Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs recognizes that preserving Aboriginal culture is important to the residents of the Northwest Territories, and hand games is part of that tradition. There are a couple of requirements though. Of course, if there's money being exchanged during the hand games, we tend not to support that as that is more promoting gambling than the actual physical activity of hand games. Then we also try to encourage that because traditionally hand games are more for male, men and boys’ sports, so we also try to encourage the applicants...

Certainly, we can. The Workers' Safety and Compensation Board, just like other departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories, tries to work in partnership with all of the provinces and territories across Canada. We are always looking for best practices. We are always taking from each other, sharing workshops and sharing information. We will continue doing that process. It doesn't make sense to work in isolation. The best practice is working cross-jurisdictionally, looking at what is working and what is not working, and adapting our services based on that; so, yes, we will.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I said in committee that I would bring that to the five sports and recreation organizations. I will put it on the table when we meet with them if they want to open it up to a broader sector. It is important to recognize, as one of the MLAs stated, that this funding is really specifically, and has in the past been specifically, for children and youth within the Northwest Territories. The arts sector is bigger than that and actually tends to be lot more adult-focused.

I will commit to bringing it to this sector to the five organizations. We will discuss the option of opening...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Eleanor Young. On my left is Ms. Christina Brownlee, who is legislative counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce Bill: Western Canada Lottery Act.

The Western Canada Lottery program is managed and conducted by the Concern Canada Lottery Corporation on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Since 2009, the Sport and Recreation Council has had an agreement with the Western Canada Lottery Corporation and the Government of the Northwest Territories to conduct and manage the lottery within the Northwest Territories and to remit lottery proceeds to the Government of the Northwest Territories to be used for the purposes of sport and...

Right now, we're looking at hopefully the completion of a baseline report by the end of March or early April, we're shooting for. There was some difficulty in completing the research, so I'm going to state it here. We have had trouble determining the true costs of doing business on the highway rescues, and that's because, for some of the communities, not all of them, but some of the communities that we are funding to provide this service recently, or over the years, they haven't tracked the ambulance costs separately in their financial reporting, nor did they separate the costs for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the North Slave Metis Alliance, the board of directors, Mr. Bill Enge, personal friend, Mark Whitford, Arnold Enge, and Alan Harman. They were strong supporters through my campaign and they are still strong supporters to this day. I appreciate all you've done to support me. I wouldn't be here without you.

I also want to recognize some personal and family friends who are in the audience; Ms. Francis Lafferty, I apologize if you have a different last name, I've always known you as Francis Lafferty; Cindy Jeske, I saw, and Marilyn Erasmus...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I did have a chance to review the national definition of "recreation" and I agree with the national definition, but my issue is that it is pretty broad. The framework that goes on to define it a little bit more concise. What I committed to doing was to bring the definition to the five sports and recreation organizations. At that point, we will look at the national definition, decide if we will accept it as is, if we need to expand it, if we need to do more measurable outcomes within that. That process will continue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I do.

I want to start talking about the NWT Association of Communities. When I said that the funding was inadequate, I did also state that some municipalities were really good at getting the cost recovery back. The City of Yellowknife is a prime example. They have not experienced a shortfall. They are actually really good at getting their cost recovery back. The Municipality of Hay River, on the other hand, does have difficulties with that; they were the ones that brought it to my attention that we need to do some work on that.

When I talk about inadequate funding, that is because, I mean, we have a...