dome and and selling ice candles. The dome will also feature a cafe, events, and even an Ice Queen.

But the seasonal structure, set up on Great Slave Lake in time for glorious spring, may seem familiar to Yellowknifers. 

The dome is going up at the same time, and just a few hundred metres away, from the Snowking's castle. ..."

Tuesday 18 February 2014

#Journalistic #SocialMedia in Canada's North #YK #NWT #NU

Engaging social media use by news organizations and journalists in Canada’s Northern territories

In the three Canadian territories of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut we have just a few news organizations.

So.. how does their social media use rate?

CBC North radio and TV broadcasting in English, Inuktitut in Nunavut and several aboriginal languages in the NWT (a section of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) that covers all three territories. http://www.cbc.ca/north/
Their  @CBCNorth  http://twitter.com/CBCNorth
Reporter/editors also have their own accounts and Tweet direct links and are very two-way and most of their radio & TV programs also have their own Twitter accounts
The also have a staffer that looks after their online presence
RATING: EXCELLENT

Northern News Services Limited, http://www.nnsl.com an independent chain of seven entirely locally written and produced community papers that cover Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and includes
- NWT News/North, published once a week on Monday
http://www.nnsl.com/nwtnewsnorth/nwt.html
- Nunavut News/North, published once a week on Monday
http://www.nnsl.com/nunavutnews/nunavut.html
- The Yellowknifer, published on Wednesday and Friday
http://www.nnsl.com/yellowknifer/yellowknifer.html
- The Dehcho Drum, published once a week on Wednesdays and covers the Deh Cho region of the NWT
http://www.nnsl.com/dehcho/dehcho.html
- The Inuvik Drum published once a week on Wednesdays and covers the Mackenzie Delta region of the NWT
http://www.nnsl.com/inuvik/inuvik.html
- The Kivalliq News published once a week on Wednesdays and covers the Kivalliqregion of Nunavut
http://www.nnsl.com/kivalliqnews/kivalliq.html
and their most recent acquisition,
- The Hay River Hub published once a week and covers the community of Hay River.
http://www.hayriverhub.com/
Their websites are behind a paywall and most of their tweets from their Twitter feed @NNSLonline https://twitter.com/NNSLonline is shared by severel staffers and tweets mostly links to their website as advertising for it… and rarely, if ever, provides links to actual stories…
RATING: POOR

The Northern Journal http://norj.ca/ an independent paper, published once a week on paper but updates daily (as needed) online that covers the NWT out of Ft Smith NWT.
Their website is fully public and their @Northernjournal
http://twitter.com/Northernjournal always promotes their stories with links to said story
Reporter/editors also have their own accounts and Tweet direct links and are very two-way
RATING: EXCELLENT

CKLB 101.9 FM http://cklbradio.com/ broadcasts in five separate languages - English, Deh Cho Dene, Sahtu Dene, Chipewyan and Tlicho. CKLB Proudly broadcasts to over 30 communities in the NWT and Northern Alberta, as well as the three diamond mines of the North.
Their website is fully public and usually has full audio of their stories plus some text.
Their  @CKLBRADIO http://twitter.com/CKLBRADIO feed provides direct links to their stories
Reporter/editors also have their own accounts and Tweet direct links and are very two-way
RATING: EXCELLENT

CJCD radio http://mix100.ca/ part of the Vista Radio Limited chain of stations, CJCD broadcasts only in Yellowknife and Hay River
Their @cjcdnews http://twitter.com/cjcdnews account pushes you to their text only website http://hqyellowknife.com// and several of the on-air staff also have Twitter accounts… but although they are interactive.. they really only do standard radio promotional stuff..
RATING: FAIR

Radio Taïga http://radiotaiga.com/ the Yellowknife French language community broadcast in Yellowknife, NWT
For a very small staff (two paid and a few volunteers) their website and twitter feed are pretty good..
Their @radiotaiga http://twitter.com/radiotaiga is their only feed
RATING: GOOD

