Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am pleased to provide an update on the status of the Northwest Territories Council of Sport and Recreation Partners. For some time now, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has been working in cooperation with stakeholders within the territorial sport and recreation system to find ways to improve the overall effectiveness of the system.

During consultation on this issue over the past few years, several key themes emerged. We heard that there needs to be a forum where all communities and partners can have a voice in planning and decision-making for the system. We heard that there is a need to streamline decision-making and to improve program coordination among all the partners. Most important of all, we heard that all the stakeholders agree that we need to expand the opportunities for all Northwest Territories residents to access sport, recreation and physical activity programs in order to improve personal health and community well-being. Not surprisingly, everyone agrees that we need to find ways to access new resources to support these activities.

To best address these issues, a facilitated process was set up involving all the Northwest Territories sport and recreation partners.

In March 2003, agreement was reached among the partners that these objectives could be met through the establishment of a Northwest Territories Council of Sport and Recreation Partners.

In the year following that decision, work was undertaken by the partners to develop a vision and mandate statement, propose an organization structure and complete some other steps necessary for the establishment of the council. My predecessors and I also worked with Members of the Legislative Assembly and partners to answer concerns and address issues raised by the council.

Originally, the council was to be established last April. Because some stakeholders continued to express

concerns, implementation was delayed to allow discussion to continue.

Over this past summer, I committed to a final round of consultations and also agreed to fund the final partners meeting so that stakeholders could discuss the work completed to date and provide recommendations on the establishment of the council. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to report that as a result of this detailed consultation process and the work of the Northwest Territories sport and recreation partners during their meeting in September, the next steps in establishing the council are now getting underway and it will be in operation effective April 2005. Full details will be made available to Members when I table the implementation plan in the Legislative Assembly later today.

At this time, I would like to extend my thanks to my predecessors and all of the partner organizations for their ongoing commitment to this initiative. It was not always easy, and there were certainly differences of opinion, but all individuals were professional in their approach and clearly were striving to achieve the best possible sport and recreation system in the Northwest Territories. Specifically, I wish to thank former Ministers Jim Antoine, Roger Allen, Vince Steen and Henry Zoe; Allan Landry of Kakisa and Roy Desjarlais of Yellowknife representing the Aboriginal Sport Circle of the Western Arctic; Clifford McLeod of Fort Providence and Todd Shafer of Hay River representing the Mackenzie Recreation Association; Janna Bulmer of Tuktoyaktuk and Victor Stewart of Fort McPherson representing the Beaufort-Delta/Sahtu Recreation Association; Theresa Ross of Inuvik and Julian Tomlinson of Inuvik representing the Northwest Territories Recreation and Parks Association; and, Abe Theil of Yellowknife, Richard Daitch of Fort Smith, Gary Hoffman of Hay River, and Ron Graf and Doug Rentmeister of Yellowknife representing the Sport North Federation.

Mr. Speaker, this is a pivotal time in the sport and recreation system. There has never been as much pressure to support our residents to lead healthy, active lives for their own benefit, and to consequently reduce the enormous stresses on our health care system.

The creation of the new Northwest Territories Council of Sport and Recreation Partners will provide the structure and the coordination necessary to develop a stronger and more efficient sport and recreation system, one that will consider the needs of all communities and all partners and lead the way in establishing healthier communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.