On seeing this I just had to snag it and post here. In the political environment that Canada finds itself it is becoming increasingly important that people become more cognizant of what is going on, educate yourselves and become involved even in a small way. The political non participation has been highlighted during the latest Election for president for Nunatsiavut. Some people are straight up and admit there ignorance but still want to have a vote. In today's work environment it does take some effort to find the time for many to find the energy in flowing the news and political reports. That said it is hard to make an informed decision without making some sort of effort to educate yourself in the goings on.

One sort of person particularly irks me though, the ones who criticize those who want to have a say about how they feel of politics and politicians. They are the worst illiterates of all.

The election for President of Nunatsiavut is only 13 days away. Two of the candidates have Facebook pages with their platforms and questions and answers to most. There is also some discussion on personal Facebook pages.

One of the topics is language, specifically Inuttut and the fluency required by the president.

I think I mentioned this before, the requirements are ambiguous and open to interpretation, to wit: “The president must be able to understand and speak Inuttut. The president must also be 25 years of age or older”.

The biggest misconception held by a lot of people is that there is an on going debate about language and this is to the detriment to the efficient working of the Nunatsiavut government [NG].

What a load of codswallop that is.

There has never been a public debate about language, or any other topic for that matter.

The only time language and other issues are raised to any level like a public debate is every 4 years. That just coincides with the elections.

Many people feel that the president should be fluent in Inuttut and English. Many other people disagree with that premise.

When you consider the fact that the Labrador Inuit Association, the precursor to NG, was formed on the basis of Inuit language, culture and values, and that all the years of negotiations for land claims and then the negotiations for the formation of Nunatsiavut territory was based foremost on Inuit language, culture and values then it is easy to see why many people feel so strongly about having a fluent speaker as the head of NG.

I would suggest that without the Inuit language and culture argument used, and accepted by the two levels of government, there would be no land claims and there for no Nunatsiavut Government.

Words like distinct and unique pertaining to Inuit language and culture are used through out documents on all processes of negations over the years.

Another worrying premise put forward is that; by having a fluent Inuttut speaker as leader this has contributed to a very disorganized bordering on dysfunctional Government [not my words, words of others].

Well I agree with the disorganized bordering on dysfunctional Government part, but I have no truck with the first part.

First off it is only the president that had to be fluent under the old LIA constitution. Then with the formation of NG it was watered down to what is in there now [see above].

Over the years most of the bi lingual speakers with an independent bent have been shooed off, ignored and marginalized by an increasing uni-lingual English speaking government and bureaucracy.

So to say one person in one position has led to all the woes that beset NG is stretching reality.

The reality is that English is the working language of NG. The president is just one vote in the assembly. So if there is any blame and finger pointing to be done let’s point fingers and lay the blame in the right direction.

Another grand day yesterday, if you discount the winds gusting to 70 with blowing snow that is.

The wind did not stop us taking a walk though; at times Siutik looked like she would have been happy staying at home.

I have mentioned before her dislike for wind. Yesterday walking along open exposed areas she was very out of sorts, going back smelling the wind, looking from side to side, running ahead, almost getting lost to sight in the drifting snow. Not sure if she smelt something or the wind interferes with her senses.

Then soon as sheltered ground came up it was as quite as a church rectory and Siutik was her old self, makes for some interesting photographs.

Information is that  Nain hunters have scored some caribou. But it has taken several trips of multiple days each. The success was inside Postville, now they have to get back to Hopedale [the point of departure for the hunt] then back to Nain.

Quite the expensive venture for some county food. Don’t see the single income or EI or social service recipient being able to partake.

Good oh caribou burgers

with home fry's, onions and mushrooms-and of course the obligatory [while it last] feta cheese.

Another fine day yesterday, the final day of the Easter games on the ice. I did not go down, after a short walk in the morning did some work in the house.
Not in the mood really, another tragic demise of a young person.

We could use this satellite technology around here to try locate the caribou. It may not pick up the caribou scat too well, what with them on the move. But perhaps it could tell where the caribou are not, and that would save a lot of people the agro and expense of going off and coming back empty handed.

