Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Years ago an elder told me that taking care of our youth was like building or taking care of your hunting equipment. Without this, things continue to deteriorate quickly to a point where survival is impossible. The healthy survival of communities relies on our youth. These are an elder’s words of wisdom I try to promote whenever possible.
Mr. Speaker, the youth of Nunakput face the hardest challenges in the entire territory, possibly the entire country. Challenges such as few recreational sports, the high cost of supplies, the high cost of transportation and no adequate youth centres are just a few. Equality is all Nunakput is asking for.
Mr. Speaker, there are many students in Nunakput who have never played an official sporting game, such as basketball, hockey and the Super Soccer tournament here in Yellowknife. This is unacceptable. Another example is that if a group of youth travel to Inuvik, let alone Yellowknife, from my communities to a sporting tournament, the cost of an aircraft return flight would be $6,000, even before they left Inuvik.
Healthy youth results in a healthy community. That is why I am challenging the government to follow through on promises and priorities established for our youth. Mr. Speaker, strengthening our communities through a wide range of youth enhancement initiatives must be a priority for the government, such as education, recreation, motivation, inspiration and edification. Making these commitments is not going to be easy and will require considerable resources to be assigned, but the alternative is more unhealthy youth, a higher dropout rate and possibly even more youth in the correctional system.
We have to be there for all youth in the Northwest Territories, not just where we live. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
