Mary’s annual letter of comments and concerns

I guess this would be my annual letter of comments, concerns and suggestions to the paper about what is happening in the Iqaluit and Nunavut areas.

I am going to make this short by putting it into point form, so here it goes:

* In 1996, $25 million dollars for the construction of the new Baffin hospital were taken back into the regular spending budget. At that time when they, QC and GNWT/GN, were talking about building the new hospital, a question pops up and that is: “Why didn’t they (QC and GNWT/GN) check and test the proposed new landsite for the hospital?” If they had done that, it would not delay the construction of the building at that time. The new proposed hospital now has to wait until the site is cleaned;

* The interest that is collected from the new allotment of funds for that new hospital should be utilized by the health department to hire some physiotherapists, or just exercise physicians for those who need the physiotherapists. Thousands of dollars are being spent to send patients to get physiotherapy in southern institutions – the money goes there and stays there;

* Millions of dollars are being used for SARS in Toronto. Why does the GN not ask the feds for more funds to build more public housing (overcrowding causes germs to spread like wild flowers and eliminates the weak, the infants and the elders) and get more reasonable housing programs for a healthier community;

* The Nunavut judges should re-assess their sentencing techniques and use real past cases from mainstream Canada to sentence offenders to teach them a lesson and treat them so it is not a holiday;

* The MLA who was convicted for assault deserves what he gets, because if he were living down this way, he would have been serving his sentence now and not later. Assault should never be taken lightly. As for his career, I say that he should have thought about that before he started the party in Coral Harbour;

* Iqaluit City Council members should be more vocal and visible in the media to show their concerns about Iqaluit – a new dump site and a new graveyard are needed, as the city is growing;

* The letter regarding the election of the ITK President? Well, if we were to go back that way, there would be no money left for the president to spend on real issues, such as the lack of Inuit housing, proper Inuit specific policies. This is time-consuming, and as well, the Inuit regions are hours apart and the Inuit of those regions already spend lots of money in elections voting for their own regional presidents;

* On the school issue, the letter from Tyler Tait-Chegwyn is right on. But home school does not let you learn the most important facts of life: socializing and playing with other kids and students their own age.

The education system suffers more when people take their kids out of school to be taught at home (this takes a student out and makes it less likely for another teacher to be hired to teach those kids).

* The government should put more funds into education and other programs that enhance the minds of the kids and students as they are IT’S future.

* The gay issue? What issue? They are made that way, let them be. You know, I have thought long and hard about this and I say, let them be and maybe they will find their way back?

For my final note, I would like to congratulate all Nunavut students who just graduated from high school, especially Paul Alainga – way to go, Paul! And for those students still in school, please stay in school, as it is the lifeline of the rest of your future in this unpredictable world.

I would like to read peoples’ comments through the paper on my little notes so that others can read what is being said and maybe if it gets loud enough – the governments just may act.

Mary S. Alainga
Ottawa