Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, who is also the Minister of sport. I want to follow up on my statement and ask the Minister some questions with regard to the Arctic Winter Games and the Arctic Winter Games International Committee.
I mentioned in my statement that as a government, as the NWT government we have financial obligations for Arctic Winter Games. We certainly fund all of the athletes we send there. It is a fairly healthy amount of money every two years. I would like to know from the Minister if he can explain to me and to the House what relationship does the GNWT have with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Arctic Winter Games International Committee is the government body for the Arctic Winter Games. There are six permanent partners of which the GNWT is one. All six permanent partners have two members on the board. The political leaders usually are responsible for providing policy direction during our meetings with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee during the games or any other special meetings that may be called. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for the explanation. It is leading me right into my next question in terms of policy. When the announcement was made by the International Committee for listing the sports for the 2016 games, media reports suggested that it was the government, our government in conjunction with several other northern governments, that made that decision, that they had agreed to smaller games to fit smaller communities, of which Nuuk is one. I would like to know from the Minister whether or not our government was partially responsible for the decision to drastically reduce the sports in the 2016 games. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the decision was made a number of years ago that all six permanent partners would have an equal opportunity to host the Arctic Winter Games on a rotational basis. That was a decision that was made. The decision to exclude some of the sports – and the Member mentioned it before in her statement – that, for obvious reasons, there are some sports that will be eliminated during particular games. We can’t have downhill skiing where there are no hills to ski on. But six sports affecting over 400 athletes and coaches to the circumpolar world is quite a drastic cut. That decision was made by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that clarification. Part of the reason for the International Committee’s decision, as I understand it and as the Minister has mentioned, is that there are a lack of facilities. In 2016, Nuuk does not have ice surfaces, for instance. So this apparently is part of the reason. Also part of the reason is that the games are too big. I have long felt that, yes, they are too big. I have stated that a number of times over the years. I don’t agree with the decision. I don’t believe the Minister does as well. From his perspective as a Minister, from our perspective as a government, what power or what leverage do we have as a government to influence the Arctic Winter Games International Committee’s decision? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we don’t agree with the decision that was made. We had a meeting with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. We spoke about the fact that we don’t want to be seen as politically interfering, but at the same time, you have to respond to the concerns of the sporting community throughout all the regions that were affected. This was the message that we relayed to them, is that we are concerned with the decision that they made.
As far as what power or influence, we would have to have discussions with our representatives and try to get them to relay some of our concerns to the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. At the end of the day, we would like to leave the decisions up to them. However, if the decisions are ones that we don’t think benefit our athletes, then we have to relay our concerns to them.
We do plan on meeting again and seeing if we can come up with any viable options. At that point, I think we can determine what next steps we can take. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister as well. I am intrigued. We talk about not wanting to get politics into games, but there are times when a bad decision has been made and we have to do that. I appreciate the Minister’s view on this issue.
I was going to ask him for an update of the meeting. We have a bit of an update from his last response, so I would like to ask him if he can elaborate on what he has already said. What were the results or can he tell us the results of the meeting that was held with the International Committee and other sports Ministers last week? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, my counterparts in the Yukon and Nunavut felt very strongly about the sports that were excluded. They wanted to make sure that their voices were heard. We thought the best option would be a face to face. The Lieutenant Governor of Alaska was also at the meeting. We relayed our concerns to the Arctic Winter Games International Committee about a whole cycle of athletes that may be lost because of the decision they made.
We don’t want to take that Arctic Winter Games experience away from a lot of these athletes because – Members said before, and I totally agree with them – to them this is their Olympics. We don’t want to take that opportunity away from them.
They are going to do a bit of a review. We will do a bit of a review. When we get together in the spring – we want to do it sooner rather than later – we will look at the options that they may have come up with. We gave them some of our options. We will see what decision is made after that.
I will commit to Members of the House that we will keep them all informed as to the discussions we have, because we are going to start hearing from our sporting community. I also plan on meeting with the sporting communities that have been affected, excluded from the 2016 games, and I want to get an idea from them what they think are best options or the best way to move forward on this. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
