4 March: Hannele Pokka, the Governor of Finland’s Lapland Province, has proposed that Germany could pay compensation for the damage caused during the so-called Lapland War at the end of 1944 and into early 1945, when German troops carried out a scorched earth policy as they retreated northwards and up into Norway. Pokka suggested the reparations could be realised by investments in the province. In an article carried by the newspapers Etelä-Suomen Sanomat and Satakunnan Kansa on Sunday, Pokka said she believed the time was now ripe for discussions between Finnish and German leaders on the subject. German forces burned and laid waste a large amount of the Lapland building stock during their retreat, which was initially supposed to have been a gentlemanly affair, but which turned into a “hot” war. While he was on a visit to Finland last autumn, The German Federal President Johannes Rau offered his apologies for the damage caused in Lapland. Hannele Pokka also hopes to hear an apology from the direction of Russia, because Soviet partisans made numerous very destructive raids on civilian targets in Lapland during the Winter War (1939-40) and Continuation War (1941-44). (Helsingen Sanomat, "Provincial Governor Would Like Discussions on Compensation for Lapland War," 4 March 2002).
Sweden
Current News -from Sweden
Norway
Briefly from Norway - Headline news from the Norway Post and the Norwegian GovernmentIceland
Daily round-up of news from Finnmark, Troms, and Nordland
Daily News from Norway's Aftenposten - in English19 March: For about two decades, people on the Norwegian side of the Pasvik valley have been shaking their fists at the environmental black spot on the Russian side of the valley. Nikkel, a desolate and isolated place, is home to a specialist nickel, palladium and platinum foundry. The Russian authorities have long struggled to raise enough money for a clean-up programme and have now reached an agreement with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB). NIB is providing a $30 million loan. Norway has also pledged NOK 270 million and the Swedish government $3 million. The total cost is expected to be $93.5 million and the clean-up project will start right away, according to NIB. Modernisation of the plant will improve the environment in Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as Russia. NIB also expects the investments to have a positive effect on the whole of the regional economy. (Nordic Council & Council of Ministers, Information Department, 20 March 2002).
7 March: Parliament approved Norway's first petroleum development in the arctic Barents Sea on Thursday [7 March 2002], despite fierce protests from environmental groups. The Snoehvit, which means Snow White, natural gas project is endorsed by the Labor Party, the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Party of Progress, with a total of 128 seats in the 165-member parliament. It passed in a 75-25 vote late Thursday, with the remaining lawmakers absent or abstaining. The total numbers of votes cast reflected party strengths by agreement between blocs, rather than the total number of lawmakers. Snoehvit, which is to provide liquefied natural gas for the US and European markets, is the biggest development project ever proposed for Norway's far north and the first in the waters of the Barents Sea. The roughly 40-billion kroner ($4.5 billion) project would provide badly needed jobs in Finnmark, Norway's northernmost province, thus pitting local business leaders against environmental groups. (AP, 8 March 2002).
5 March: Norwegian Coastal Voyage introduces Expedition Cruises to two Arctic islands -- Greenland and Spitsbergen -- beginning in June. The eight-day cruises on the Brand Polaris and Polar Star feature naturalist guides, lectures and Zodiac landings. (PR Newswire, Cruise Lines International Association, press release, 5 March 2002).
Daily news from IcelandGreenland/Faeroe Islands21 March: Scientists say it’s just a matter of time before the island Kolbeinsey is swallowed by the sea. The island, located 40 nautical miles northwest of the island Grimsey (north Iceland) and known as the northern outpost of Iceland, is now only 90 sq m., compared to its initial measurements in 1616: 700 m. north to south and 100 m. east to west. By 1903, it had shrunk to 300 m. by 60 m. Legend states that 100 years ago, a Portuguese sailor told his crew that he wanted to die on the island. The dutiful crew dropped him off, but two months later he was rescued by a passing ship. Apparently changing his mind, he survived on eggs and birds. The only construction on Kolbeinsey is a helicopter landing pad. (icelandreview.com, 21 March 2002).
21 March: Icelandic stunt actor Valdimar Jóhannsson has just completed filming for the new James Bond film, ‘Die Another Day’, which was shot on location in southeast Iceland. The actor was offered the job by action-unit director Vic Armstrong, who met Jóhannsson on the set of Scorsese’s ‘Gangs of New York’. Jóhannsson plays a typical bad guy who chases Bond on a powerful snowcat. Bond escapes when Jóhannsson gets caught in a parachute rigged between two glaciers. The stunt resulted in Jóhannsson being propelled 2 m. into the air and then plunging back on to the ice. The stuntman said he feels fine after the stunt, but admitted to “seeing stars” when he hit the ice. (icelandreview.com, 21 March 2002).
20 March: A propeller from a B-17 bomber was dug out from the ice on Eyjafjallajökull glacier, south Iceland, last weekend. The propeller was recovered by an Icelandic rescue squad and it took five hours to retrieve from the ice. The plane, known as the Flying Fortress, crashed into the northern portion of the glacier in 1944. The crew of ten spent two days on the glacier before seeking shelter at a nearby farm. (icelandreview.com, 20 March 2002).
15 March: The directors of Norsk Hydro have announced to the Icelandic Government that they will not be able to keep to the agreed schedule in the construction of an aluminium plant in Reydarfjördur, east Iceland. They added that they are not yet ready to make agreements on a new schedule. This means that the construction of the plant will be postponed for an undetermined period of time. The construction of the power plant at Kárahnjúkar was to begin this summer, but if the plans for the aluminium plant are postponed, the power plant will be postponed too. Minister of Industry Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir said in an interview with ‘Morgunbladid’ that she believed Norsk Hydro would stick to their promises. “I trust that they will continue work on the project.” (icelandreview.com, 15 March 2002).
14 March: Foreign Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson said at a meeting in Berlin yesterday that things could be arranged so that Icelanders could accept the fishing policy common to the EEA. He said that it would be possible for Iceland to have separate control over the Icelandic fishing limits, with the quota controlled by Icelandic authorities. Ásgrímsson added that the majority of fish fished near the coast of Iceland stay in Icelandic waters. “We may not have stamped ‘made in Iceland’ on the fish, but I can assure you that this has been proven by marine biologists around the world. This means that our fish is not common property, much like Finnish trees or British oil.” (icelandreview.com, 15 March 2002).
10 March: Several houses in the town of Vík, south Iceland, were evacuated yesterday [10 March] due to avalanches. Yesterday morning, two avalanches fell on nearby farms, but luckily no one was hurt. Two jeeps and a truck were swept away with the snow. There has been unusually heavy snowfall in the area in recent days and a dangerous build-up of snow in the cliffs above the town. People have been warned to stay out of the area for the time being. (Iceland Review Online, 11 March 2002).
7 March: Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson issued the first Halldór Laxness commemorative coin and letter set to Laxness’ widow, Audur Laxness.... The letter was issued in limited numbers 2000 in total by the Icelandic Postal Service in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize winning author’s birth. The postal service also issued commemorative stamps featuring a portrait of Iceland’s most celebrated author. The author of ‘Independent People’ and numerous other novels and short stories was born 23 April, 1902. This marks the second time the postal service has issued a commemorative coin and letter set. The first was in 2000 to celebrate the millennium of Leifur Eiríksson’s discovery of America. (Iceland Review Online, 8 March 2002).
