Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The North American Indigenous Games brought together some very strong and powerful athletes from the Northwest Territories. More importantly, it was done with a very small group of good people, volunteers. I’m very proud of every athlete that went down there, especially the Sahtu athletes, the coaches, the parents and, of course, our cultural drummers from Fort Good Hope. My questions are for the Minister of MACA.
Does he have a final report card on any type of commitments that can be given to the NWT team in three years’ time for the next North American Indigenous Games?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of sport, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were pleased with the results that we had in Regina and I think that’s a good indication of investment that this Legislative Assembly has made to giving our youth in all the communities an opportunity to be active. I think we’re seeing a direct result of that now. I have not received a final report yet. I’m looking forward to that to see if there’s any recommendations on how we can improve our gold medal haul for the next one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When the Minister does receive the final report, that will be shared, obviously, on this side with the Members so we can improve our next participation.
With our athletes going down to the North American Indigenous Games, it was a great experience for the youth to have. It is events like these that have the cultural component that help our youth become leaders of tomorrow. We will need strong and powerful leaders to stand for us.
Can the Minister tell us how the department is helping the Aboriginal Sport Circle and Sport North in creating a coaching program for our smaller communities?
Thank you. As part of the plan they submit to the Sport and Rec Council in their funding, they identify some of the clinics that they want to put on in the communities. I know for a fact that through the Aboriginal Sport Circle, the Parks and Recreation Association and Sport North run a number of camps in the communities to get the youth there not only competing but just to be active, and it’s through some of the programs that we partner with our colleagues, departments, the Active After School Program, the whole idea is to get our children active and we’re seeing a result of some of this as they start competing in some of the more high-caliber games because they’ve had that opportunity.
So there are many sport systems in place and it’s part of their plan when they submit their applications for funding to the Sport and Rec Council. Thank you.
Thank you. Yellowknife has some world-class facilities. It’s great to see sport circles bringing workshops and clinics like snowshoeing into Fort Good Hope, but can the Minister look into hosting a traditional sports tournament in our small communities?
Thank you. That’s something that we would rely on the Aboriginal Sport Circle to help us with. I do know that they have the Middle School Traditional Games Championships here in the capital and I’ve had the opportunity to attend a couple of them. They were well attended and the enthusiasm there was fantastic and the Aboriginal Sport Circle did a fantastic job putting those on. There are opportunities for some of the regional sporting organizations to have maybe a regional one, then they would work with the Aboriginal Sport Circle and our supporting partners to try to help bring that about. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
