NWT Premier Roland gave Kate & William 692 diamonds during Yellowknife visit last summer

'Brooch' and 'pair of cufflinks'...included a total of 692 diamonds – 302 for Kate and 390 for William.....Kate and William were given a gift each by the premier of the Northwest Territories while visiting the town of Yellowknife.
These trinkets were modestly listed by the couple's office as 'brooch' and 'pair of cufflinks'.
But both were made from platinum, studded with diamond pave and specially commissioned from world-renowned jeweller Harry Winston, a favourite of A-list stars.
[...]
According to the firm's chairman, Robert Gannicott, it took their best craftsmen 250 hours to make the royal gifts. 'These convey the wealth of respect and affection that we hold for the royal couple,' premier Floyd K. Roland said as he handed over the gems.
The items together included a total of 692 diamonds – 302 for Kate and 390 for William. However, Clarence House insisted that it was 'inappropriate to highlight whether a gift was valuable'..."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2084973/Kate-Duchess-diamonds-Gift-Canada-listed-officials-brooch-revealed-designer-platinum-302-stones.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

'pair of cufflinks'
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/11/article-2084973-0F67D8A900000578-757_634x286.jpg

'brooch'
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/11/article-2084973-0F681F3D00000578-297_634x1183.jpg

Aboriginal Storytellers: Remember To Apply By Jan 16 for Banff's "Hi-Rez Storytelling"

Aboriginal Storytellers: Remember To Apply By January 16

The Banff Centre: Indigenous Storytellers Invited to Apply
Program dates: February 27 – March 10, 2012
Application deadline: January 16, 2012

Scholarship and financial aid covering 100 per cent of the program fee is available.

Hi-Rez Storytelling is a program designed to support emerging to mid-career Aboriginal filmmakers and new media screen-based writers and producers. During the course of this unique two-week residency at The Banff Centre, participants will develop a project they bring with them to the program, write for multi-platform environments, and learn digital strategies that provide a continuum for contemporary storytelling forms.

Hi-Rez Storytelling will provide one-on-one mentorship and guidance with outstanding faculty and guest speakers. At the end of residency, participants will leave with a developed story, plans for production, and fundraising and/or pitching plans. Participants may be storytellers of any genre who want to explore how to tell and visualize their story, and who wish to explore an Indigenous esthetic in storytelling and interactivity.

http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1235

For more information about Hi-Rez Storytelling and Aboriginal Arts Self-Directed Residencies, please contact:
Kathy Morrison, Program Manager
Aboriginal Arts
The Banff Centre
Box 1020, Station 21
Banff, AB T1L 1H5
kathy_morrison@banffcentre.ca
Tel: 403.763.6710

Call for submissions: Northern, Art/Experimental video program

Call for submissions: Northern, Art/Experimental video program

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Western Arctic Moving Pictures <jeremy@wamp.ca>
Date: 3 January 2012 18:27
Subject: Call for submissions: ART/EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO

WAMP is working with SAW video from Ottawa and Yukon Film Society to put
together a Northern, Art/Experimental video program to be showcased at the
National Arts Centre in 2013.

Please contact us with any northern videos/ works in progress you may have
that you think will fit the genre.

The link below is for the prairies scene... 2013 would be for northern scene
http://www.prairiescene.ca/en/

The Venue:
http://www2.nac-cna.ca/en/

Our Collaborators:
http://www.sawvideo.com/

WAMP
http://www.wamp.ca/

Yukon Film Society
http://www.yukonfilmsociety.com/

Full Q&A Notes on #NWTPoli Politics and Social Media for my @CBCNorth radio appearance this morning

[Notes, not a transcript]
Audio of interview available for download at
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/56769

1. So, what "on-line activities" did you track during the elections this year?

All the candidates Twitter and Facebook accounts
in both the federal and territorial elections
as well as their (if they had 'em) their blogs and websites…
I wanted to see what new media communication the candidates would bring to bear on the runs… how they would handle the voters.. if they would dialogue with the voters or just spew the standard press releases…