6 March: [Editorial]You ever see a convertible Jaguar drive on a frozen lagoon? Yesterday, I witnessed an Aston Martin being chased by a Jaguar on ice as bullets fired and explosions boomed. Sounds like a James Bond film. Well, that’s exactly what it was. The Bond crew has come to Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon in southeast Iceland, to film a massive car chase and yesterday I hung out on the frozen set dressed in an orange survival suit required for anyone going on to the ice. You know, just in case with crampons attached to my boots and a thick jacket. One might think sightseeing on a Bond set would be the most exciting part of my day. Wrong. The four-hour drive back to Reykjavík was a heart-pumping experience and I felt as if I was in a Bond film. The weather was wicked. For an hour we travelled along an icy road towards the blackest clouds ever. It was as if we were driving towards the end of the world. Once we entered the blackness, brutal winds drifted snow everywhere, nearly whiting us out at times. As a passenger, all I could do was buckle myself tightly down and think happy thoughts. Then, we ran out of gas! Thank goodness for cellphones. Fortunately, after a new tank of gas and a quick meal, the weather began to break. And the day turned out okay. Nobody slipped through the ice. And our car wasn’t blown off the road. (EW, Iceland Review Online, 6 March 2002)
Greenland stories from the Copenhagen Post8 March: Citation Resources Inc. and its joint venture partners BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc and Cantex Mine Development Corp. ( "JV Partners" ) drilled the 20m wide Paternoster Dyke in west Greenland at two sites and submitted the core samples for micro - diamond tests to C.F. Minerals Research Ltd. The results of this testing have proved to be negative. Micro-diamonds have been found in the area and the company plans to continue exploration in 2002. (stockhouse.com, 8 March 2002).
8 March: Scientists seem to have found sign of a new group of islands in the Greenland Sea east of Tobias Island, which was recently discovered. The area has been mapped out with great accuracy using radar images from the European Space Agency, ESA. (Polar Science News, 8 March 2002).
1 March: The largest company on Greenland, Royal Greenland A/S, has just announced a record loss of DKK 282 million for 2001. The company has a turnover of approx. DKK 3.5 billion and has already accumulated losses of DKK 2.2 billion. Last year's losses also included a decision by Royal Greenland to write off a number of loss-making activities in a single year rather than over a longer period. The company, which is owned by the Greenland government, also made major changes to the board of directors. The chairman, Danish ex-minister of foreign affairs Uffe Ellemann-Jensen and two other ex-ministers from Denmark were asked to leave their posts by the Greenland government. They have instead been replaced by heads of directorates in the Greenland administration, something which business analysts see as an attempt to tie the company more closely to the political decision makers. Royal Greenland has for years had problems operating on ordinary business lines because the owners imposed social functions upon the company, a practise the dismissed board members tried to stop. (-csl, Nordic Council of Ministers, News, 1 March 2002).
Russia/Siberia/Far East
Vladisvostok News
Radio Free Europe30-31 March: The mass media and public of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) celebrated 85 years of existence of the respected newspaper Yakutia. (YASIA, 1 April 2002).
29 March: Central Election Commission Chairman Aleksandr Veshnyakov said on 29 March that the full absorption of Taimyr and Evenk autonomous okrugs into Krasnoyarsk Krai is possible, but only with "support of the people," according to polit.ru (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 March 2002). However, the next day, Federation Council First Deputy Chairman Valerii Goreglyad said he does not think the practice of enlarging regions will be realized in the short term, Interfax reported. Goreglyad continued that, "For the last 10 years Russia did not build real federalism. The main problem in my view is that Russia tried to use a Western model of federalism, applying it to a Leninist national model." The same day, Leonid Roketskii, representative for Taimyr's legislature in the Federation Council, told the agency that the legislature does not support the "populist" idea of merging the okrug with Krasnoyarsk Krai. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 61, Part I, 2 April 2002).
28 March: Taimyr Autonomous Okrug Governor Aleksandr Khloponin issues a press release saying the krai leadership needs to coordinate its action regarding the initiative to join the three regions with the leadership of the two autonomous okrugs, Interfax reported. Khloponin said he "didn't understand the activities of the Krasnoyarsk Krai governor, who gave an order to prepare a proposal joining the three regions to his krai administration's council, and then only after that informed the leadership of Taimyr and Evenk." Khloponin added that the merger procedure will be "long, complex, and costly." His statement continued, "Elections will have to be held for all branches of power, regional laws will have to be brought into conformity, as well as federal territorial organs of power... The most important step will be conducting a referendum in the krai and [two] autonomous okrugs." (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 60, Part I, 29 March 2002).
28 March: Legislators in Krasnoyarsk Krai voted to support an initiative of the krai's governor, Aleksandr Lebed, to fully absorb neighboring Evenk and Taimyr autonomous okrugs, Ekho Moskvy reported (see RFE/RL Russian Federation Report, 27 March 2002). Lebed told reporters in Krasnoyarsk that the idea for the merger came from President Putin during his visit there on 21 March. Lebed told Krasnoyarsk State Television that the governors for Evenk and Taimyr will hold onto their current powers until the end of their terms. The station also noted that Taimyr and Evenk are listed in the constitution as separate federation subjects, and therefore the constitution will have to be altered. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 60, Part I, 29 March 2002).
27 March: Yakutia has made one more considerable step in development of telecommunications. As "Sakhatelekom" SE has informed, since this day Yakuts one of the first in Russia can use services of multi-service communication. It has become possible after putting into operation recently of a new unit at the Yakut STS. Technologically the multi-service system forms with use of optic cables enveloping the downtown, and does not requires laying of new cable lines. Sakhatelekom SE funds the construction, Alkatel JSC and MPO Klassika JSC are suppliers of the equipment. The multi-service system allows to the subscriber to use telephone, to fax and to obtain access to the Internet. For all this it is enough to have a special modem, connection up is through usual telephone wire. The maximum data speed transmission reaches 8 Mb\s. Besides the system gives mass additional capabilities: use of IP-telephony, video-conference, translation of radio stations and TV channels broadcasting in the Internet, video on inquiry (games in a mode "on-line", watching of video films). The new services are intended for different users. (YASIA, 27 March 2002).
26 March: The commission for federal reforms headed by Dmitrii Kozak will make proposals by 1 June for improving the status of autonomous okrugs, Kozak announced in an interview published in Trud. He added, "If decisive action is taken, without bureaucratic delays, then priority legislation can be introduced to the parliament before the end of the year." Kozak's commission has also been occupied with power-sharing agreements between the federal center and regions. "Today, of the 42 such agreements, 28 have effectively been annulled," according to Kozak. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 58, Part I, 27 March 2002).
26 March: The Sakha Republic Commission on Emergencies has begun hearing from the heads of the regional administrations about preparations for flooding. On March 22 the chiefs of 9 regions – Vilyuisky, Verkhnevilyuisky, Verkhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky, Nyurbinsky, Suntarsky, Ust-Maisky and Tomponsky - reported about work already undertaken. Their reports were generally positive. There are, however, some old and much more serious problems raised, and their solutions will require much greater efforts and require significant funding. In particular, there is real danger being caused by fast erosion of the bank of the Kolyma River in the settlement of Zyryanka. The head of the region administration Aleksandr Ageev showed photographs. For the past several years, the situation in Zyryanka has changed radically. Engineering protection is needed urgently. By April 1, a commission will be formed to determine solutions to two problems: first, passing of floodwater, and second, construction of protective structures. The heads of Srednekolymsky and Verkhnevilyuisky regions have asked to help with construction of protective dams. But the construction of these dams was only discussed; the Olyokma dams should be ready in the next few days. However a paradoxical situation is developing there. The designers wait for means, and have not yet started preparing working drawings. And the contractors have not yet found time to conclude agreements on blasting, counting on natural thawing of tens thousand cubic metres of soil at temperatures below zero(!). The means were been sent to the region this past Monday, but for some reason the addressees have not yet received them. The chairman of the commission, Vasily Grabtsevich, has demanded explanations from the leadership of the region. He has declared necessity of rigid accounting and control of expenditure of funds allocated for flood-prevention measures. (YASIA, 26 March 2002).