Nunavut’s Nunatsiaq News covers Nunavut and provides the only coverage of the Arctic region of Northern Quebec, Nunavik http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ The website is fully public with an excellent archive of stories
 @NunatsiaqNews http://twitter.com/NunatsiaqNews and editor James Henry Bell @jameshenrybell http://twitter.com/jameshenrybell are very interactive and push all the online stories… they also distribute free copies of their papers to all communities in their service area…
IMHO, the best journalism in Canada's North
RATING: EXCELLENT

The Yukon News http://www.yukon-news.com/ does a print run and their stokes are pretty much available online
 @yukon_news http://twitter.com/yukon_news
RATING: FAIR

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Re: Northwest Territories Tourism #NWTAurora Photo Contest

I don't claim to know all the photographers who live in the NWT.... but none of the photographers in this contest are names that are familiar to me, so I wonder... How many of these photographers are from the NWT and how were these photos selected as finalists in this contest?


Share your favourite photos from the five finalists in this album.

The photo that receives the most shares from this album before Feb 17, 2014 at 1:00pm MST will be declared the winner.

https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476476900155/?type=1&permPage=1

Sara Owens
https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476473566822/?type=1&relevant_count=3

Photo credit: Norman Tam
https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476486900154/?type=1&permPage=1

Photo credit: Fred Bailey
https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476413566828/?type=1&permPage=1

Photo credit: Iamrehpotsirk https://www.facebook.com/iamrehpotsirkphotography
https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476396900163/?type=1&permPage=1

Photo credit: Andrew Galbraith
https://www.facebook.com/spectacularnwt/photos/a.598463853568084.1073741836.211645055583301/598476410233495/?type=1&permPage=1

Dennis Bevington, MP Western Arctic, Speaking to Bill C-15 NWT Devolution

Dennis Bevington, MP Western Arctic
Speaking to Bill C-15 NWT Devolution
February 11, 2014
House of Commons

Mr. Dennis Bevington (Western Arctic, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to the bill, a bill which affects my life, the life of my children and the life of my grandchildren and the lives of all my friends and relatives who live in the Northwest Territories. The bill is part of our life and we are the only ones who really are affected by the bill. The bill is for us. Our point of view is very important.

I want to thank the leader of the official opposition for standing and speaking, as all have said in the House, to the bill at this critical moment in the constitutional development for Canada. I am very pleased that he has taken the time to do that.

Devolution is well supported in the Northwest Territories. We do not have to argue about that. We do not have to work very hard on that section of the bill. We did get one or two amendments that help a little bit and make it more equitable throughout the three territories.

The contentious part is the changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and there is a clear consensus that the one thing that is not appropriate is the change from the regional boards to a super board. It is inappropriate, counterproductive, divisive and destabilizing, all the things that we do not want to have happen in the Northwest Territories. These are things that go much beyond the addition of a few extra people sitting on boards making the future of the Northwest Territories. This has massive consequences to all.

Our amendment today to restore regional boards is a matter that will strengthen Bill C-15, it will strengthen devolution, that will ensure stability. It truly is representative of the wishes of the people in the Northwest Territories. I urge the government to support this amendment. This amendment can only help to create a bill that will heap praise on government's shoulders, that by supporting the amendment members will show their humanity and desire to do the right thing.

I want to review how we got here as presented in testimony. The first step in that was with the McCrank report. When Mr. McCrank stood in front of the committee, he admitted that the idea of a super board was his idea. There was no one in the Northwest Territories that suggested that to him. That idea came from him, from an Alberta person who ran the Alberta Energy Utility Board. Of course he thought that the structure should be similar to Alberta, but that is not what we have set out to do in the Northwest Territories. We have set out to have regional governments, aboriginal governments, whether they are Inuvialuit, who are keeping their regional boards by the way, or the Sahtu, Tlicho and the Gwich'in, who have made agreements.

My colleague across talked about contemplation within the land claims of a single board. Contemplation does not mean agreement. Contemplation does not mean that we can go ahead without full negotiation to change a land claim because something is contemplated within an agreement.