As of December 30th, 2011
Seniors Forum  Live stream video had 122 video views http://mediamentor-circumpolar.blogspot.com/2011/09/seniors-all-yzf-candidates-for.html
Chamber of Commerce forum videos http://storify.com/northern_clips/yellowknife-chamber-of-commerce-election-forum-201 had 977 video views
NWT Election form now NWT Politics & Society https://www.facebook.com/groups/NWT.elec.17/
had 180 members during during the elections and now has172 with over 2000 posts on many different issues of concern to the citizens of the NWT
The Election time, NWT style article on http://rabble.ca/news/2011/09/election-time-nwt-style had 1200 readers and the live stream videos of the Northwest Territories, Status of Women Council of the NWTs held an All Yellowknife Candidates Forum on September 26, 7 p.m., at Northern United Place had 839 viewers. http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2011/09/features/nwt-all-candidates-debate

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

2. From your perspective, what stands out for you about this year's elections?

Well two things…
The first being that there was so many candidates using social media..
In the federal race… all candidates had Facebook and twitter accounts…
some with new accounts set up for the election… and others with established pages… same with webpages or blogs….
Same in the territorial race… except in that race.. some candidates did not have an on-line presence at all… that's to be understood.. some communities lack the connectivity and surfers to make it worthwhile …

Second surprise in both races was number of candidates using new media who did not seem to get the would idea that its a two way street and its the give and take that's the key…

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

3. How does that change things?

We're a big territory.. that's not news…
What may be news to some is that for the first time in our electoral process Twitter and Facebook let the voters of the NWT personally participate in the debate … air the issues… and start the building of a territory wide consensus on those issues…
and those voters..
like students at university and others living down south
or those out of their communities and at Aurora College in Ft Smith or Inuvik
were also able to participate… hear the issues and think about their votes…
using Hashtags #NWTpoli #NWTleg #NWTelec17

4. During the territorial election, you started the NWT ELECTIONS FOR THE 17th assembly Facebook group.
What were some of the issues that people wanted to talk about?

Now called NWT Politics & Society Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/NWT.elec.17/ the group has about 180 members during during over 2000 posts on many different issues of concern to the citizens of the NWT

During the
Direct election of the premier… or at least a change in the way its done now..
Poverty, housing.. the road to Tuk..
The Hache / Hawkins issue
The Turner / Daryl Dolynny issue
pretty much the same topics that you might have see on CBCNorth or in the newspaper… the major difference being that this was the voter talking.. not the pundits… not the journalists.. it allowed the people to voice their opinions on topics of their own choosing

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

FOLLOWUP : Who would you point to for both 'active' and 'inactive' on-line campaigns?

in Yellowknife Centre, Hawkins and Hache have both been on Twitter since 2009… but the differences are amazing… with Hache the scoop and depth of her posts gave and still give us an insight into her character, concerns and interest… Mr Hawkins just touted his campaign and its minutia with little if any opinion or sense of his character

Bea Lepine - Candidate for Hay River North MLA still has 244 members of her Facebook group… and had more during the election…. she did an excellent job of dialoguing with those voters and also continued in traditional campaign methods… in her personal account she has 424 friends.. she lost...

But her main opponent Robert Bouchard's personal page (all he had during the election) lists 434 friends… he won.. wit little on line interaction…

But I think the best examples are from the Federal campaign…

Our former Health Minister, Conservative Sandy Lee, had a very professionally run Facebook and Twitter accounts… but it was evident that's all they were… press photo after press release and little or no interaction with the voters… In fact after asking a simple question about why Ms Lee had not answered the NWT Status of Women's questionnaire on he Facebook page…. one of her staffers from Inuvik banned me from the page telling me "That page is there for Sandy's supporters" only…  and the same question asked via Twitter never received a reply.. Of all her Facebook postings I seem to remember only two or three that were not posted by her staff…

On the other hand..
The Green Party's Eli Purchase, the Liberal's Joe Handley and the NDP's Dennis Bevington were all… very much more open and forthcoming… with many postings from not only supporters by others who asked questions… and got answers…

It was refreshing to see that Eli Purchase was doing his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos himself… and there was the feeling of hearing his personal opinions and stances on the issues…

So to for Handley and Bevington….
So what I am saying is the Facebook and Twitter are excellent ways for a voter to test the waters… to find out about a candidate's interests and character during an election… and afterwards… if they are well used by the politician… they let the voter keep track and keep in touch with them during their mandate...