26 March: Yukos purchased 88 per cent of the Arctic Gas Company. Benton Oil and Gas Company sold its entire interest in the Company (a 68 per cent share) to Yukos for $190 million, and the rest of the 20 per sent were bought from other stockholders. This deal has received the requisite consents from the Russian Ministry for Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship. According to its press service, Benton expects that all aspects of the transaction will be completed within three weeks. The Arctic Gas Company's stock purchase will allow Yukos to increase its production volume and reach 15bn cubic meters of gas per year by 2005, Yukos press service reports. Arctic Gas Company owns licenses for exploring and development of the Samburg, Neponyatnoye, Severo-Yesetinskoye, Urengoiskoye, Vostochno-Urengoiskoye and Evo-Yakha fields. Currently 12 per cent of Arctic Gas is owned by Gazprom. (RosBusinessConsulting, 26 March 2002).
26 March: Pink and yellow snow that fell over Kamchatka Peninsula on 22-23 March is not hazardous to human health, Vladimir Chebotarev, head of the local meteorological center, announced on 25 March, citing lab results, ITAR-TASS reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 March 2002). Specialists believe that a storm from Sakhalin Island picked up small dust particles from China via the Sea of Japan and the Okhotsk Sea. Chebotarev added that local meteorologists have not seen precipitation sprinkled with foreign matter in the last 100 years, according to Interfax-Eurasia. Kamchatka residents are more accustomed to snow mixed with volcanic ash, he confided. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 57, Part I, 26 March 2002).
26 March: Twenty Greenpeace activists from Germany, Austria, and Russia chained themselves to the gates of the Solombalskii saw mill/wood processing plant in Arkhangelsk Oblast, RFE/RL's Arkhangelsk correspondent reported on 25 March. Greenpeace Russia spokesperson Yelena Surovikina said the factory was targeted because its representatives refuse to discuss measures to protect Russia's surviving forests in the Far North. The protest action did not stop the plant's work, since only one entrance was blocked. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 57, Part I, 26 March 2002).
25 March: Vremya novostei reported that President Putin sent a clear message to authorities in Taimyr Autonomous Okrug that Moscow will not tolerate "an administrative, much less territorial revision of the country." Top officials in Taimyr have been asking that the economic administration of the city of Norilsk, which is located within its borders, be transferred from Krasnoyarsk Krai to Taimyr (see "RFE/RL Russian Federation Report," 20 March 2002). Putin reportedly said that once started, the process of revising budget powers would never end. At the same time, the daily said Putin called on Krasnoyarsk Krai Governor Aleksandr Lebed to try to make the region less dependent on Norilsk by improving tax collections from other large enterprises in the region. Lebed's supporters interpreted that call to mean that the oblast administration can toughen financial controls on a number of large local companies such as Russian Aluminum and Yukos. The daily concluded that Lebed and Taimyr Governor and former Norilsk Nickel head Aleksandr Khloponin will now likely sign an agreement on sharing tax revenue from Norilsk Nickel. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 58, Part I, 27 March 2002).
24 March: The Academician Alexander Karpinsky research vessel of Russia is on way back from Antarctica to St. Petersburg. The voyage began in late fall 2001, director of the polar sea geological survey team Vladimir Kryukov has told Itar-Tass. The team is studying the sea shelf of the Arctic region and Antarctica. (ITAR-TASS, 24 March 2002).
24 March: Vladimir Aseyev won 70 percent of the vote in a by-election for a State Duma seat in the Khanty-Mansii Autonomous Okrug, ITAR-TASS reported. "We have processed information from 80 percent of the polling stations. Another two candidates got 1-2 percent of the votes each. Some 25 percent voted against all candidates," local electoral commission deputy head Aleksandr Sukhovershi told ITAR-TASS. Aseyev, 50, will represent the oil-producing area of Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk. He has previously served as deputy head of the Khanty-Mansii regional government. (BW, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 56, Part I, 25 March 2002).
24 March: By-elections to be held in single-mandate district in Khanty- Mansii Autonomous Okrug for State Duma seat vacated by Aleksandr Ryazanov, who went to work for Gazprom (RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly, Vol. 2, No. 8, 13 March 2002).
21 March: Legislation is being prepared in Russia's Federal Assembly that would create an association of two-four regions in central Russia, Interfax reported, citing unidentified sources in Yaroslavl Oblast. The legislation is based on a proposal of Yaroslavl Oblast Governor Anatolii Lisitsyn to create such a group based on the principle of "strong plus the weak." Lisitsyn said the idea is to assist economically weak regions in the central district. The governor does not believe his idea should be extended to the very large territories in Siberia or the Far East or to the ethnic republics. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 55, Part I, 22 March 2002).
21 March: Russia's President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Arctic city of Norilsk as part of his working trip to the Krasnoyarsk territory. He is expected to visit the ore deposits of the Norilsk industrial park at the town of Taknakh. Putin is touring the Krasnoyarsk territory at the invitation of its governor, General Alexander Lebed. He will go to the territorial capital city of Krasnoyarsk next to attend a conference on the social and economic problems of this vitally important region of Russia. (ITAR-TASS, 21 March 2002)
21 March: President Putin visited the city of Norilsk and toured the Oktyabrskii mine, and afterward flew to Krasnoyarsk, Izvestiya reported. Officially, the purpose of the trip was to discuss social and economic problems in Krasnoyarsk Krai, but according to the daily and the pro-Kremlin website, strana.ru, a likely additional topic is the desire of Norilsk authorities to have their tax revenues flow to the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug rather than to the krai (see "RFE/RL Russian Federation Report," 15 and 20 March 2002). The company's taxes provide about 70 percent of Krasnoyarsk Krai's revenues, but the plant has been increasingly diverting its taxes to the Taimyr region since its chief, Alexander Khloponin, was elected the region's governor last year, ITAR-TASS reported. (JAC/RC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 55, Part I, 22 March 2002)
21 March: Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a two-day working trip to the Krasnoyarsk Territory on Thursday, the presidential press-service has said. Putin will visit Talnakh - the ore base of the Norilsk industrial region - and attend a conference on the social and economic problems of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This region of Russia has major oil, natural gas, non- ferrous metals and iron ore deposits. Non-ferrous metallurgy is the core industry in the Norilsk industrial region. The Talnakh ore base consists of seven mining enterprises, including the Oktyabrsky mine, the biggest in Russia's Arctic. (Mikhail Petrov, "Putin Begins Working Trip to Krasnoyarsk Territory," ITAR-TASS, 21 March 2002).
20 March: On the eve of legislative elections in Murmansk Oblast, the entire print run of the opposition newspaper "Nord Vest Kurer" has been seized, RFE/RL's Russian service reported on 20 March. The newspaper contained a story accusing one candidate, Sergei Gabrielyan, of corruption and illegal campaign practices. This is the second seizure that the newspaper has experienced. According to pravda.ru, Gabrielyan is suspected of buying votes for 200 rubles ($6.41) each. Renata Karchaa, the newspaper's editor in chief, told the website that authorities do not object so much to the fact that the newspaper reported about the unscrupulousness of one of the candidates, but the way in which this was done. "Our newspaper tries to analyze what is happening in the oblast," and this is what the authorities don't like, she said. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 55, Part I, 22 March 2002)
19 March: For the gas workers of the republic 1999 is a significant year: the investment project of construction of the third line of gas-main Kysyl-Syr-Mastakh-Berge-Yakutsk is included in the RF budget, the general director of "Yakutgazprom" Igor Kornev has told the correspondent of YASIA. In 2001 they have constructed a pipe-line at a length of 41.5 km. Even this small additional gas main has given appreciable economic effect in the current heating season. In 2002, up to the flood season, it is planned to put into operation 57 km. The pipeline will cross the Lena River on its bed in the territory of the villages of Pavlovsk-Khatassy. We have sufficient experience of laying of gas pipe-lines by the bed of the Vilyui River, which is 1200 metres wide, and here more than 1000 m. Our experts will fulfill this task. Gasification completely will change living conditions of villagers, the boiler-houses and diesel power stations will work on gas, the whole social appearance of a village will be changed. At one time Yakutsk had glass-works. The arrival of the third line will allow to revive production of glass, and to suspend delivery of this expensive building material from the far districts of Russia, and even from abroad. In Yakutsk it is time to organize a small blast-furnace production, and to suspend transportation of scrap metal from the Far North to the central districts of the country. (YASIA, 19 March 2002).
