Latest news with #Yellowknife
CBC
19 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
N.W.T. gov't says it followed protocol by doing 2nd round of lead tests instead of notifying schools earlier
Social Sharing The N.W.T government says it followed standard practice when it conducted follow-up testing for lead in the drinking water at two Yellowknife schools instead of blocking the taps off and notifying the public earlier. "Health experts raised some questions about the sample gathering methods and whether that could have affected the results," Christina Carrigan, senior communications adviser with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, wrote in an email Friday afternoon. In that email, the department said after the initial sample set was done, any result that exceeded the maximum acceptable concentration of lead under Canadian drinking water guidelines triggered a second sample to confirm the finding. The department also said the office of the chief public health officer recommended the water not be consumed as a precautionary measure. "[Education, Culture and Employment] is now conducting a formal, school-wide series of tests in these two schools to validate the preliminary findings and ensure the safety of the drinking water." Lead levels in École William McDonald's drinking water were detected at 0.00903 milligrams per litre, while Range Lake North School's levels were 0.025 milligrams per litre. Canada's drinking water guidelines state the maximum acceptable level is 0.005 milligrams per litre. Lead was first detected on Jan. 22, and the results were confirmed on April 4. Parents and staff were informed this past Tuesday. 'No safe level' of lead Dr. Anne Hicks, an associate professor of pediatric respiratory medicine at the University of Alberta, said lead in water and food is absorbed in the body the same way calcium and iron are. "So into your red cells, into your bones," she said. Hicks said it's hard to say how much lead is safe to consume, because everyone absorbs and expels it differently. "There's no safe level of lead intake, basically," she said. "The more you take into your body over time, the more likely it is that you'll have an elevated lead level." She said symptoms of high lead in the body will often emerge later, but most lead exposure is mild in Canada. One sign could be low blood iron, anemia or low red cell counts. "It can take a long time for these subtle symptoms to show up." Hicks said the levels found at both schools "are concerning" but that public health officials would best be able to identify the level of risk. "I think the most important thing would be to make sure that everybody is safe," she said. The N.W.T.'s health department told CBC it would not be doing interviews, and the chief public health officer was also not made available for an interview. Education, Culture and Employment has also declined interviews, opting to send email responses instead, and Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland has not been made available for interviews. Parents concerned Sabrina Meilleur, who has children and stepchildren at Range Lake North School, said she thought the school's infrastructure was new and she was surprised to find out there could be elevated levels of lead in the water. "I was shocked, actually," she said. She said she has peace of mind that an investigation is taking place, now that they're testing for it, but she would have liked to have known earlier. "I'm really disappointed it took so long." Yvette Cooper, another parent, said she worries about the long-term effects of lead on children. "It's wildly inappropriate," she said. "Children have been exposed to this for months. "This is a really slow response and this is a huge concern," she added. "My confidence is shaken."
CBC
a day ago
- Business
- CBC
After 20+ years, the family that runs Yellowknife's Coffee Break News is looking for a new owner
After more than 20 years, the family that runs a beloved Yellowknife newsletter is looking to pass the business on to a new owner. Lynn Elkin bought the Coffee Break News from its original owner back in 2002, thinking her son Brad Hall, who was still in high school at the time, might enjoy running the newsletter as a part-time job. She ended up being right. Hall has been the voice behind the newsletter ever since, giving Yellowknifers information on what's going on in the city each week, along with movie times, short articles, quizzes and two full pages of jokes. Hall said he likes the freedom of getting to choose each week what to research and write about. "I like learning new information," Hall said. "But I also like to do such things on my own terms. That may be one of my favourite things about it." In 2022, the family moved to Alberta to be closer to Hall's brother and his kids. While their printer, Kopycat North, and others in the community have offered help, it's been hard to run the Yellowknife newsletter from afar. They are now looking for someone to take over the business — or at the very least, the delivery side of it. How the newsletter gets made Hall does all the research and writing of the newsletter himself each week, fielding emails, looking online for information on events happening in Yellowknife, and gathering facts for quizzes and articles. He then gets all of the content formatted in the newsletter, along with advertisements. Then Elkin or her husband gives it a proof-read, and they send it to the printer. Hall also oversees the delivery process to get new copies to the 50-odd Yellowknife businesses that carry the newsletter each week — though a student at the Yellowknife Aurora College campus has taken over making the stops since Hall moved away. Hall