I usually avoid commentary. Since I'm a journalist, it usually behooves me to keep my virtual mouth quiet. This case, I couldn't resist.
One of the first things they teach you in J-school, localize a national story.
Remember that scene from The Paper, with Michael Keaton (second worst Batman ever).
"Disaster here, no one from New York. Disaster there, no one from New York. "
The shooting death of Const. Doug Scott had a very tenous PEI connection. His partner in Kimmirut was a fill-in officer from PEI, so the Guardian ran a story about another officer from Charlottetown that had served in Kimmirut. For the record, he quite liked it.
In the comments page, someone wrote in with this thoughtful commentary on policing in Nunavut:
Andy from Ch'town, PEI writes: It comes down to money. And since the
territories are a federal jurisdiction, then the feds have to throw more money
for policing at the territories.
What you are suggesting in post #1 is to have a level of policing service
in Arctic Canada similar to what we have in southern Canada.... numerous police
officers within a reasonably short response time to calls for assistance.
This isn't currently the case in Nunavut and other places, so the feds
would have to practically quadruple the number of officers up there.
In addition to the obvious benefits for officer safety, this would tie in
nicely for sovereignty purposes too. After all, next to the Innu and the
Canadian Rangers, the RCMP have the 2nd biggest presence across that region.
The Canadian Forces with southern softies make their laughable snowmobile
trip every summer across the icepack but that doesn't really count, unless you
believe everything you read in the vaunted Globe & Mail of course....
quadruple RCMP in Arctic = increased officer safety + better sovereignty =
no brainer
Andy from Ch'town struck me as a bit of a know-nothing-know-it-all, leading me to write my first ever post in the comments of the Guardian website. Enjoy:
Kent Driscoll from Iqaluit, NU writes:
Post 2, here is where you are wrong.
And since the territories are a federal jurisdiction, then the feds
have to throw more money for policing at the territories.
Yes and no. Nunavut has our own government, and pays for our own RCMP
presence. Since there is no deal on devolution struck with the feds, we receive
money from the federal government. If the feds would cut a resource revenue
sharing deal with Nunavut, the minerals under 1/5th of Canada's landmass would
easily cover more RCMP, along with adequate housing, healthcare, and a host of
other challenges.
What you are suggesting in post #1 is to have a level of policing
service in Arctic Canada similar to what we have in southern Canada.... numerous
police officers within a reasonably short response time to calls for assistance.
Kimmirut has 2 officers for a population of 400, a 1 to 200 ratio. You
won't find that anywhere in southern Canada.
After all, next to the Innu and the Canadian Rangers
Inuit, not Innu.
The Canadian Forces with southern softies make their laughable
snowmobile trip
The last trip across the icepack was a group of Canadian Rangers, not
southern softies. It was far from laughable, they covered a route that hadn't
been covered in 30 years, and they did it. The navy are frequent visitors, but
you won't catch any of the southern forces on the land without Rangers.
quadruple RCMP in Arctic = increased officer safety + better
sovereignty = no brainer
A Band-aid solution. Try this formula on for size.Cut a resource revenue
sharing deal with Nunavut = adequate social funding + a corresponding reduction
in crime = no brainer.Sovereignty is people. Let the Inuit people here be the
sovereignty. Give them control of the resources, so they can afford to build a
Canadian presence here, instead of dumping more money into cops the people don't
really need. All of this has little to do with poor Douglas Scott, but it is
worth pointing out to a southern audience that the long term fix for Arctic
soverignty is to allow the people of Nunavut to exploit their own resource
revenue, to build a sustainable economy and society. Anything less is just a
short term answer.
You can teach an Islander to read, but you can't make them think... jerks.