18 March: The presidential envoy to the Siberian federal district, Leonid Drachevskii, has accused the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade of not having fulfilled an order by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to develop a strategy for the development of Siberia through 2020, Interfax-Eurasia reported on 18 March. Drachevskii's office and Siberian-based academics worked out the program at President Putin's request (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 March 2002). Drachevskii has sent a telegram of complaint to Kasyanov, according to the agency. Drachevskii added that he is hoping that the differences between the authors of the original strategy and the ministry can be worked out during a government session. (JAC, RFE/RL Russian Federation Report, Vol. 4, No. 10, 20 March 2002).
18-25 March: On March 13 the Sakha Republic minister of business, development of tourism and employment Anatoly Skrybykin, his deputy Ruslan Vasilyev and the director of scientific technological depot of the Yakut State University Aleksandr Myarin gave a press-conference for journalists about advertising and presentation, with elements of rally, motor tour "Pole of Cold" to be held on March 18-25, 2002. The minister noted that it is a unique project, the realization of which does not require major capital investments and forming of the infrastructure, that this kind of motor tour will become a primary stage of development of tourism. We offer them to drive in motor vehicles UAZ by the route Yakutsk-Tomtor more than 1170 km through whole central Yakutia, to overcome mountains, to reach Oimyakon, to be photographed near the monument "Pole of Cold –71.2 C", and to take "Certificate on visitation of the Pole of Cold". The tourists should have driving licences, sleeping bags, sunglasses and equipment allowing to stand frost 40 degrees below zero. More than 40 state enterprises, joint-stock companies, joint ventures, companies and banks of our republic will advertise their goods and services on the tour. For this reason it is called advertising and presentation. The tour is 8 days. From Yakutsk a convoy of 10 motor vehicles (crew - two persons each) will leave, the experienced driver and guide-translator is given to each crew. The motor tourists will participate in competitions in Yakutsk in figure driving, in Tompo in climbing a hill, and will drive in a mode of rally three portions of the route. In Yakutsk they will visit museums, in Sottintsy –"Druzhba" museum, in Churapcha – the museum of sports and ethnographic museum, in Khandyga – GULAG museum, in Tomtor will participate in a holiday "Day of deer-breeder". (YASIA, 15 March 2002).
15 March: In Sakha (Yakutia), President Vyacheslav Shtyrov issued a decree on creating a republican constitutional commission, Interfax-Eurasia reported on 15 March. Shtyrov will head the commission himself, while other members will be the republic's vice president, the speaker of the legislature, the chairmen of the republican Supreme and Constitutional Courts, and the republican prosecutor. Commission members will prepare changes and amendments to the republic's basic law primarily regarding the structure of the republic's parliament and organs of local self-rule. The amendments will be adopted during the parliament's summer session. Earlier, Shtyrov dismissed a suggestion by the republic's prosecutor that the local parliament be disbanded because it had not harmonized local laws with federal ones (see RFE/RLRussian Federation Report, 15 March 2002). (JAC, RFE/RLRussian Federation Report Vol. 4, No. 10, 20 March 2002).
15 March: In USA recently there has been published "Guidebook to district of BAM", where the writer, American traveller and writer, Nicolas Zvegintsov tells about tourist routes enveloping railway, highways of Siberia, Kolyma motor way and basin of the Lena river. The book is addressed to the readers of the West, has about 400 pages, is supplied with maps, color photos, index of geographical names, bibliography and practical advice. The considerable section in it is dedicated to the northern republic. These days N. Zvegintsov is in Yakutia, and it is his fourth visit. He is going to publish detailed aids under conventional title "Diary of travelling" for foreigners, who is going to travel by Yakutia. "Americans are poor informed about Yakutia, and do not know at all, where it is situated, - N.Zvegintsov tells, - consider, that is it uncomfortable place with wooden houses and yurta, meanwhile it spread all over huge spaces, and is very beautiful". The books of the American writer will help to his compatriots more and closer to learn about Yakutia. Nicolas Zvegintsev - the inhabitant of New York, has been born in England, in USA lives about 40 years. Russian surname is transmitted from his father, in childhood during the revolution he has migrated together with his mother in England. (YASIA, 15 March 2002).
15 March: The National Art Museum of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) will continue its trilogy "XX century in Pictures and Items" with the opening of its new "Wind of Changes" exhibition. The second part, as did the first one, celebrates the 60-year jubilee of Yakutia Artists Union and it introduces fine art of the 1960 and 1970s. (YASIA, 6 March 2002).
15 March: Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Lebed claimed here on Friday that a public opinion poll, held in the city of Norilsk on a status of that city, situated within the Arctic Circle, runs counter to the Russian Constitution. Norilsk citizens were suggested to reply to the following question" to they agree that only laws of the municipal entity "City of Norilsk", situated in the Taimyr Autonomous Area, should operate in the town? Out of 106,000 citizens, over 99 percent of the polled replied in the affirmative to this question. A special session f the city council immediately approved the poll results. But, in the opinion of the territorial governor, the operation in a separate municipal entity of its "own" legislation runs counter both to federal laws and the Charter of the Krasnoyarsk Territory which also includes the Taimyr Autonomous Area. The operation of legislation in a subject of the Russian Federation is determined only at the federal rather than at local or territorial levels Lebed emphasized. (ITAR-TASS, 15 March 2002).
14 March: President Putin issued an order on 14 March naming the new members of the State Council, Russian agencies reported. They include: Chita Oblast Governor Ravil Geniatulin, Astrakhan Oblast head Anatolii Guzhvin, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor Yurii Neelov, Novgorod Governor Mikhail Prusak, Orel Oblast Governor Yegor Stroev, Samara Oblast Governor Konstantin Titov, and Sakhalin Oblast Governor Igor Farkhutdinov. The governors, each of whom represents the federal district in which their region is located, will serve a term of six months. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 50, Part I, 15 March 2002).
14 March: In Kamchatka Oblast, Kamchatskenergo cut off electricity supplies to the oblast's raions and television broadcasting center, so residents are again deprived of radio or television, Interfax reported. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 50, Part I, 15 March 2002).
13 March: The U.S.-based NGO Winrock International has started a new project called "Preventing the Trade of Women in the Far East and Siberia," nns.ru reported on 13 March, citing the Khabarovsk-based "Tikhookeanskaya zvezda." According to the newspaper, the group has received a grant of $15,000 to study the problem. The publication noted that local "law enforcement agencies have [already] been studying the problem for some time"; however, "perhaps it is not bad that now the problem has interested the Americans." According to Winrock International's website, "the 2 1/2 year project will combine research, training, and volunteer technical assistance with a grant program for Russian NGOs." It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 49, Part I, 14 March 2002).
12 March: Meanwhile, Veshnyakov confirmed on 12 March that the State Duma elections will be held on 21 December 2003 and presidential elections will be held on 7 March 2004, as is stipulated by Russian law, according to Interfax. He also repeated his opposition to holding the two elections on the same date (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 March 2002). (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 48, Part I, 13 March 2002).
12 March: The president of Russia's Union of Reindeer Breeders said the number of reindeer born in Russia has decreased to its lowest level in nearly a century, and has called on the government to reverse the "tragic" trend. "Never since 1906 has the reindeer number dropped to such a low level, about 1.5 million head," Dmitrii Khorol said, ITAR-TASS reported on 12 March. Khorol made his comments at a reindeer breeders congress that opened in Salekhard in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug the same day. Delegates of the congress said reindeer breeding cannot improve without state support. They called on President Putin to address the issue. (BW, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 47, Part I, 12 March 2002).
