Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Education. It’s in light of the issue heard in this House where people are asking for gymnasiums for all the schools in Yellowknife. I think I would just like to point out, for the record here, that there are certain communities in the Northwest Territories that don’t have gymnasiums. They have to use the community hall as a means for recreation. In most cases they have to travel to Inuvik to take advantage of the swimming program, to drive to Fort McPherson for the hockey program, because they don’t have those programs in their communities. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Education what are we doing to ensure we have gymnasiums in all our communities in the Northwest Territories and for those communities that have to go out of their communities to get these services, drive an hour and a half to Inuvik or a half an hour to Fort McPherson because you don’t have these programs being delivered in the communities, especially the community of Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this area has been brought up in this House and I did commit to looking into it even further with PWS and other departments on a going forward basis. We do have some old buildings that don’t have suitable gymnasiums or other sports activities in the communities, but we are working closely with local education authorities or education councils to have some sort of agreement with them to deliver or transport students to specific areas so they can be actively involved with physical recreational activities, whether it be soccer, volleyball, hockey or other activities that may be happening in larger centres. So those are the areas that we continue to work with. Those individual communities that do not have gymnasiums, we continue to develop programs that are nearby the communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Again, getting back to the community hall in Tsiigehtchic. Last year they realized they had some problems with the community hall because it is on pilings. They found they are eroding and they had to shut it down for awhile, so no one had access to that facility. So, again, we took away the only means of recreation programs for the students and residents of Tsiigehtchic. So I would just like to ask the Minister, are you considering looking at recreation-like programs like gymnasiums for the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories?
Those are the discussions that we are having, whether it be the centres, with our departments. Those individual communities that do not have a gymnasium, what can we provide to them that’s suitable or, as the Member alluded to, a gymnasium-like facility where we can deliver recreation activities. So we continue to work. Some communities have been very good being creative, being innovative, generating ideas on how we can improve on certain areas, transporting students to different communities. So those are the areas of the discussions we continue to have.
Small communities that do not have gymnasiums, we understand the challenges, but we continue to work with those challenges. I think it’s great to have more opportunities for us to have a great dialogue about how we can improve in those areas and find solutions.
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to work with the communities’ local education authorities, even as it falls under Municipal and Community Affairs, sports and youth. We need to work collaboratively with all the departments as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me when he expects this review to be completed and when can we see a report in regards to what the review has found and what this government is going to do to improve recreation services for communities that don’t have gymnasiums? Thank you.
The discussion that we are having at the community level, that can certainly be brought forward to my department. We can certainly present it to a standing committee, if we need to, on the status of our discussion. So, certainly, we can do that, Mr. Speaker. I will make a commitment to gather the information from my department meeting with certain groups and education authorities and meeting with Municipal and Community Affairs and different departments what we’ve gathered. We can certainly share that information. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
