I wrote this

now you read it.

http://www.winnipegfreepress2.com/publications/firstnationsvoice/march/index.php?page=10

It is for First Nation's Voice, a monthly publication of the Winnipeg Free Press, reaching 90,000 readers.

Sometimes, when an outside source asks for a story from APTN, our kind producers say, "Shit, Kent will do it, he likes that stuff. You want something from Nunavut?"

And the person asking for the story will go, "Nunavut, hells yes, we'd like something from Nunavut."

I went after PETA for their stupid Inuksuk campaign, and took a few kicks at reliable kicking target "Captain" Paul Watson.

Then I had Inflatable Elvis and Port Town Ghosts read it over for me. Elvis sharpened my sticks and PTG directed my narrative flow. Both helped a lot.

Here it is. You should totally click the link, because they have a different bio photo that they shot (oh, the glamour of being a TV personaility)I like my self-description at the end, and it ran intact...

and I share a page with former Canuck tough guy Gino Odjick... which is cool.

Re-Printed without any sort of permission at all from the kind folks at the Free Press:

War on Tradition

By Kent Driscoll
APTN National News – Iqaluit

Despite what People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals may tell you, no one in Nunavut uses a hakapik to hunt seals. The Government of Nunavut even pushed for a ban on the East Coast favorite, because it was a more useful tool in the hands of agenda pushing activists than those of hunters killing seals.

PETA knows this, but that didn’t stop them from using one of Nunavut’s most enduring symbols – the Inukshuk – in their propaganda this year. In one of their latest campaigns, they’ve co-opted the multi-coloured symbol of the Vancouver Games and set it to killing a seal with a hakapik.

For a group with the word “ethical” in their title, that is pretty disingenuous.

There is a vote coming up on the import of seal skins into the European Union. There is a small provision for the exemption of seal pelts that are used ceremonially, but if passed, it will serve to bludgeon Nunavut’s seal skin industry by banning the sale of pelts in the EU.

APTN National News recently interviewed Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak about the European Union’s proposed seal skin ban.

“Is this a case of them not understanding, or is this a case of your positions being so far apart that nothing can solve it?” I asked her.

Aariak answered diplomatically, pointing to further education and lobbying. “We need to really help to educate people, how we use the seals, how it helps our economy as well. We need to do that at all levels, to every country. There can never be enough information about how much sealing means to Canadians,” she said.

This is the standard line of reasoning from the Government of Nunavut: if you teach them, they will understand. But while Aariak is holding out faith in the Europeans, there is no reason to hold out faith for PETA, or the Sea Shepherd society, or the scores of other anti-sealing groups, who annually do their low rent chicken-man dance for the press.

PETA may be culturally insensitive and overwrought; the Sea Shepherd society takes first place for epic hyperbole. Earlier this year “Captain” Paul Watson – just before he took off to ram Japanese whaling ships – got into an online brawl with Terry Audla from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, over the culling of 500 whales trapped in the ice near Pond Inlet on the northeast tip of Baffin Island.

“Every man who pulled a trigger on those whales is no different than the men who slaughtered the defenseless people in the pit at My Lai, Vietnam,” Watson wrote.

Audla wrote back that he was going home to enjoy some fresh whale meat with his family.

Here in Nunavut, the Inukshuk isn’t just a logo. It is the symbol of a people who have defied the odds and survived life in the Arctic. The seal isn’t fur profit. It is a home cooked meal, a break from astronomical grocery costs, warm winter clothing, and cultural history.

“Canada’s annual war on seals”, is what PETA calls it. It should be called “animal rights activists’ annual war on Inuit tradition.”

Audla and Aariak are both opting for a diplomatic approach; one has to wonder how you go about educating with so much prejudice arrayed against you.

Kent Driscoll is the Nunavut Reporter for APTN National News, and lives in Iqaluit. He can’t hunt to save his life, but thinks seals are both tasty and warm to wear.

WAtch our show tonight

Nunavut's 10th anniversary is the focus of my work tonight, and I'm happy with it. Very happy.

Last night, we had people remembering what they were doing on April 1st 1999.

Today, we have:

Tons of traditional games
Me getting my ass kicked by grade school kids at said events
O Canada in Inuktitut
Some politicians
Incredible throat singing

and so on. Big day for Nunavut, and I'm happy we did some justice to it.

Tomorrow, what about the next 10 years, huh?

and in the debrief, I say the words, "We'll fill your belly full of seal."

6 eastern in the south, 7 eastern in the North. Tune in.

Our Smallest Reporter

More help at the office today, this time on account of professional development for the teachers. We started our own "professional development" here today, bringing in The Boy to hang out with me and learn (or teach) a trick or two. Looks like he has it figured out, look directly into the camera and try to look serious:

Our smallest camera operator

I have some help at the office this morning, some tiny help.



He works for Honeycombs, and aside from the regular poop (and actual poop) you have to deal with from artistic types, he is good help..... plus, Elmo breaks.

Looking for a giant map

Last night, I did something I have never done on TV before, I stood in front of a Nunavut map and showed where the individual communities I was talking about are.

It really worked, and I was very happy with the result. So was my boss. So much so that when I asked him this morning, "Can we buy the biggest goddamn map of Nunavut we can find and put it up in the wall here?" he said, 'Sure, good idea."

So, I am officially looking for "the biggest goddamn map of Nunavut" I can find. Any ideas? It has to:

-- stand out on TV
-- be easy to see
-- be so goddamn big that it is an affront to God

The person who finds it will have my admiration, and a smug sense of self-satifaction, and, let's say, some APTN temporary tattoos.