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

5. So, what does all this tell you about how connected (as in our on-line presence) we are as a territory and where we are going?

Well … our connectivity will improve… there is no doubt about that…
both to the internet and to our politicians… both the federal and territorial election campaigns have, I think, firmly established that social media are important tools of communication in our democratic society… and are here to stay..and in a region of the size in the NWT… the most important thing is that they give the voter back the power (if we ever had it) to build and establish the oft talked about consensus and then to mandate our politicians to carry out the consensus of the people's will...

Maclean's National Crime Ranking for the NWT

According to McLean's the severity of crime in the NWT higher than the Canadian average for overall crime.
Only Nunavut is higher.
Fortunately Yellowknife does not rate in the top 100 cities.
http://www2.macleans.ca/crime-chart/

Crime severity index
Rank	Province or Territory	Population	% from Canadian average	Rank (violent crime)	Rank (non-violent crime)	% change since 2005*	% change since 2000*
1	Nunavut	33,220	318	1	2	5.7	38.1
2	Northwest Territories	43,759	311.3	2	1	-0.9	35.1
3	Yukon Territory	34,525	107	3	3	-14.1	-36.1

Northwest Territories, Canada

Overall Rank #2

Population: 43,759 Website: www.gov.nt.ca

Homicide
Rate per 100,000 population:2.3Canadian rate per 100,000 population:1.6
Percentage difference from Canada:40.7%

Sexual assault
Rate per 100,000 population:402.2
Canadian rate per 100,000 population:65
Percentage difference from Canada:518.5%

Aggravated assault
Rate per 100,000 population:68.6
Canadian rate per 100,000 population:10
Percentage difference from Canada:585.8%

Robbery
Rate per 100,000 population:54.9
Canadian rate per 100,000 population:89.1
Percentage difference from Canada:-38.5%

Breaking and entering
Rate per 100,000 population:1629.4
Canadian rate per 100,000 population:577.2
Percentage difference from Canada:182.3%

Auto theft
Rate per 100,000 population:507.3
Canadian rate per 100,000 population:271.7
Percentage difference from Canada:86.7%

METHODOLOGY
Maclean's obtained annual crime data from Statistics Canada for municipal police services serving the nation's 100 largest populations, each encompassing a city or town of at least 10,000 people. Using 2010 rates per 100,000 people for six crimes—homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, vehicle theft, robbery plus breaking and entering—in each area, Maclean's calculated the percentage difference from the national rate. The overall crime score ranking for the 100 communities was created in consultation with StatsCan, using its Crime Severity Index (CSI) score and calculating the percentage difference from the national CSI score. Maclean's calculated the ratios by dividing population of the area by the raw number of crimes. Maclean's uses the names of the individual police services as used by Statistics Canada as the "city" name; some are edited for space.

