Jobs for cons Yellowknife Women's Society stands by policy of hiring people with criminal records after receiving anonymous letters condemning a particular employee Online first at NNSL.com Easter bunny comes to town Volume 48 Issue 11 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019 75 CENTS ($1 outside city) Laughing Pot activist Hockey Lichen reflects on season set to 420 after winds expand legalization down Brendan Burke/NNSL photo HouSe FiRe on Larocque cReScenT A home on Larocque Crescent was damaged by fire on Tuesday afternoon. The Yellowknife Fire Division (YKFD) deployed three fire trucks to the scene of the blaze, which sent thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air. Flames caused significant damage to part of the home. There were no reported injuries. The cause of the fire remained unknown as of press time. $1.00 outside Yellowknife Publication mail Contract #40012157 "That Iqaluit team with just nine skaters can really fly." – Dawson City Canucks player Jeff Round on taking on Iqaluit HC during the B division 7 71605 00100 5 final of the First Air Rec Hockey Tournament at the Multiplex on Sunday, page 14. W2 YELLO KNIFER, Wednesday, April 24, 2019 news YEW LLO KNIFER, Wednesday, April 24, 2019 3 Did we get it wrong? Yellowknifer is committed to getting facts and names right. With that goes a commitment to acknow- ledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in Yellowknifer, call 873-4031 and ask to speak to an editor, or email [email protected]. We'll get a correction or clarification in as soon as we can. NEWS Briefs Food and transport costs rise in Yk The NWT Bureau of Statistics has released the latest numbers on the consumer price index (CPI) for Yellowknife. On April 17, the organization said the city's consumer price index rose 1.8 per cent since last year. In Yellowknife the CPI rose for all major components: clothing, recreation and educa- tion. Transportation alone increased by 2.7 per Brett McGarry NNSL/photos cent and food saw a rise of 2.5 per cent. Amy Maund, right, founder of Laughing Lichen and Courtney Davison, operations supervisor, stands next to a The overall inflation in Yellowknife has sample of their products. Maund has been using her bush skills to build her company. risen by 2.2 per cent – higher than the national average for the first time in three years. The annual price increase across Canada was 1.9 per cent. In Edmonton it increased by 2.1 per cent, by 1.2 per cent in Whitehorse and by 2.2 per cent in Iqaluit. – Brett McGarry Laughing Lichen Premier names new associate deputy minister of infrastructure 'This is a woman-owned business, but Premier Bob McLeod has announced the appointment of Sandy Kalgutkar to the pos- it was a family affair' – Amy Maund ition of associate deputy minister of Infra- Northern News Services structure. Living off the land has always been an Kalgutkar will assume his new role on important part of life for Amy Maund. She May 13. spent her childhood out in the wilderness near He will be leading the development of major her parents' cabin by Great Slave Lake. As she infrastructure projects such as the Taltson got older she pursued an outdoor life through hydro expansion, Slave Geological Province her work as a tree planter, but it wasn't until Corridor and the Mackenzie Valley Highway. she was taking veterinary medicine at the His previous position was deputy secretary University of British Columbia that she got of the Financial Management Board where he the idea of turning wildcrafting (also known worked on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link as foraging) from a passion to a full time job. project, the Stanton Territorial Renewal Pro- "I actually started by teaching workshops ject and the Tłıcho All Season Road. in wild plants after gaining years of experi- He has 29 years of public service experi- ence," said Maund. ence. After finding success selling devils club – Brett McGarry and spruce pitch salves at a farmers market in B.C., she changed her focus from veterinary Public hearings on three bills medicine to botany and biology. The Standing Committee on Economic She turned away from veterinary medicine Development and Environment is holding a and began studying biology and botany"I series of public hearings this week on three started doing the farmers market with some Amy Maund showing a tray of natural soaps infused with vegetation bills - Bill 38: Protected Areas Act, Bill 39: of the products and people kept encouraging harvested from the bush. She makes a half dozen different kinds of natural Environmental Rights Act and Bill 44: Forest me," she said. "From there it kept growing soaps. Act. and growing, like a snowball effect. We kept A public hearing will be held in Hay River growing and we had some friends that I knew Maund is preparing to ramp up her operations "The quality is there," said Davison. on April 24 in the Community Centre at 7 p.m. that had stores and asked if we could carry in a new commercial facility. "When you pay people a good wage they care On April 25, hearings will be held at some of their products. I think the Down to "We're a home-based business and we've about their work and want to stand by their K'atl'odeeche First Nation at the Chief Lama- Earth Gallery was one of the first to carry my run out of room to process these hundreds of quality standards. It keeps it so people are not lice Complex at noon and in Behchoko's Ko products." pounds of plants," said Maund. willing to cut corners." Gocho Centre at 7 p.m. It wasn't long before Maund's rolling snow- With the new facility they hope to open in Maund and Davison partly attribute to An additional hearing will take place in the ball started picking up steam the summer of 2019, Maund their success to tight quality control. legislative assembly on April 30 at 6 p.m. and she moved back to the will also be expanding her "We are very strict," said Maund. "When – Meaghan Richens Northwest Territories and harvesting network. She will people give us a harvest, we grade it, we keep began expanding her foraging be sending out a call for appli- track of where it came form and really make STI's on the rise in NWT operations in an off the grid Focus cations in June, she said. sure our products are healthy. People value home outside of Yellowknife. on business "Our goal is to teach work- that and recognize we have a quality product." The Chief Public Health Officer for the Now, Laughing Lichen shops in 2019 and host schol- With the upcoming expansion, Maund NWT has announced a public health advisory carries a product line with with Brett McGarry arships and help people start plans on hiring harvesters in some of the more on increasing rates of sexually transmitted over 50 items in 50 stores their own businesses and pro- remote communities of the NWT. infections. across the country including mote economic development," "There's a lot of people who are very According to a news release Tuesday, there herbal salves, handcrafted soaps, lip balms, said Maund. "A big goal of my business is to acquainted and work with the land and it's a has been a dramatic increase in gonorrhea and bath salts, creams, herbal oils, wildcrafted tea promote a sustainable wildcrafting economy great way for people in those areas to earn a syphilis rates in NWT residents aged 15 to 30. blends and more. in the NWT and show people it is possible to source of income," she said. "Elders can go Gonorrhea rates are now 17 times higher "All of our ingredients are foraged by us get a fair value wage from harvesting." out, parents and their children. It's an amazing than the 2016 national average and five times mainly in the NWT and in northern B.C. as However, it can be difficult to make a liv- and hard-working lifestyle." higher than the 2013 NWT rate. well," said Maund. "We have a few harvest- ing by wildcrafting, she said. Pursuing this lifestyle is ultimately why Syphilis rates are now seven times high- ers down there and we've grown to the point “If you want to get into wildcrafting, Maund got into the this business. er than the 2013 NWT rate, with 25 cases where me and my spouse can't do the har- traditionally no one pays very good wages,” "I wanted an occupation that would allow reported since 2015. vesting on our own anymore." she said. “It's a lot of hard work for little me to work on my own but also be out in the Front line practitioners will now be looking She needs hundreds of pounds of har- profit. I wanted to create a way where people woods doing what I love with my friends and at their patients' sexual histories, providing vested materials to operate her business and could have a way of life (like) we have and family," she said. "It's a way of life that people treatment and promoting safe sex practices. she's been training more harvesters as busi- actually making a meaningful wage. Our teas dream of and we've created that for ourselves. The public health office is offering ness has grown. and products are expensive, but we're paying It's fun, healthy and inspiring." increased access to patients who would like "We have a very wide network of people people a good wage.” "It's been a hard grind to getting where to be tested for STIs.