Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you heard from my Member's statement, the Youth Ambassador Program is very important for our youth. As part of the promise I made to the youth, I will have some questions for the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. Mr. Speaker, you always hear that youth are important. However, sometimes governments -- local, regional, or territorial -- do not follow up on that action. Can the Minster please tell us what the department is doing to enhance programs like the Youth Ambassador Program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Youth Ambassador Program is, in my opinion, one of the most important programs that we run within the Government of the Northwest Territories, and I think we will see some long-term benefits of the program. We've retained a consultant to complete an evaluation of the Youth Ambassador Program to provide suggestions on how we can improve this program in future years. The review is actually going to cover all ten years of the program's operations, and once the evaluation has been completed, the department will be in a position to consider program enhancements.
Mahsi cho to the Minister for his answer, and I know the youth will appreciate hearing it, such as I do. Mr. Speaker, part of the Youth Ambassador Program is the promotion and showcasing of traditional games and knowledge. Can the Minister please advise this House how the department is looking at new training events to get more youth involved and preparing them to be able to showcase our traditional games and knowledge in future events, as our older performers -- or as our performers are now getting older?
The department really has some good training programs when they are preparing youth to go off to some of the events that they attend. A training event will be held in March of 2017 to prepare the Youth Ambassador Project at the Canada Summer Games, and discussions are still under way with the Host Society in Winnipeg to gauge our interests related to our Youth Ambassadors, but no decisions have been made on the traditional games component of the -- at the March event. The Aboriginal Sports Circle continues to do some community clinics and hosting the traditional game championships. So my experience has been in the past that we've seen a number of events where our youth have been there, at NWT Days in Ottawa especially I think was a very successful event and it was well-attended and well-received by all the people that attended the event. We continue to train our youth, and we know some of our youth workers are going into communities, promoting traditional games. So it's one that's high on the radar, and we will continue to promote.
I thank the Minister for that answer. The Minister, in his previous answer -- not this one here, but the previous one -- talked about the evaluators and doing a 10-year evaluation of the program. Can the Minister confirm that he will be talking to all candidates that were part of the program, all the alumni, and get their stories and their challenges and how that has had an impact on their life presently?
An evaluation is currently under way and the report will be provided to MLAs, and I can say from personal experience, having the MACA file and dealing with the Youth Ambassador Program since 2008, I've seen first-hand the benefits and a lot of the Youth Ambassador alumni that are actually doing quite well. We actually had some at the NWT Association of Communities AGM that was held a couple of months ago, and the feedback that we got from them, that they were so interested in municipal politics that they may consider a run for municipal politics in the future, or as early as this fall. We're looking forward to that, but I see first-hand the benefits of the Youth Ambassador Program and it's one that's going to be continuously supported by this government.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I thank the Minister for his great answer. Yes, some of us who have been involved with this program understand the importance of it. Now, we've talked about the challenges of making this program successful. Can the Minister commit the department will look at increasing funding for this program, or add a coordinator position that will lead to more success for this program, not this year but for the next business plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are always looking at ways that we can increase our funding, especially for the youth. I mean, I can tell this House that we've had five events, I think, in the last year or so and we spent close to $650,000 at these events, and some of this is O and M funding for staff time and such. So it is a program that, you know, we will look at ways to enhance once the evaluation has been completed, and we will work with committee members to see how we can incorporate into our business plans and main estimates going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to a Member's guest in the gallery. We have a former Member of the Legislative Assembly for Wiilideh, also former Premier and former Minister. Welcome to the Chamber. We also have His Worship, the Mayor of Hay River, Brad Mapes. Welcome. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