MINISTER’S STATEMENT 20-17(1): MEETING WITH FEDERAL JUSTICE MINISTER ON BILL C-10 HON. GLEN ABERNETHY

HANSARD UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011 YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
MINISTER'S STATEMENT 20-17(1): MEETING WITH FEDERAL JUSTICE MINISTER ON BILL C-10
HON. GLEN ABERNETHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to update the House on discussions I had with the federal Minister of Justice, the Honourable Rob Nicholson, yesterday. The purpose of this meeting was to bring the concerns of my colleagues regarding Bill C-10 to the Minister and to discuss how best to mitigate the impacts of the bill on the Northwest Territories.
The Parliament of Canada has the right and responsibility to pass national legislation in respect to criminal justice that can significantly affect all the provinces and territories. The motion passed just last Friday by this Assembly details some of the concerns that we have about this bill, and how it may affect our residents and our institutions that respond to crime. But we must be mindful of the fact that Bill C-10 is the latest in a string of federal bills aimed at addressing crime. Since 2006 there have been 18 crime and public safety bills that have gone through Parliament, many of which are now law. These initiatives have had a cumulative impact on our services here in the Northwest Territories.
For the record, Bill C-10 bundles nine bills that were introduced in the previous Parliament into one large piece of legislation. The bill covers everything from sexual offences and drug crimes, to compensating victims of terrorism and eliminating pardons for some offences. The bill also introduces new offences and mandatory minimum sentences, imposes higher penalties and restricts the use of conditional sentences.
We anticipate the changes in sentencing will affect our corrections system where we may see more or see increases in the number of adults in custody as well as more youth in pre-trial and sentence custody. There may also be pressures on our courts and on our Legal Aid Program as more people may contest charges due to the increased penalties.
Additionally, the new legislation may place more demands on our victim services. There may be increased pressures on our community justice programs and will continue to try to deal with matters outside of the court system wherever possible.
Minister Nicholson and I had a positive discussion, recognizing the unique concerns we have in the Northwest Territories. We agreed that we will continue to work together on a number of fronts including: diversion options, potential options for alternative courts, victim services, Aboriginal justice and youth justice.
I extended an invitation to Minister Nicholson to come visit one of our small communities here in the North to see daily life firsthand. He was open and receptive to the invitation.
We will be continuing our discussions with Canada to develop concrete approaches to mitigating the effects of Bill C-10, and work with our northern counterparts in Nunavut and the Yukon to promote our common interest and to share the best practices. We look forward to further discussions with all Ministers of Justice at the FPT Ministers of Justice meeting at the end of January. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. Abernethy.

Call for Applications: Hi-Rez Storytelling: Indigenous Storytellers Invited to Apply

Aboriginal Arts  

Hi-Rez Storytelling
http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1235

Indigenous Storytellers Invited to Apply

Program dates: February 27 – March 10, 2012
Application deadline: January 13, 2012

Hi-Rez Storytelling is a program designed to support emerging to mid-career Aboriginal filmmakers and new media screen-based writers and producers. During the course of this unique two-week residency at The Banff Centre, participants will develop a project they bring with them to the program, write for multi-platform environments, and learn digital strategies that provide a continuum for contemporary storytelling forms.

Hi-Rez Storytelling will provide one-on-one mentorship and guidance with outstanding faculty and guest speakers. At the end of residency, participants will leave with a developed story, plans for production, and fundraising and/or pitching plans. Participants may be storytellers of any genre who want to explore how to tell and visualize their story, and who wish to explore an Indigenous esthetic in storytelling and interactivity.

Scholarship and financial aid to cover 100 per cent of the program fee is available. Travel costs will be the responsibility of the participants.
 
How to Apply
http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1235&p=requirements

Self-directed Residencies for Aboriginal Artists

Achieve your artistic vision. The Banff Centre offers self-directed residencies for Aboriginal artists, enabling the time and space for focused work and providing the freedom to conceptualize, create, research, or complete a project.

Aboriginal Arts self-directed residencies are open to writers, composers, singer-songwriters, dancers, choreographers, screenwriters, and playwrights. Residencies can be of any duration and artists can apply to come any time.
 
Apply now
http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1235&p=apply

For more information about Hi-Rez Storytelling and Aboriginal Arts Self-Directed Residencies, please contact:

Kathy Morrison, Program Manager
Aboriginal Arts
The Banff Centre
Box 1020, Station 21
Banff, AB T1L 1H5
kathy_morrison@banffcentre.ca
Tel: 403.763.6710
 
   

A Place for Artists

The Banff Centre puts the needs of artists above all else, providing time and space for inspired creativity and intense productivity (plus bacon and dessert every day!)
 
 
Watch The Video