Noah Nockasak doing it hard up the Pearly Gates.

A friend and fellow food lover in Quebec sent an e mail with descriptions of a meal, with pictures, from restaurant “Pied de Cochon sugar shack” just outside Montreal.

Very naughty of her really and it was not a meal she had partaken in but rather a friend of a friend.

Any way I countered with what I had on hand.

“No caribou” are the words most spoken in Northern Labrador of late. People going out for one, two, and up to three days and not even a sign.

A large group has headed north again this weekend, up as far as Hebron and places in between. See what comes out of that.

After the subject with no meat of yesterday I better put something up today to express my pissed-off-ed-ness.

It is a watered down version of what I intended, but there is just too much to contend with in a short time with these cuts and closures Canada wide at the moment.

Below is an abridged version of an e mail I sent to local and regional politicians. I don’t expect much will come of this, but at least I thought I should make these people aware of what is about to happen. Believe me they had no inkling.

At the end of July 2012 CBC will be shutting down all its free to air Television transmitters across the country.

Along with the CBC shut down APTN transmitters will be shutting down.

This has a two fold effect on the people of small rural communities.

One is that everybody who does not subscribe to Satellite or cable TV service will be unable to receive any TV broadcast all.

Second is that cable subscribers will not be able to receive CBC or APTN broadcasts if the cable companies do not install receivers to pick up the CBC and APTN signals. At the moment cable companies on the coast pick up the free to air signal and re broadcast on cable.

I am not sure of the ratio of people who do not subscribe to Satellite or cable service, but I would think it a lot higher than the CBC president’s figure of 1.7% Canada wide.

My guess would be closer to 30% and if the cable companies do not install the receivers required this number would increase.

CBC has at the moment around 620 transmitters across the country. After the shut down only 14 to 16 transmitters will remain, all in large populated areas.

In this province 90 transmitters will shut down. About 18 of those are in Labrador.

This is a travesty for the less privileged of society and something needs to be done about it.

What can be done I don’t know, but I think groups and individuals representing small communities need to have a serious look at this and contact CBC and the local cable companies in your area as well as the CRTC and the federal Government. 

 

Things pertaining to the Goose Bay base are going from the ridicules to the absurd with announcements and hints and promises.

First the feds announce a third griffin chopper to act as asecondary SAR in the area. In actual fact all they are doing to bringing the 444 squadron back up to full compliment by returning the chopper taken away for work in Afghanistan.

Then a couple days later the chief of the defense staffgives hints that perhaps some of the unused housing at 5 Wing can be used forcivilian housing.

What a novel idea, I have been writing about that very same thing for several years now.

The chief went on to say nothing is concrete; talks need to be held with community leader’s yadda yadda.

By community leaders I hope he does not mean the HV-GB mayor and town council exclusively.

It is well known the mayor and many of the councilors are not exactly the sharpest knives in the cutlery draw. There also seems to be a cozy relationship between developers in the area and some councilors.  

There is some sharp community activist around town so I hope they are watching what is going on. 

Lil oh Rigolet jumped into the headlines again yesterday, all due to a seven dollar nine cents loaf of bread.

The more things change the more they stay the same on the coast of Labrador. Have a listen to the audio on this link, very enlightening.

It just highlights what I and others have been saying about the absurdity of the Nutrition North Canada program.

By the by, I took the opportunity to check out the bread section down at Northern yesterday. Prices vary between $4:09 to just under 5 bucks. But what stood out yesterday was the limited availability and the fact the USE BEFORE dates ranged from 6 April to 25 March, with some having no use before date stamp.

It may be that the bread was frozen before shelving, but nothing can hide the 18 day old stale bread smell the permeates through the plastic wrap.

Federal Government does the dirty on CBC transmitters.

 Had some good value out of one chicken.

Had a roast chicken for Sunday dinner, that only used half of it.

Monday I made up a chicken pot pie, deep one using the last of the Robin Hood Flaky Pastry I had been saving.
That only used up half the pot pie, so had left over chicken pot pie Tuesday, with different selection of vegetables each time of course.

Not shown in the picture below is the crumbled feta cheese on the spinach dish. Had a good deal on 3 kilos of feta, good thing we both like feta.

