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Rules of the game

While in high school, I learned that in all sports there was a pattern or rules that applied to all recreational sports.

Nunavut News columnist Harry Maksagak

In basketball there was no tripping, fighting, and extra rough contact. In boxing, there was no hitting below the belt. In soccer, there was no contact with the referee. And in volleyball, there was no touching the net. Simple rules but there were no exceptions.

In our working world there are sets of rules for everything and anything in the best interest of public safety and considerations. Until we get full water-line installations throughout our community, we can only build two-storey buildings. With the increase of motor vehicles, speed limits and school zone signs must be in view with enforcement. If you own an all-terrain vehicle, quad or side-by-side, you must wear a helmet. Any ATV, whether quad or snowmobile, over 90 cc has to be registered and insured, and I think you see what I’m driving at. There are rules and regulations.

On April 1, 1999, the face of the North changed. An imaginary line was drawn indicating the division between the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Although there is an agreement or arrangement between the two territories, each has its own set of rules and regulations in the governance of these individual jurisdictions. Although there may be a sense of autonomy by both east and west, we still are answerable and ultimately governed by the Government of Canada.

In some, if not all, our communities across Nunavut, we have a 10 p.m. curfew indicating that all children under the age of 16 should be off the streets and at home, but this does not seem to have the intended effect. Perhaps the reason or reasons could be that home is not where the children want to be.

Each community in Nunavut, though unique, has some kind of system that allows for growth and expansion while ensuring a pattern for the safety of the members of the community in mobility and security. As we grow in population and infrastructure, through the assistance of Community and Government Services, we set up our community in various formations. We learn that there are lands available for public and private dwellings, we place commercial enterprises in a specific area and round out with industrial sections. This takes planning and coordination in implementing patterns that help the community identify proper procedures in the development of our hamlets, towns and cities across Nunavut.

If we didn’t have a protocol in the proper legal development codes, then we would have a disorganized dysfunctional community with fragmented growth and uncertainty mixed with instability.