12 March: A Russian helicopter carrying 20 people crashed Tuesday on the Far East peninsula of Kamchatka, emergency officials said. News reports said five people were injured. Soon after takeoff from the airport at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the Mi-8 of Khalaktyrka airlines lunged to one side and plunged to the ground, Emergencies Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said. He said no one was killed but had no information about injuries. The ITAR-Tass news agency, citing local rescue officials, said five people were injured and hospitalized. The report gave no details of the injuries. The helicopter had been heading for Severo-Kurilsk on the nearby Kuril Islands, and had been carrying 17 passengers and three crew members, Beltsov said. The reason for the crash was being investigated. Helicopters are a key mode of transport on rugged, forested Kamchatka, located north of Japan about 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) east of Moscow. (AP, via The Russia Journal, 12 March 2002).
11 March: A methane leak in an aging Siberian coal mine suffocated four workers and injured two early Monday, and all activity at the mine was suspended, emergency officials said. A total of 198 workers were in the Koksovaya mine in the Kemerovo region at the time of the pre-dawn accident, Boris Plonsky, spokesman for the regional technical oversight committee, said. Rescuers evacuated them and the mine was temporarily shut down. One of the injured was in serious condition in a nearby hospital while the other's injuries were slight, Plonsky said. The reason for the undetected rush of methane was being investigated. The mine, about 3,000 kilometers (1,850 miles) east of Moscow, opened during World War II, and supplies Siberian steel plants with 500,000 tons of coal a year, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Russian coal mines have suffered frequent accidents in recent years, often involving ignition of methane leaking from coal faces. (AP via The Russia Journal, 11 March 2002).
9 March: Russian officials have decided to build a nuclear waste dump on an Arctic Ocean island off Russia’s northern Archangelsk region. The decision was made at a meeting of the Russian state ecological service, grouping local officials, representatives from defense enterprises, ecological organizations and the ministry of atomic energy, the Interfax news agency reported. The burial site, on the grounds of a former nuclear weapons test range on Novaya Zemlya, meets all the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the participants concluded. Moreover, "the subsurface at Novaya Zemlya is perfect for long-term storage of radioactive wastes, as permafrost makes it impossible for water to leak into the storage facility," a statement quoted by the news agency said. According to Agence France Presse, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, adopted several amendments to the environment protection law last June. These allow Russia to import up to 20,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel and store nuclear waste and by-products on a "temporary" basis. The dump could earn Russia some 21 billion dollars over the next 10 years, according to official estimates. According to a poll taken last summer, some 62 per cent of Russians are against importing nuclear waste. (Nunatsiaq News, 9 March 2002).
9 March: Russian officials have decided to build a nuclear waste dump on an Arctic Ocean island off Russia’s northern Archangelsk region. The decision was made at a meeting of the Russian state ecological service, grouping local officials, representatives from defense enterprises, ecological organizations and the ministry of atomic energy, the Interfax news agency reported. The burial site, on the grounds of a former nuclear weapons test range on Novaya Zemlya, meets all the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the participants concluded. Moreover, "the subsurface at Novaya Zemlya is perfect for long-term storage of radioactive wastes, as permafrost makes it impossible for water to leak into the storage facility," a statement quoted by the news agency said. According to Agence France Presse, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, adopted several amendments to the environment protection law last June. These allow Russia to import up to 20,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel and store nuclear waste and by-products on a "temporary" basis. The dump could earn Russia some 21 billion dollars over the next 10 years, according to official estimates. According to a poll taken last summer, some 62 per cent of Russians are against importing nuclear waste. (Nunatsiaq News, 9 March 2002).
7 March: In an interview with "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 7 March, Aleksandr Nazarov, chairman of the Federation Council's Committee on Issues of the North, declared that liquidating all of the autonomous okrugs would trigger a "political collision," and that the status of autonomous okrugs needs to be "examined within the parameters of the federal constitution." He said that the autonomous okrugs need to find a way to preserve their languages and their cultures, but at the same time they must build up their economic relations. "Of course, to preserve the [ethnic] minorities, the autonomous [okrugs] should exist. But at the same time, the form of their existence should not cause damage to the federation," he concluded. (JAC, RFE/RL Russian Federation Report Vol. 4, No. 9, 15 March 2002).
7 March: At a press conference in Yakutsk, the speaker of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic's upper house, Vasilii Filippov, acknowledged that he and his colleague have not gotten rid of all the inconsistencies between the republican constitution and the federal constitution, Interfax reported. In particular, deputies did not agree to exclude the requirement that speakers of both chambers in the republican legislature must have mastery of both the Yakut and Russian languages. However, President Vyacheslav Shtyrov declared on 7 March that the republican legislators have removed "practically all" of the conflicts between the republican constitution and its federal counterpart, and he thinks that the republican prosecutor's recommendation that the parliament be dissolved would be "politically inappropriate" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 March 2002). (JAC, RFE/RL Russian Federation Report Vol. 4, No. 9, 15 March 2002).
6 March: According to Obshchaya gazeta, No. 9, a draft program laying out a strategy of development for Siberia, if approved, would give presidential envoy to the Siberian federal district Leonid Drachevskii "real power based on economic levers." According to the weekly, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref and Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin both oppose the program, which Drachevskii's office drafted. In addition, Drachevskii has reportedly appealed to President Putin for his approval. The program would introduce tariff privileges for Siberian enterprises to compensate them for their higher transportation and energy costs. In addition, revenues from the tax on the extraction of natural resources would be used to boost the competitiveness of the Siberian economy. Drachevskii argues that such measures are needed to prevent the region, whose population is already dwindling, from sliding backward in terms of economic development. The weekly noted that the cabinet's lack of support for Drachevskii's program could be seen as a direct challenge to President Putin, who ordered that a special economic program for Siberia be created. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 43, Part I, 6 March 2002).
5 March: Legislators in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic approved a bill on 4 March amending and changing 11 articles of the republican constitution -- a measure designed to bring the latter document into compliance with the federal constitution, Interfax-Eurasia reported. Legislators repealed the stipulation banning the storage of spent nuclear fuel or the placement of any weapons of mass destruction on the republic's territory. Sakha legislators had resisted making the changes in the constitution for some months last year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 January 2001). However, the republic's prosecutor, Nikolai Polyatinskii, was not pleased with their effort and said he is going to recommend that Sakha President Vyacheslav Shtyrov seek to dissolve the legislature. According to Interfax-Eurasia, he said that five laws making changes and amendments to the constitution adopted during 2001-2002 introduced new violations of the federal constitution. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 42, Part I, 5 March 2002).
4 March: The Russian Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office has eventually acknowledged the right of the relatives of the dead crewmen of the Kursk to sue the state for compensation for moral damages. In judicial terms the families of the Kursk sailors are now officially recognised as “the aggrieved party”. As soon as the criminal investigation into the tragedy is completed, they will be able to file suits to the courts. (Viktoria Malyutina, "Kursk Relatives Granted Right to Sue State," gazeta.ru, 4 March 2002).
4 March: A reactor at a nuclear power plant in the Russian Arctic was shut down for planned repairs, officials said Monday. Reactor No. 1 at the Kolskaya nuclear power plant was shut down on Saturday, the state-run nuclear energy company Rosenergoatom said. Radiation levels are normal and three other reactors at the plant are working, the company said. Russia's nuclear reactors were designed in the Soviet era and many are in need of repair, prompting frequent minor malfunctions. The Soviet Union was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 at Chernobyl. (AP, 4 March 2002).
2 March: The head of the Karelia Republic, Sergei Katanandov, told Interfax-Northwest on 2 March that he intends to seek a second term in office in elections scheduled for 28 April. State Duma deputy (Union of Rightist Forces) Artur Myaki also intends to run, according to the agency. The Karelian branch of Unified Russia announced on 1 March that it will support Katanandov in the elections. (JAC, RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 41, Part I, 4 March 2002).