estimates that, all in all, he does about 12 to 15 hours of work on the newsletter each week. Elkin says she is proud of how long they have kept the newsletter going strong, through changes like the advent of social media and the COVID-19 pandemic. "When social media really took off a while ago, we really weren't sure that Coffee Break News was going to still be around, but what we found is that social media has its place, and it's not for everyone, and sometimes it's really hard to find all of the information," she said. "So we found that people had come back to reading us and telling us we were a place that they go for certain things — particularly the public service announcements. And other people who love the jokes." During the COVID-19 pandemic, they pivoted to an electronic flip-book version within two weeks of lockdowns beginning, which they continue to offer alongside the classic print version. "We're pretty proud of that," Elkin said. "It would have been easy to say, 'Oh, forget it!' but we think it provides real value and it's fun." Advice for the future owner Since they moved to Alberta, it's been a more challenging business to maintain. Right now, Hall is volunteering his time, because they decided they wanted all of the profit for the newsletter to stay in Yellowknife. After printing and delivery costs, Elkin said, that's just enough money to offer local businesses and non-profits some discounts on advertising. Hall, who has now been running Coffee Break News for about half his life, said it would be a big change to pass it on to someone else — but he would be supportive of anyone who wanted to try it. "My advice for them would be to make it their thing, kind of like I made it mine," he said. "Giving it a personal touch." Elkin also said she would encourage anyone who takes on the project to add their own "flair". "But remember who it's for. It's for the community," she said. "Make it so it fits where Yellowknife is and who Yellowknife is becoming as a community." Chris Woods, the manager of Capitol Theatre, said it's been great working with Hall and Elkin over the years, adding that people tell him all the time that they find showtimes for the theatre in Coffee Break News each week. "They've done an amazing job taking our show times, formatting them, adding synopsis, posters. It's basically like having an ad agency working for you." He says he is also just a fan. "I read it every week. I like the little stories and I like the jokes," he said. He feels it would be a "great loss" if Coffee Breaks News ended. "I've worked in a number of cities that had a Coffee Break News-type publication, and a lot of them failed after a while just because the person who was running it felt overwhelmed and they couldn't continue it," he said. "The fact that this one has been going on for 20 years is just simply amazing."
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Fire at Yellowknife's Franklin House apartments started in AC unit
Social Sharing The City of Yellowknife says a fire at a downtown apartment building early Friday morning caused minor injuries to one tenant. In a news release Friday, the city says the Yellowknife Fire Division (YKFD) responded to a report of visible flames on the third floor of Franklin House on 48 Street at 2:07 a.m. "Crews acted swiftly, applying water to suppress the fire," it said. Firefighters extinguished the fire in the affected unit and were able to contain it to that unit. "One tenant sustained minor burns but did not require hospital transport," the release said. "All tenants were able to return to their homes within an hour and a half of YKFD's arrival on scene." It was determined that the fire originated in a window-mounted air conditioning unit. It's not considered suspicious, so the fire marshal won't be conducting a formal investigation.
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
'A devastating blow': Yellowknife man out of options after accessible housing project fails
Social Sharing Brian Carter is packing up 26 years of memories at his Yellowknife home. Carter, who is chair of the N.W.T. Disabilities Council, hoped to move into a long-awaited accessible housing project, until it was put on hold. "It's just very emotional, very tough," Carter said. Carter, his wife and another family member they live with are all disabled. Because of his deteriorating health issues and also a lack of accessible housing for his family, he has to leave the N.W.T., he said. "We had discussed about the possibility of moving into that home. And now I'm forced to make a major move on our own, disabled, with three of us disabled," Carter said. Since 2020, the disabilities council and Housing N.W.T had been working on a 45 to 50-unit apartment housing project in downtown Yellowknife. The goal was to create affordable housing tailored to the diverse needs of people with disabilities. The council had secured funding and a sub-lease on a plot from the territorial government. In February, the territory informed the council they wanted to use the land for another project and proposed other sites. But due to disagreements, the partnership fell apart. 