Debates of May 31, 2004 (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Premier, Mr. Handley, as he has taken on, at least on an interim basis, the duties and responsibility for MACA. It follows on my Member’s statement regarding the Sport North organization and the creation of the proposed sport and recreation council. I want to compliment the Premier for being there. He heard the message quite clearly and, I think, bluntly from this organization that as they want to participate in the improvement of the sport organization and they need to know what the circumstance is.

Could Mr. Handley, the Minister, articulate for us the issues and difficulties that are being addressed in the creation of this proposed new sport and recreation council? Thank you.

Mr. Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 175-15(3): Proposed Sport And Recreation Council

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories would be proud of the achievements of a lot of our people, both in sports and recreation. We do have challenges though, as many Members have mentioned in this House, of having a fair distribution of opportunity for people, particularly from the small communities. So the one challenge that the proposed board would have would be to work to ensure that our small communities and remote communities have fair opportunity to take advantage of the sports and recreation activities that are available to northerners.

Second, Mr. Speaker, is to ensure that we have representation from all of the Territories on the board, that all the people, whether they’re from small communities or large communities, from the North or the South, also have a chance to participate and be part of the operation and decision-making on sports and recreation.

The third area, Mr. Speaker, is on decision making. It’s sometimes frustrating for people to have decisions made for them by organizations that they may not be represented on. So trying to find a way of more fair decision making for all people in the Northwest Territories, all communities, large and small, North and South, remote and large centres, is the third challenge.

Mr. Speaker, generally, those are the three challenges that are put out to the proposed board. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 175-15(3): Proposed Sport And Recreation Council

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the outline of those issues. The Premier mentioned that fair decision making is part of the role of governance, and I would be one of the first to agree that this is something we should all strive for. But I would remind the Premier of a message that came through, at least pretty clearly to me when I was listening to the discussion yesterday morning and in previous years from Sport North meetings, that there’s a large body of sport volunteers that feel they have not been included in the decision making regarding the creation of this new sports council. Can the Premier advise of the kind of communications and dialogue that has gone on where things may have been missed with Sport North on this issue? Thank you.

Two questions. Mr. Premier.

Further Return To Question 175-15(3): Proposed Sport And Recreation Council

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of sport organizations in the Northwest Territories. In fact, there are five main groups that are represented in the discussions and in the proposed board and those, as we know, include the Sport North board itself, the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the Western Arctic, the Beaufort-Delta Sahtu Recreation Association, the NWT Recreation and Parks Association, and the Mackenzie Recreation Association.

Mr. Speaker, as well, I may point out that the Sport North board does involve or include 27 territorial sports organizations in itself. So there has been a lot of involvement by most of the boards, if not all of them. Mr. Speaker, I know there have been some communication difficulties, I was told yesterday. Those are things we want to work to overcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 175-15(3): Proposed Sport And Recreation Council

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Sport North Federation yesterday afternoon, after the presentation that the Premier gave, passed a resolution. It is a six-point resolution and it very clearly indicates that they still have yet to really come on side with this process. In fact, the first of their six recommendations is that MACA halt the current sport and recreation council process immediately. Would the Premier respond to this? Is the Premier prepared to respond to this today, even as the interim Minister? Is this something that he will ask the Minister? I take it that there will be a new Minister of MACA. Will that new Minister be directed to halt the process as the Sport North Federation has requested? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 175-15(3): Proposed Sport And Recreation Council

Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to halt the process because this has been an ongoing consultation since October 2001, when Minister Allen at the time began the process. There have been a number of consultations that have been held. Some of them seem to not have reached the people that they should have. It’s been a long consultation process. I’m not tied, as I said yesterday, to a June 18th date. That was thrown out as being the date for implementation of this. But I do want to continue to work toward coming up with a board that represents all the sports organizations and volunteers and people who work with our young people in sports and recreation.

Mr. Speaker, the other piece I need to find out is, yesterday I met with the Sport North board and its representation. I still want to find out from the other four partners where they stand on this and ensure that everybody has all of the information that is necessary before we move ahead with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.