Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The arts are alive and well in the NWT. We are blessed with visual arts, music, film, dance, and written word artists, to name just a few. This government recognizes the contributions that arts performers make. We recognize the positive impact on the economy from the arts and that they are essential to the preservation of NWT culture. Funding for the arts is provided through the Education, Culture and Employment budget, and we present awards for culture through the Minister’s Cultural Circle. But there’s one aspect of our lives and our history which needs greater profile, Mr. Speaker, greater profile and recognition, and that would be heritage.
We often speak of heritage and culture in the same breath. They complement one another. Culture tends to refer to language, customs and the arts, whereas, heritage tends to refer to artifacts, structures and stories from the past. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment will be aware of a request to him and the department from nine NWT culture and heritage groups for assistance in preserving and profiling NWT heritage. This isn’t to say that the government doesn’t do anything for heritage right now, but we could do more. Other jurisdictions do. They recognize heritage in their ministries. For instance, Manitoba has a Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism. In the Yukon, the Department of Tourism and Culture specifically identifies a process for managing, conserving and interpreting heritage.
Around the NWT we have nine heritage and culture groups: NWT Mine Heritage Society, Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute, Hay River Museum Society, Norman Wells Historical Society, NWT Metis Cultural Institute in Fort Resolution, Heritage Centre Society in Fort Simpson, Native Communications Society of the NWT and the Fox Moth Society in Yellowknife. These all play an important role in the social and the economic fabric of their communities.
The GNWT needs to expand our focus and our support for culture to specifically include heritage. The requests in the letters sent to the Minister from these organizations are not huge. They ask the government to consider the following:
form a culture and heritage council similar to the NWT Arts Council;
establish a ministerial portfolio for heritage and culture;
allocate permanent funding for heritage and culture organizations and activities.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
They also ask for continuation of funding to hold their bi-annual meetings for culture and heritage. They also ask to provide support for ongoing training and networking opportunities. All of these asks are something that we as a government can do that won’t require much financial support. Maybe we don’t need another ministerial portfolio, but to consider an expansion of the Cultural Circle awards to include heritage I believe is certainly doable. I urge the Minister to seriously consider the requests from the NWT’s nine heritage and culture societies and to copy Members of this House on his response to their letter. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