We have a clear morning and -15, weather been unsettled all week with good cover of fresh snow, the cooler temps forecast for the next several days will make it easier to travel into the country. People still hoping the caribou come around but more and more looking like a lean year for tuktu.

Yesterday I ordered some seeds and propagating material for the green house. This morning we woke up to this.

After a very pleasant Saturday/Sunday Monday was a mauzy change. Light freezing drizzle early but the precipitation stopped in the afternoon for the start of the Easter Games.

Took in some of the action for a bit. Lots of games for both young and older on the ice and inside until Friday.

Snow sailing

Parra skiing, call it what you will.

Nice day for it yesterday. Experienced people can sure get up some speed, wish I was younger, then if I was I would have been out in the surf and nowhere near any snow would I?

 

After much figuring we ended up with just fish cakes for supper.Very good fish cakes made with Purity salt fish and tinned salmon. I used the no egg in mix but on the outside before dipping in the bread crumbs. A messy process but with care works out very well.













Then for my birthday cake I iced one [actually two, one each] of the large hot cross buns and stuck three candles in it. Yellow and gold for OZ sports teams and blue and gold for my beleaguered Parramatta rugby league football team, who are doing about as good as the Maple Leafs and the Canadians.










Carter has been Quite the little show off all weekend going by his mothers photos. Here he is doing 'pretty eyes' in the laundry basket.
 

The weather yesterday was anything but predicable. More like predictable in it's unpredictability. Anything from a ceiling of 600 feet to flat down in snow and or wet snow and or sleet.

On our walk we stopped at the airstrip, two planes had come and gone if iffy weather. People were waiting on Air Inuit to come in from George River.Waiting to no avail as it ended up being cancelled.

Later an Air Lab plane got down just before the weather really crapped out.

Carter trying out his new sneakers and scratching his bum.The sneakers are blue and white, so I guess his dad had a role to play in that decision.

Had a packet of Salem brand "Moravian Lovefeast Buns" given me at Xmas.

Made them up yesterday in the disguise of hot X buns, with added rum soaked raisins.

 

We have had a week of overcast intermittent snow and wet snow now. Fairly typical for this time of year. Looks like we may catch a sunny break the next two days, then back to dreary, still the temperatures are mild.

Mamattupaak Deli.

Pea soup, dough boys and salt pork riblets.                                     

Left over spaghetti meat balls on bruschetta bread.

Interesting times; election controversies [when are they not controversial], great achievements and the usual Easter doings.

The great achievement is that Noah Nockasak made it to his destination

 

The controversies in the NG election are two fold.  

First the underhanded announcement by the outgoing president that one of the candidates to replace him had misused her corporate credit card for personal use and filed inaccurate travel claims.

Here is news the release at the time:

 Minister of Education and Economic Development resigns

---

Nunatsiavut President Jim Lyall announced Wednesday that he has accepted the resignation of Susan Nochasak as Minister of Education and Economic Development.

"Ms. Nochasak has informed me that she no longer wishes to serve as Minister because of personal reasons, and I have accepted her decision," says President Lyall.
Ms. Nochasak has served as a member of the Nunatsiavut Executive Council since being elected to the legislative assembly two years ago. She will continue to sit in the legislature as the Ordinary Member for Hopedale.
First Minister Darryl Shiwak will assume the added responsibilities of Minister of Education and Economic Development until a successor is appointed.
Media Contact:
Bert Pomeroy, Communications
709-896-8582

Then this week the president circulates an internal e mail stating the real reasons for the Ministers resignation [sort of like two wrongs not making a right]. As you are aware this internal e mail has now gone public.

I am note sure if using a corporate credit card for personal use is illegal, it has happened time and again both in governments and private corporations. The penalties vary and most times we the public do not hear of them.

But I am fairly sure filing false travel claims for personal gain falls under illegal terms. You only have to look back to MHA’s of the province being convicted for just that, plus additional miss deeds.

The fact that you pay the money back after being caught with your hands in the cash box is irelivent.  