1 March: The exhibitions dedicated to the 60-th anniversary of the Union of Artists of Yakutia will be opened on March 1 at three show-rooms simultaneously- “Simekh” of the A. E. Kulakovsky Cultural Centre, at the building of KomDragMet (committee of precious metals) and “Urgel” gallery. The Union of Artists of Yakutia has been founded on January 24, 1941, when the USSR Moscow organizing committee of agriculture has confirmed its status as an independent creative organization. At that time it has had only ten members and three candidates. Now there are 100 members, who work in such traditional kinds of art as painting, graphics, sculpture, and arts and crafts. Though there are young artists working in another genres, such as art textile, interior and equipment design and fashion design. The works of artists and sculptors created, mainly, for the last five years, would be presented at the galleries of Yakutsk. Since this year has been announced as an year of A. E. Kulakovsky in the exhibits of KomDragMet building the central place will be alloted art works connected with the name of Eksekyulyakh. (YASIA, 1 March 2002).
1 March: On March 1 the Supervisory Council of "ALROSA" is held, at which the new president of the company is elected. The head of the diamond giant has become Vladimir Kalitin, earlier for almost six years taken the post of the chief engineer of "ALROSA". His candidature, presented by the President of Yakutia Vyacheslav Shtyrov, has been sole, and has received support both republican, and federal shareholders of the company. (YASIA, 4 March 2002).
1 March: The ceremonial opening of the VI traditional yearly competitions of deer breeders is taking place on the 1st of March. Organizers of competitions are: the town hall of the town Nadym and the district and the enterprise "Nadymgazprom". Organizers tried to make sportive and cultural program of the competitions especially interesting, after all these competitions are dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the town and the town-forming enterprise. Different kinds of national sports, such as throwing the tynzyan on khorey (the rope-lasso for catching deer on the pole for deer-team racing), national wrestling, triple national jumping, jumps over sledges, deer-teams racing and others, are traditionally included into the program of the holiday. Also the contest of national clothes took place. 8 teams of several state farms and communities of the Area arrived to take part in the competition. The plenipotentiary of the president in Ural Federal Area Pyotr Latyshev, representatives of Gazprom, the Association "Deer breeders of the world", the Union of deer breeders of Russia, the Board of agricultural economy of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area were invited to the holiday. It is supposed that on the 2nd of March leaders of Russian regions, which are in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area by the invitation of the joint-stock company "Gazprom", will take part in the celebrating the Day of deer breeders. Beside this, it is planned that they will make a flight on the helicopter around gas deposits of the oldest extractive field of Nadym district - Medvezhye, will meet with representatives of the administration of the municipal formation and leadership of the society with limited responsibility "Nadymgazprom", and also the guests will be invited to the most interesting part of the competition - deer teams racing. (yamal.org, 1 March 2002).
Nunavut
CBC NorthLabrador
In-depth on Nunavut -CBC
Nunatsiaq News Iqaluit, NU
Newspapers in Nunavut25 March: Nasittuq Corporation, a joint venture corporation owned by ATCO Frontec Corp. and Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics Corporation, (PAIL) announced it has been awarded a renewal contract for up to 10 years to operate and maintain Canada's North Warning System. The Government of Canada contract, effective December 1, 2001 is for an initial five-year fixed term valued at nearly $300 million. The contract also has two option periods of three and two years respectively, valued at approximately $306 million. The landmark agreement includes an enhanced aboriginal career development training program geared to more than doubling the number of Inuit employees. The North Warning System contract, originally awarded in 1988 to ATCO Frontec, and further renewed in 1994 to ATCO Frontec and PAIL, includes the management, operation and maintenance of 47 radar sites and five logistics support sites across Canada's North. Also included are a system support centre and a system control centre in North Bay, Ontario as well as a Contract Management Office in Ottawa, Ontario. The enhanced training program is designed to benefit the Inuit from Labrador, Nunavik, Nunavut and the Inuvialuit Settlement Regions. The innovative program features a development/ apprenticeship focus that will provide skills and formal credentials to aboriginal people enabling them to participate more fully in the economic development of their respective communities. "Our ultimate goal is to have 50 percent of the 225 positions filled by Inuit employees," said Ivan Wawryk, President of Nasittuq Corporation. "Additionally, this contract renewal offers increased economic potential to the Inuit and their communities." An existing training program has 83 graduates, many of whom currently work in the North Warning System workforce in a variety of technical, engineering and administrative support positions. (Market News Publishing, 25 March 2002).
15 March: The first ever Nunavut appointments to the Canadian Polar Commission (CPC) Board of Directors through Order in Council and are effective immediately. Newly appointed to the CPC Board of Directors is Leah Aksaajuq Otak. Ms. Otak has been the director of Culture and Heritage for the Government of Nunavut since 1999 and spent nine years as operation manager for the Igloolik Research Centre (Nunavut Research Institute). Gordon Miles of Iqaluit, Nunavut has also been appointed as a Director. Mr. Miles is the Manager of Business Services for the Kakivak Association in Iqaluit and has experience managing grants and loans programs for Inuit small business. (Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, press release 2-02123, 15 March 2002).
5 March: Elder Inuapik Sagiaktok makes her way around the tables of country food, nibbling on some caribou meat, pieces of arctic char and fresh bannock before digging in to the platter of seaweed. Around her, there’s a mix of smells, from fish to fermented walrus meat, and an array of country foods on just about every table in the room. It’s a feast fit for an elder, and a dozen of them who are gathered at the Elders’ Centre in Iqaluit are munching away on the treats. Having grown up on the land, country foods have always been a staple of the elders’ diet. Now, Nunavut’s health department is promoting traditional Inuit food as an important part of healthy eating. On March 5, health officials unveiled its new Nunavut food guide to the elders. The guide lists nutritious foods that are essential for strong muscles, bones and teeth, and those that provide energy and help fight infections. It’s patterned after the Canada food guide, which promotes meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and breads as healthy foods. But Nunavut’s new food guide has an interesting twist: fish-head soup, bannock, muktuk and mountain sorel are added to the list. Health Minister Ed Picco, who attended the event, said caribou, ptarmigan, char and other food found on the land kept Inuit healthy long before they were introduced to qallunaat, store-bought food. "Inuit elders never had an opportunity to grow vegetables or have bananas and apples," Picco said in Inuktitut. "But Inuit are some of the healthiest people." His department used elders’ knowledge of traditional foods to help develop the food guide. The new food guide, which took more than two years and $20,000 to complete, will now be used in health centres, McIntyre said. "If nurses need to talk to people about eating healthy, they can use it as a tool." It will also be incorporated into the health curriculum in Nunavut’s schools. (Denise Rideout, "GN unveils made-in-Nunavut food guide," Nunatsiaq News, 8 March 2002).
4 March: Timing is everything when it comes to blasting off, and an Iqaluit company is taking advantage of the Arctic Winter Games to start up a new air service. Unaalik Aviation is waiting for Transport Canada approval but it hopes to be flying twin otters within the next six weeks. (Northern News Service, 4 March 2002).
Northwest Territories
CBC NorthYukon
Online edition of Tusaayaksat, the newspaper of the Inuvialuit of the Mackenzie Delta
Located at e-groups, it's structured as an e-mail group. (See, for example, "Self-government: Why it's important.") Note that some of the entries are in Inuvialuktun.
Newspapers in the Northwest Territories25 March: Ratification of the Kyoto protocol is a federal issue. But Yellowknife city council jumped into the national fray Monday night when it endorsed the 1997 protocol on greenhouse gas reduction. (Northern News Service, 29 March 2002).
21 March: Leaders in the Beaufort Delta got a pleasant surprise at a conference in Inuvik this week. Premier Stephen Kakfwi announced he will commit money and staff for self-government after years of sporadic funding from the territorial government. "The silence that you hear now ... it's just that we are surprised," says Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Eddie Dillon, bringing on laughter from other meeting attendants. Dillon and other leaders say they thought the premier was reading their minds. Before Kakfwi entered the room to give his speech the leaders were planning to tell him they need money to prepare for self-government. Kakfwi says the territorial government will hire a regional director who will co-ordinate development and self-government activities among government and Beaufort Delta leaders, spending more than $200,000. "What I give you today is a commitment to give you the money and the position and the support necessary to set up an office," Kakfwi says. He is also asking for a proposal outlining how much money they need to prepare for self-government. Once he has it the government will determine what their share will be. Leaders in the region will review it next week. (CBC North, 21 March 2002).