'There's nothing available for them up here' Carter said they had worked on architectural designs and fundraising for the past five years. For him, the project would have meant greater security and stability. "My health is going down. I've got heart problems. I've gotten diabetes. My legs need to be amputated. I had cancer surgery last year that after a long delay, I was running my business while hooked up to a catheter ... yeah, it became very personal to me," Carter said. With the project in limbo, Carter said people with disabilities will continue to struggle with the lack of a housing solution. "People will continue to be transferred to institutions down south because there's nothing available for them up here." Carter said. "It's going to mean they're losing their contact with their communities, people lose their sense of dignity, and you know as disabled people that's a big thing is to be able to live in dignity." In an emailed statement, Housing N.W.T said the council didn't meet the deadlines under their lease agreement. "As milestones in the original lease agreement were not met ... Housing N.W.T. met with the NWTDC and expressed our interest in moving ahead on a more imminent housing project," the statement read. Carter disagrees with this. "We met every milestone ... I asked them to provide the proof of that, provide their letters to us requesting certain milestones." CBC News reached out to Housing N.W.T again, but didn't get a response by deadline. Significant need Charles Dent, the N.W.T. human rights commissioner, calls the situation a setback for people with disabilities, as there's a significant need that is not being met. "It certainly affects people's human rights in the broader scheme of things. If you take a look at the UN Declaration, it's certainly an issue that would show up there." With the project on hold, Dent said this means conditions for people with disabilities in the North won't improve any time soon. Marie-Josée Houle, Canada's federal housing advocate said there is a huge lack of accessible housing for people with disabilities which is "quite amplified for people in Canada's North." "People with disabilities face financial hardship, unsafe housing and the lack of supports and services at a far higher rate," Houle said. "Basically this is unacceptable," she added. Houle said policies should be made around people living with disabilities by keeping them central in discussions. Carter said the collapse of this project is more than just bureaucratic. "It's a devastating blow to people living with disabilities in the Northwest Territories who remain chronically underserved across housing," Carter said. Carter said he feels sad for the people of the North, and that another project like this could take another 10 years.
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Naka Electric suing Naka Power, N.W.T. gov't over similar name
The owner of Naka Electric has asked the N.W.T. Supreme Court to review the territorial government's decision to let Northland Utilities register names like Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) without obtaining consent from him. Naka Electric, a Yellowknife business, filed a lawsuit against Northland Utilities, which rebranded itself last year as Naka Power. The territorial government is also named in the lawsuit. Arguments in the case were presented in the N.W.T. Supreme Court on Wednesday to Justice Shannon Smallwood. According to the company's website, Naka Electric is a contracting business that specializes in electrical work at mines. Owner Karel Pekelsky was represented in court by lawyer Neil Tichkowsky. Tichkowsky argued that the registrar was wrong to decide Naka Power (NWT), Naka Power (Yellowknife) and Naka Power Utilities were different enough from Naka Electric to be registered without permission from Pekelsky, and that the registrar didn't follow reasonable procedures in making this decision. Naka Power argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out and it should be able to continue to use these company names. The arguments Tichkowsky argued that the N.W.T.'s laws around the naming of businesses don't allow companies to use names that are similar enough to those of other businesses to "confuse or mislead" the public — except if they obtain permission from the similarly named business beforehand. He argued that this rebranding from Northland Utilities could indeed confuse or mislead people. A central part of his argument was that the registrar did find the name Naka Power on its own to be close enough to Naka Electric that the company needed Pekelsky's consent to use the name. Pekelsky did not give his consent, and the name Naka Power was never registered. Tichkowsky argued that Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) were not meaningfully different from Naka Power as names, and that because of this Naka Power should have needed Pekelsky's permission to use those names as well. Tichkowsky said his client is asking the court to bar the utility company from registering the name Naka Power (Yellowknife), Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power Utilities — or to require the registrar who approved the names to provide written reasoning as to why the names were not too similar to Naka Electric. Lawyer Christopher Buchanan, who represented Naka Power, argued that the registrar had discretion to decide that those names were meaningfully different from Naka Power, and that this was a reasonable judgment because they look and sound different. He also argued that the similar names Naka Power and Naka Electric would not confuse the public because Naka Power and Naka Electric have very little overlap in the services they offer and customers they serve, and are not in competition. He also argued the names were not confusing because "electric" connotes that a business does electrical work, whereas "power" is often included in the names of utility companies. He asked the court to throw out Pekelsky's lawsuits. He said even if the court decided Pekelsky's lawsuit over the names Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) had merit, the lawsuit over the Naka Power Utilities should be thrown out because the addition of "utilities" makes the name more distinctive.