EDITED TO ADD: Of course, I'll post a picture

Tonight, on the TV

-- Find out out how much it costs to fly around in the High Arctic
-- Watch me ham it up with a map
-- Find out about $65 cranberry juice

I am the D block, second to last block of the show, and it is all me. Watch, enjoy, and discuss. How damn bad do you want cranberry juice if you are willing to pay that?

Lobbying for prizes

So, the now annual self-congratulatory back-slapping begins and the Nunies are back. The awards for blogs about and from Nunavut.

I'll make this short. I am throwing my APTN Arctic Winter Games blog into the ring for best new blog, as it is new, and I think shows another way that the medium can be used.

Plus, it is just chock full of video goodness. You should all nominate me. Go to THE HOUSE to find out how.

That is the last lobbying I will do, and when the nominations are up, i'll show you where to go vote. No campaigining, no ballot box stuffing, just me saying I think that blog kicks some major ass, and I am very proud of it.

Like Dr. Dre

Lloyd Robertson just said my name... I kinda feel like Dr. Dre.

Don't believe me: Look Here

If you really like to analyse the difference in media, have a look at the twice as long version we ran.

WATCH IT HERE

Someone smart once told me, "You didn't have the time to tell the shorter story."

I like the CTV version better, although the 3:50 plus version on APTN (plus an additional 4 minutes of me talking with Todd through a camera) is full of much more Nunavut Political Inside Baseball.

Want to hear a newspaper editor talk about dead bodies? Is one quote of The Premier not enough for you, do you need three? Nunavummiut, click link two

If you just want to see what people in the south saw, click link ONE.

Following rising stars

Well, Leona Aglukkaq's meteoric rise to the top of Canada's political food chain is pulling a few people along in it's wake.

Namely, me.

If everything goes as planned, tune in tonight to CTV National News to see a shorter version of my "Local Reaction" story about Ms Aglukkaq.

See all our Nunavut regulars (Jim Bell, Premier Okalik, Hunter Tootoo) on the big news.

If it doesn't work out tonight, it will air sometime on the weekend.

Also, a scoop for you. Aglukkaq's first major interview, Question Period this Sunday. I hope she comes ready, Craig Oliver sharpens his teeth on federal rookies.

It will be very nice to hear "For CTV News, I'm Kent Driscoll of APTN National News, in Iqaluit".

Mike Duffy isn't their only former Islander now.

So, you think you can fight?

I love getting messages from our programming department, and here is one I think some readers may be interested in.

Think you can fight? Give Warriors TKO a shot. Why do I think they would get a kick out of having an Inuk on the show this time out. Check out the poster:



It sure would give me an excuse to do a story about any Inuk who qualified for the show... and a better reason for Inuit to tune in.

Coming in two parts

Wow.... three hours of tape is a whole lot of tape.

So, here is what I did. I broke it into two parts:

Tonight in Part 1 -- lots of Sheutiapik and Okalik, with a dash of Glenn Williams and Madeleine Redfern. Good clips always force their way in.

Tomorrow in Part 2 -- everybody else

Basically, I couldn't get all the candidates into Part 1, and wanted to make sure everyone is in the story.

If you only listened on radio, you missed half of the show. Body language, demeanor and attentiveness go a long way to showing someone's views.

Tonight at 7 EST for our Northern viewers, 6 EST for those in the South. For Express-Vu customers, 7 EST on Channel 270, 6 EST on Channel 269.

I just looked at the line-up for the rest of the show, and it looks like we have a good one tonight (we have a good one every night, some good is just better than other good).

Buffy St. Marie, Chief Phil Fontaine, Part III of our Yellowknife Bureau's fantastic look at NWT Foster Care, an all-aboriginal Junior B hockey team, and why the heck did the Justice in change of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission quit yesterday?

Tune in, turn on, and save your criticisms until after you have seen both parts ;)

My electronic TOWER OF BABEL

Since polls don't close until 9:30 EST, I had some time on my hands at the office today.

I hooked up three TV's, an internet terminal, a white board and the radio to my ELECTRONIC TOWER OF BABEL.

Then I get a phone call from the show.

"Hey Kent, want to do a 2 minute de-brief about the time zone thing with the Nunavut election?"

"Sure I do, and boy oh boy, do I have a background."

When Master Control shouted out "Holy S*%^", I knew I had it made :)

Tonight, 6 Eastern, see what i made :)

Watch our show tonight

If you want to see what a record number of Take Back the Night marchers look like...

Plus, see the poor guy with the cute little girl, who was roped into commenting for my camera, because of the lovely pack of women he was travelling with.

"We need a man to comment."

"Oh, he'll do it."

:)

It was a good night.

In the first eight minutes of the show, guaranteed.

Dirty minds

Last night, I had a story on APTN National News, about a particularly awful alleged crime that happened here in Iqaluit. For that story, we needed to have a shot that showed pornography, without actually showing pornography. Our erstwhile technical ace said he would take care of it, and the result was inspired.

Our man here in Iqaluit took some footage from YouTube and shot it out of focus. The result was supposed to be less dirty looking footage. The actual result looks ever dirtier than the original in focus stuff.

Check it out here:


Or here:

www.aptn.ca/streaming/index.php?wmv=thursday/six
First story, look for it, you won't have to look twice.

TV is a distorting medium...

Stay tuned until the end -- or skip to it, who am I to tell you what to do -- to see Iqaluit based Inuk RCMP Officer Henry Coman return home after a tour in Afghanistan, to cleanse the palate after my horribly disturbing story.

Coming live on the TV

This is a big moment for Nunavut's blogging community.... or at least for this little part of it.

Tonight on APTN National News, tune in to watch me talk about my AWG blog on air.

6:30 Eastern. Tune in.