19-20 March: Delta leaders have set a new path toward self-government. The Beaufort Delta Leaders Conference gave leaders a chance to brainstorm ideas and identify future needs to see a smooth transition towards self-government. (Northern News Service, 1 April 2002).
10 March: A German doctor has begun a 700-kilometre trek by dog-team to the heart of the Thelon sanctuary. Dr. Gerhard Hampel, 52, from Wandlitz, Germany, left March 10 from Yellowknife to begin the month-long journey with his son Christian, 14, along with two guides, Chipewyan elder Noel Drybones, 70, and his nephew Lawrence Catholique, in his 40s. (NNSL, 13 March 2002).
7 March: A federal court decision handed down in Edmonton yesterday [7 March 2002] was a bittersweet victory for a Northern Alberta Treaty Eight member but First Nation groups across the North are celebrating. Judge Douglas Campbell ruled that Treaty 8 First Nation people living off the reserves do not have to pay taxes. Steven Nitah represents the riding of Tunedeh in the Northwest Territory legislative Assembly and his response is clear. "Hooray! Hooray! It's a great day for Treaty 8 and Aboriginal people in Canada," he says with enthusiasm. Gordon Benoit, a former resident of Fort Smith, filed his first claim in court for tax exemption 20 years ago in 1982 and today Treaty 8 First Nation people not living on reservations do not have to pay taxes. He says the tax exemption for Treaty Eight First Nation across the nation comes into affect right away. "We are legally entitled to (getting) back all of our taxes that we've payed," he says. He says the judge's decision stands as it is until the appeal process all the way to the supreme court has been exhausted. Gordon Vincent, with the revenue department of the Alberta government, says the province will watch to see how the federal government responds to the decision. It has 30 days to launch an appeal. Benoit says the legal struggle started with a challenge from a federal Indian agent that he couldn't refuse. "An Indian agent in Fort McMurray in 1978 says, 'you can't do this' so I said, 'watch me' and I did," he says. "That and the fact that it has to be done. A lot of people have been screwed around long enough." Benoit says losing the court case would also have been a victory for native people in Canada because that decision would have made all the treaties invalid documents. In Benoit's view, that would mean the federal government has to renegotiate all existing treaties with the First Nations. Bill Erasmus, the Grand Chief of the Dene Nation, says he also sees the decision as one with national implications. "People are going to have to look close at their existing relationship with Canada and see if this applies," he says, adding that negotiators for Treaty 11 should try to include those implications in its land claim. Treaty 8 encompasses land in the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta. It was signed 103 years ago, opening the possibility to years of backpay for taxes. (CBC North, 8 March 2002).
7 March: A crusade is beginning in a Hay River to save an aboriginal language that could die with this generation. Most youth under the age of 20 do not speak the South Slavey dialect on the Hay River reserve and a gathering is being held to see if people in the community care enough to do something about it. South Slavey has been taught at the Chief Sunrise school for more than five years, but that has not made a big difference. The language young people use at home and at school is English. Roy Fabien is the Language and Culture instructor at the school. He is organizing the community's first Dene language gathering. "Maybe we're just wasting our time and people really don't care," he says. "If that's the case then we can concentrate on other things, and if otherwise (we can try and do something about it)." The discussion began Wednesday [6 March 2002] and is expected to last for two days. (CBC North, 7 March 2002).
4 March: Hundreds of geographical features around Holman may soon be officially recognized on federal government maps by their original names. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is now putting them on digitalized maps for the hamlet to approve. Ramsay Island was named for the 11th Earl of Dalhousie in 1851. The island is about 110 kilometres north-west of Holman. A federal government surveyor in 1960 named a small group of islands south of the community the Horizon Islets, but the Inuit already had names for geographic features like lakes, rivers, and hills before Europeans arrived. Tom Andrews is a territorial archeologist with the department of education, culture and employment. "With the coming of Euro-Canadian society, we've applied our own names and those are the ones that often get made official and appear on maps," he says. Many of the names are only known orally and have never been written on maps before. Andrews says making names official will help visitors, but would also create pride for residents. "It's greatest benefit would be to the people in Holman themselves who have a better sense of their own identity that their own names," he says. "Their own traditions are represented on government maps and are, in fact, used by all Canadians." Andrews says it's also a way of preserving history and culture for future generations. The Gwich'in, Dogrib and Dene are also collecting place names. (CBC North, 4 March 2002).
4 March: If there's one conclusion to come from the work of the West Kitikmeot Slave Study, it's that more work is needed. More than five years of work culminated in the release of the group's final report, Friday. Since 1996, representatives of aboriginal groups, the territorial and federal governments, as well as environment and indudstry groups, have been studying the effects of mineral development in the vast area, stretching north from Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean. One of the reports findings is that funding should be set aside to continue the work, or another such group should be formed to continue it. Members say the cumulative effects of development, to date, are the result of one producing diamond mine, construction of another, and exploration of several more, as well as the re-start of production of the Lupin Gold Mine in Nunavut. Members say the work done to this point makes it hard to predict how many more effects there will be on wildlife, water ways, and climate, once more mines are built and go into production. (cjcd.ca, "Northern environmental study released," 4 March 2002).
1 March: Nahendeh MLA Jim Antoine is asking people how they feel about renaming Virginia Falls in honour of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The idea surfaced during Antoine's recent travels in the Deh Cho, he said. (Northern News Service, 1 March 2002).
CBC NorthAlaska
Whitehorse Star Daily News online
Newspapers in the Yukon26 March: Larry Bagnell, MP for Yukon, announces funding for the Yukon Telehealth Network, on behalf of the Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health. A virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the launch of the network. Mayo was picked by the Government of Yukon to be the first community on-line with Whitehorse. Yukon Health and Social Services Minister Sue Edelman, Mayo's Mayor Bernard Menelon, Nacho N'yak Dun Chief Robert Hager and Whitehorse General Hospital's CEO Ron Browne also made remarks. The Yukon Telehealth Network project is funded under the Canada Health Infostructure Partnerships Program (CHIPP), a two-year, $80 million federal program announced in June 2000, along with the Government of Canada's rural health strategy. (Canada Newswire, 26 March 2002).
7 March: Yukon musician Matthew Lien has picked up a West Coast Music Award. The awards celebrate the music scene in the Yukon and British Columbia. They were handed out last night [7 March 2002] in Vancouver. For the first time in six years there was category of Yukon Artist of Year. Matthew Lien was chosen over five other Yukon artists for his album In So Many Words. Yukoners were nominated in four other categories, but didn't take home awards. (CBC North, 8 March 2002).
Fairbanks News MinerNorthern Provinces of Canada
Anchorage Daily News
The Nome Nugget (Thursdays)27 March: Harvard University's Peabody Museum is returning a century-old Tlingit headdress to Southeast Alaska. The headdress -- made of metal, copper, leather and fiber -- is a funerary object. It was removed from what was identified as a "shaman's grave'' on Baranof Island near Sitka in 1886. The collector, Walter Chase, donated it to the museum in 1971. After several area tribes are given a chance to determine whether they have a claim on the headdress, the museum plans to return it to the Sealaska Native Corporation in behalf of the Kiks --- a Raven Clan of Tlingits. That clan traditionally lived in the area the headdress came from. The Peabody Museum has also begun the process for potentially returning four sets of human remains to western Alaska. It has given notice to Native groups about remains linked to Unalaska, Unalakleet and Nikolski removed in the mid-to-late 1800s. Alaska explorer and scientist William Dall collected three sets of the remains and donated them to them to the museum. Peabody officials are urging any other groups that believe they may be culturally-affiliated to the remains to make a claim. Notice of the Tlingit headdress return and the human remains inventories were published in Monday's Federal Register under a law known as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 27 March 2002).