After the McCrank report the government hired Mr. John Pollard to be its chief federal negotiator. It is interesting that the testimony from the Tlicho indicated that in 2011 they gave the government a protocol framework for negotiating changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. They were willing to work with the government to do the right thing, to make changes, to make the system more efficient. They set out a protocol. That protocol was shelved.
In testimony, Mr. Pollard admitted that it was just taken as information, nothing was done with it. So we had a situation where governments held meetings, Mr. Pollard held many meetings, but they were not in any agreed upon framework with the true elements of the land claims with first nations who have treaty rights and treaty responsibilities to their citizens and the Government of Canada representing the Crown. There was no agreement on how to negotiate changes to these land claims.

That is where the government falls flat on its face.

In the fall of this year, departmental officials then presented bills to the first nations. They presented a separate bill for devolution, a separate bill for the changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. They were never taken together.

Bertha Rabesca Zoe, the legal counsel for the Tlicho government, stated: “In that October session I asked the federal officials who were there doing the presentation whether those bills would be bundled as an omnibus bill, and we were never given a response....”

Mr. Daryn Leas, legal counsel for the Sahtu, stated: “Never once were the federal devolution negotiators able to provide any substance or details about the Mackenzie Valley legislation in the proposed amendments.”

That is the state of the consultation that was taking place on this act, Bill C-15.

The process on devolution has been going on for 20 years. The problem we had with devolution was getting first nations governments onside. Premier McLeod accomplished that for devolution. We have heard the testimony of Premier McLeod. He did not involve the first nations in discussions about the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. He said that was, “not their business”.

Once again, those regulation issues were designed to be kept separate.

Today, we have put forward an amendment to bring peace to this issue. Regional boards are working fine today.

I quote Mr. Tom Hoefer, Executive Director, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, who stated:
“We recognize that the aboriginal community is validly concerned by the loss of the existing regional panels. You should know that a number of industry members, especially those who have developed close working relationships with the regional boards, have likewise expressed [concerns and] reservations.”

Does that sound like industry is offside on the regional boards?

It does not.

How does this uncertainty serve anyone's purpose? We are likely to be caught up in litigation. We are likely to have a new government in a year and a half. Would members not agree? We will have to fix these mistakes that have been made here because the Conservatives' attitude of ignoring the wishes of the people will eventually catch up to them and they will be thrown out of office.

I would say to the Conservatives that they should do their job, listen to people, hear what they have to say, hear what the people in the Northwest Territories have to say about the laws that affect only us, the laws with respect to how we want to develop.

We are asking the Conservatives to listen to us and hear us. Then, perhaps if they follow that lesson with us, they may follow it with others and may find that their political careers can be extended.

The north is a great adventure. I have been part of it my whole life. In the end, we will do the right thing. In the end, we will create a territory with a unique and powerful system of government. The Conservatives should join us in doing that.

This is a simple amendment that does not change much at all but represents so much to us.

Saturday 1 February 2014

"Social Media for Journalists" is the Knight Center's next FREE massive online course. Sign up now! starts Feb. 3

“Social Media for Journalists” is the Knight Center’s next FREE massive online course. Sign up now! http://ow.ly/tbtPS
"Social Media for Journalists" in the new online course from the Knight Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Enroll now! It's free and you will learn from some of the best experts in the U.S. including journalists from New York Times, ProPublica and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This five-week online course in English will start on Feb. 3 and conclude on Mar. 9. The MOOC will be offered for free and, while it was designed with journalists and media practitioners in mind, anyone in the world with access to the Internet is invited to participate.
The course will be divided into five weekly modules, each one with a different instructor and a different topic. All the instructors have experience with social media strategies in American news organizations. The instructors are:
•  Ryan Thornburg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
•  Sharif Durhams, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
•  Craig Silverman, Spundge and Poynter’s Regret the Error
•  Daniel Victor, The New York Times
•  Amanda Zamora, ProPublica