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Big Lake

It’s known as Tinde’e, Tucho and Tu Nedhé. Settlers named it Great Slave Lake. It’s the deepest lake in North America and the second-largest (after Great Bear Lake) within Canada’s borders. For the people living here these waters are indescribable. This was the September/October cover story.

911 in 11 languages

What it took to build an emergency system in the North and why it was long overdue.

CBC North

'We can exist without the RCMP': What defunding police might look like in N.W.T.

They say it doesn't have to be this way.

'The trust has been broken': Staff, youth allege mismanagement at Yellowknife youth centre

Young people and current and former staff at SideDoor are alleging mistreatment and mismanagement at the Yellowknife youth shelter and drop-in centre. 

A tale of two tenders: Public bidding for projects on Tłı̨chǫ land an 'insult', says grand chief

The Northwest Territories government had two tenders out for notable construction work within Tłı̨chǫ territory this season: one was cancelled, the other was not, and the Tłı̨chǫ grand chief says neither should have been put out for public bidding in the first place. 

'She had dreams': Aunt remembers Łútselk'e girl who went missing 30 years ago

Anne Catholique says her family is still in pain over the disappearance of her young niece 30 years ago.

Yellowknife recyclables have been dumped into landfill for more than a year

While Yellowknife residents have been carefully sorting their recyclables and dropping them off in the city's large blue containers, for more than a year, the city has been tossing most types of recyclables in the trash.

'Passionate' outgoing premier Bob McLeod leaves behind complicated legacy

Bob McLeod, the Northwest Territories' outgoing premier, is being remembered as a hard-working career bureaucrat, but whose efforts to improve life in the territory didn't necessarily pay off.

What a change in federal gov't could mean for N.W.T. land claim talks

With a federal election less than two weeks away, several Indigenous leaders in the Northwest Territories are worried about what a change in government could mean for their land claim negotiations. 

Confusion nearly killed Arnica Inn plan, says project leader, but there's still hope

A communication snafu may have nearly killed a plan to create transitional and affordable housing at Yellowknife's Arnica Inn, says the group leading the initiative, but there's still a fighting chance the project will go ahead.

Meet Michael McLeod, Liberal incumbent for the Northwest Territories

Michael McLeod has been in and out of politics for nearly 40 years.

The incumbent Liberal candidate for the Northwest Territories has been involved, in one way or another, with every order of government in the territory, starting with attending tribal council meetings in the Dehcho region as a teenager.

‘It’s very stressful’: Yellowknife nurse says short staffing is impacting patient safety

Yellowknife nurses say a nursing shortage at Stanton Territorial Hospital has reached a crisis point, and it's taking a toll on their well-being.

N.W.T. gov't and former employee settle case over alleged privacy breach

A former manager in the N.W.T. Justice Department has been ordered to destroy all records he has about his old colleagues, putting an end to a months-long skirmish over employee privacy between him and the territorial government.

New jail for women in Fort Smith to have higher security rating, segregation

The jail for women in Fort Smith, N.W.T., doesn't look much like a jail.

The women's unit of the Fort Smith Correctional Complex consists of two, nondescript houses in a residential area. Those houses are not surrounded by a fence. There is no barbed wire. The doors don't even lock.

A totalled Camaro, 2 dead bison in Wood Buffalo National Park but where's the driver?

Several drivers travelling through Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories during the May long weekend passed a grisly scene: two dead bison and a totalled Chevrolet Camaro.

But where was the driver? This was the third most-read story on CBC across Canada on the day it was published.

More supports needed for former residential school students in the North, say survivors

Beatrice Bernhardt says talking about residential school is painful, but she keeps doing it because it's important for the public to know what happened, and how students persevered.

N.W.T. in talks to raise debt limit as budget projects slight deficit

The Northwest Territories government expects to spend slightly more than it brings in over the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Balancing the budget has been "particularly challenging" over the last two years as revenues dropped $81 million, Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod said during his budget speech to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Yellowknife house cat faces down lynx through window pane

Of all the beasts of the northern wild, the lynx — a large forest cat with fur-spiked ears and saucer-wide paws — is perhaps the most elusive.