27 March: Thirty-five tribal nations from the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alaska have signed a pact. The tribes have agreed to look out for each other's interests if a natural gas pipeline is built. They want federal, state and provincial governments and energy companies to consult with them prior to construction of a pipeline. Thirteen Alaska tribes, whose villages are along the trans-Alaska pipeline, joined forces with the Canadian tribes in signing the pact last week at the First Nations Oil and Gas Summit in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. One plan being backed by Alaska leaders, as well as members of the Senate, calls for building a gas pipeline from Alaska into Canada along the Alaska-Canada Highway. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 27 March 2002).
25 March: Athabaskan elder Doris Charles, who helped Katie John in her fight for subsistence rights, has died. Charles' family says she died Monday at the Pioneer Home in Fairbanks. Although her birth date was not definitely known, it is believed that Charles was 99. Charles and Katie John were childhood friends. In 1990, the Alaska Board of Fisheries denied a request from the two women to set up a subsistence fish camp on the Copper River. They sued, and the ruling in the case established that the federal government had authority on most waters in Alaska to ensure subsistence rights for rural residents. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 27 March 2002).
22 March: Scientists say Alaska's sea lion population decline might be due, at least in part, to killer-whale predation. Biologist Lance Barrett-Lennard says killer whales probably are not the main reason sea lion numbers have plunged, but he adds that killer whales could be helping to hold them down. Barrett-Lennard made his comments in Anchorage this week during a meeting of scientists studying the sea lion problem. Barrett-Lennard -- an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia -- says sea lions may not be able to reproduce fast enough to catch up with predation by killer whales. Barrett-Lennard says he first considered studying whales eating sea lions about eight years ago, after a dead killer whale washed ashore in Prince William Sound. A necropsy revealed that the whale had in its stomach 14 flipper tags from sea lion pups. That indicated its diet was made up largely of young sea lions. Now that Steller sea lions have been added to the endangered species list, whale biologists are starting to take the question of predation seriously. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 22 March 2002).
21-22 March: The North Pacific Research Board (the Board) held its first full meeting in Anchorage, to consider marine fisheries and ecosystems research for 2002 and 2003. The twenty-member Board was created by Congress to recommend marine research off Alaska to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who makes final funding decisions. Research is funded by part of the interest earned by the Environmental Improvement and Restoration Fund (EIRF) which Congress established in 1997. "Our challenge is to develop a comprehensive science program of the highest caliber to enhance our understanding of the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean ecosystems and fisheries," said newly elected chairman, David Benton. "We are forever indebted to Senator Ted Stevens for his long-range vision in establishing the Board and supporting marine ecosystems and fisheries research off Alaska." (NPRB press release, 27 March 2002).
15 March: There will be no more hunting caribou from the Dalton Highway. The Alaska Board of Game voted yesterday (Thursday) to restrict all hunting within a quarter-mile of the road in the Dalton Highway Corridor north of Fairbanks. In making its decision, the board cited growing concerns about road-hunting archers on the highway. The corridor is a 250-mile swath of the Dalton Highway from the Yukon River to the Arctic Ocean. It sits in the middle of the Central Arctic Caribou Herd's range. The herd numbers about 27-thousand animals. The corridor is a magnet for archers because rifles are prohibited on each side of the highway for five miles while bowhunting is not restricted. Bowhunters, however, must pass a proficiency shooting test before getting a permit to hunt the herd. Board member Julie Maier of Fairbanks calls the new restriction a step in the right direction. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 15 March 2002).
15 March: Alaska Natives testifying before a House Finance Committee yesterday expressed anger over a plan to cut subsistence. They say the proposal will increase what they term as a growing rift between urban Alaska and the rural areas where a majority of Natives live. A House Finance panel proposes cutting the Division of Subsistence from the state's Department Fish and Game as a cost saving measure. Natives testifying before a House Finance Committee yesterday called on lawmakers to put it back. The federal government controls subsistence over two-thirds of Alaska and Governor Tony Knowles is trying to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to regain state control. Representative Reggie Joule is chairman of the Legislature's Bush caucus. Joule says the budget cuts come at a bad time because many Natives in the rural areas are satisfied with federal management. Representative Con Bunde chaired the subcommittee that made the cuts. Bunde says other areas of the department can take on duties formerly held by the division. He also expressed doubt that Alaska would ever regain subsistence management. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 15 March 2002).
14 March: The Tanana Chiefs Conference is holdings its annual convention in Fairbanks. Governor Knowles spoke before a gathering of more than 350 people attending the convention. He stumped for his budget plan, which calls for taxes and a slight increase in spending. The governor also denounced the Legislature's attempts to cut health and social services important to Alaska Natives, and called to bring a constitutional amendment supporting subsistence to a public vote. Knowles on Tuesday told the convention that the state needs to find additional sources of revenue. He's proposed alcohol, cruise ship and income taxes to offset shrinking dollars from oil revenues. TCC President Steve Ginnis told Knowles that he was concerned about an income tax because Interior village residents may not be able to bear one. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 14 March 2002).
9 March: 2002 World Ice Carving Championships, Fairbanks, Alaska.
5 March: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has applied for a wetlands permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction of a portion of the nation's new missile defense system at Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island. Most important will be the installation of test equipment related to X-Band radar, the most powerful tracking and detection device in the world and the heart of the national missile defense system. Lt. Col. Jim Balocki, deputy commander of the ballistic missile defense program for the Alaska district, said work will begin this summer, once a permit is in place and a federal environmental impact statement completed. Companies from California, Washington and Alaska have submitted proposals to the Missile Defense Agency to do the work this summer. A contract should be awarded by April, and work will begin immediately thereafter, Balocki said. Work related to the national missile defense system in Alaska also is slated for Fort Greely and Eielson Air Force Base. A test missile complex is set for construction this summer at Fort Greely, as is a transfer facility at Eielson for shipment of booster missile components. Missile launch facilities on Kodiak Island also are being considered. An estimated $12.5 billion is needed to fund the entire missile defense project, a top priority with the U.S. Defense Department. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 5 March 2002).
5 March: Champion musher Doug Swingley on Tuesday gave up any chance of winning a fourth straight Iditarod. He said he will not try to win this year's race, although he will complete the competition. (AP, 5 March 2002).
4 March: As the Senate prepares to debate energy issues, the majority leader says ANWR drilling is dead, at least for now. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (DASH'ull) made his assessment on N-B-C's "Meet the Press" show yesterday (Sunday). An amendment to drill in ANWR is opposed by most Senate Democrats and about a half-dozen GOP senators. Republicans have acknowledged they lack the 60 votes needed to break an expected Democratic filibuster. Daschle, who represents South Dakota, said on the program yesterday that supporters of drilling haven't rounded up enough votes. He was asked, "So it's dead?'' Daschle replied: "Well, at least right now it is, correct.'' Daschle and others say raising federal mileage standards for automobiles would save more oil than drilling in the refuge could produce. Appearing with Daschle was Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. Lott says he's willing to try conservation and alternative fuels. But he says the nation also needs to boost energy production. The GOP-led House passed a bill last fall to allow ANWR drilling. (AP AK Daily News Watch, 4 March 2002).
2 March: 64 mushers and more than 1,000 began the 1,770 kilometre trek along the frozen rivers of Alaska to Nome, known as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
1 March: Officials at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have signed an agreement with the Russian Academy of Sciences to establish a marine science training and education laboratory in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok. (The Northern Forum, News, 1 March 2002).
1 March: Dianor Resources Inc. announces its first diamond discovery in 2002, in bedrock on its Mineral Exploration Permit (P.E.M) 1404 property in the James Bay area. (Dianor Resources Inc., press release, 1 March 2002).