 It sure as hell is immoral and unethical. It is unconscionable that the president and first minister of NG [plus whoever else was involved] participated in sanctioning the cover up; all should be called to account.

It was only a matter of time that the obsession for secrecy within the hierarchy of NG would come back to bite them, this should be that time.

The second controversy bubbling is the Inuttut language abilities of the president. Under the old by-laws of LIA it was black and white. The president had to be fluent in Inuttut. 

This requirement was watered down under the Nunatsiavut Government self government process. 

From the Labrador Inuit Constitution summary:

Chapter 3: President of Nunatsiavut.
Section 4: Qualifications for president.

The president must be able to understand and speak Inuttut. The president must also be 25 years of age or older.

Ambiguous to say the least.

Just shows that people were not paying attention during the self government process.

Now social media is afire with opinions both for and against the president’s fluency abilities, and that is a good thing. Pity social media was not around back in the day.

It is no secrete where I sit on the language issue. Being married to one of the most passionate defenders and advocates for language retention and strengthening I'd be a bit of a fool to go against it, eh?

Harking back to yesterdays undefined post of the goings on with the election for president of NG.

Little bits are coming to light, more could be revealed this morning on CBC Labrador morning. The bit revealed last night on Here & Now is shocking enough, be interesting to hear how the outgoing president explains why he misled people in not revealing the truth back when he fired the woman.

Not the first time this sort of thing has happened, seems to be a common practice with wrong doings within corporations and Governments.

To my mind it is inexcusable for elected officials to act this way, both the act of misusing credit cards and travel claims [or whatever misdeed] as well as the cover up by all parties is unethical and immoral, it should be unlawful too if it is not already.

Here is the interviews by Peter Cowan of CBC Lab Morning with President and presidential candidate of NG. 
Cant fault Peter Cowan, he gave it his best shot, like pulling hens teeth getting to the nitty gritty.

Whoever had a role in this, and I would think there are quite a few, should be hauled over the coals in no uncertain terms.
The damage to the integrity of the Nunatsiavut Government by these ever increasing incidents has to be stopped before it is too late.

"I can repair bicycles"

 therefor why not dentistry.




Getting to see a dentist on the Labrador coast has long been more that a pain in the teeth. More like neigh on impossible at times.

Years back the LIA [now NG] had a dental technician deal with an aboriginal dental school out west. All the equipment was brought in to Nain, students and instructors would come in and treat patients. It worked out quite well for the patient, so the government pulled the funding.

Then and now a dentist visit to the coast is a rarity, anyone needing to see one has to make an appointment then if you draw the lucky number you get to fly out to Goose Bay.

So why not NG fly in this guy in the video every month. We know wages in Asia are low, airfare to Goose Bay would be cheaper than from Nain to Goose Bay [for the rest of us] and now that NG 51% owns an airline it should be a no brainier.

Spring morning in Labrador.

This scene is becoming the norm in the morn for spring in Nain.Yesterday was snow or flurries all day, one plane got in in the morning but that was it.

I purchased a second ski doo yesterday, that is it hidden under the cover. I have no need of two machines so may put the older up for sale. 

Much good news on the provincial front with the PUB rejection of the Muskrat Falls proposal in it's present form. Anyone with common sense, an environmental concern, an economic concern for the future and worried about higher electricity bills down the road should be rejoicing. Not over rejoicing, but with egg continuing to build up on the faces of the proponents of this absurd scheme a little jig and a wee dam dram would be in order.

Much bad news on the Nunatsiavut Government front [when will it all end] with one of the candidates for president in a bit of doo doo with the revelation [and confirmed by candidate] that her resignation from her ministers role just recently was not for 'personal reasons' after all.
In keeping with the secrete nature that NG employs I will leave you hanging at that.

Thanks to family here and in Hopedale we have a few meals of caribou for the table.

Made up a braise yesterday, love the marrow in caribou bones.

We had a sunny Saturday and a clear to cloudy Sunday. Nice temperatures but this morning there is light snow and winds are picking up, looks like one of those springs where one is constantly pushing or shoveling snow. I am running out of room for it at the back, and as Siutik is in heat I have a barrier up so cant push the snow around the side, well that is my excuse.