Yellowknife official warns of 'unprecedented' debt during budget deliberations

Building a new aquatic centre and replacing the aging pipeline that draws water from the Yellowknife River will bring Yellowknife into "some pretty significant debt," the city's director of corporate services warns.

Northern News Services

Bylaw boss under fire

A number of former bylaw officers are making allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying against the manager of the Municipal Enforcement Division.

'Council is taking this very, very seriously'

Mayor Mark Heyck says when a complaint about a toxic workplace at municipal enforcement was made in 2014, he trusted the city manager would take care of it.

No clear path for access to information from city

To residents seeking public information from a community government who are turned away or ignored, you’re likely out of luck.

Mines not meeting Northern worker targets

The Northwest Territories’ three diamond mine owners are not meeting their northern and Indigenous hiring commitments.

Big fish in a big pond

In more than three decades fishing the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, Michael Briggs has never seen anything like it. A lake trout so large it broke the three- pronged treble hook used to catch it – and it might break a record, too.

Families speak about lack of resources at MMIWG inquiry

Kathy Meyer counts the years in Christmases. Eight have passed since her daughter Angela went missing.

Family fighting to stay together over Christmas

A pregnant woman from Wekweeti and her common-law husband can’t stay with their two young children over Christmas because the medical travel residence they’ve been placed in does not allow visitors beyond the building’s foyer.

The Whitehorse Star

Youth tackle school’s painful history

CARCROSS – When the last vestiges of the Chooutla School are cleared away, no one will mourn its loss.

Architects cry foul on MacBride Museum request for proposals

When the Yukon government grants funds to non-profits or private institutions, what assurances are there that the money is used in a fair and equitable manner?

Government responds to TRC report

Amid fanfare Monday leading up to this week’s royal visit, the Yukon government quietly dropped a major report representing its initial reaction to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC’s) 94 Calls to Action.

Malnutrition added to residential school abuse: academic

In his conversations with survivors of residential schools across Canada, one thing stood out to Dr. Ian Mosby: the common story of hunger.

Government rapped for inaction on dangerous dogs

The Yukon government has failed to take decisive action on the stray dog problem in Ross River – which experts call a public health crisis – despite repeated calls for help from the community.

Metro

Broken Bonds: How living with babies in jail changed inmates' lives 

Part IAn unlikely initiative at a B.C. correctional facility was doing wonders for incarcerated women. So why has it stopped? Metro investigates in the first of a three-part series.

Broken Bonds: Why a jail's nursery is empty after its last mom left

Part IIAfter a troubled killer lived with her newborn in a B.C. jail, the program that made it possible died. Metro investigates in the second of a three-part series.

Broken Bonds: What jails must do to help women and their babies

Part IIIOne jail in B.C. was helping inmates make the most of the opportunity to be a mother. Now, the fight is on to ensure that it still can. Metro concludes its three-part series.

Mother-baby unit at B.C. jail in-use for the first time in eight years

For the first time in nearly eight years, a baby is living with its mother at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, a provincial jail near Vancouver, the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General confirmed on Jan. 18…

This is a follow-up story to Broken Bonds, a three-part investigative series in Metro. See parts 1 to 3 above.

 

Toronto Star

Jian Ghomeshi hires lawyer who defended ex-attorney general Michael Bryant

Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi has hired prominent criminal lawyer Marie Henein amid allegations he assaulted and sexually abused nine women and a man.

This was the most read story of the day on the Star's website.

Criminal cases plunge across Toronto

A Star analysis of justice statistics reveals that Toronto saw a significant drop in new criminal cases in 2013.

This story was on A1 of the Saturday edition.

Niagara University basketball team stranded in snowstorm for 24 hours

It is a rare occasion when a sports team's spirit is tested off the court, ice or pitch.

Nurse robbed while she comes to aid of man

When a young Toronto nurse heard a blood-curdling crash, rasping of steel on pavement, and screams of passersby, she dropped everything and ran.

 

CP24

Looking to a future where any athlete can play

In 2010, then Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke made headlines when, decked out in a Maple Leaf hockey jersey, he marched in Toronto’s Pride Parade. It was a brief but potent moment of communion between the world of professional sports and the LGBT community it has historically alienated.