Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I had some questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. As you have heard, four athletes from Nahendeh didn't get the opportunity to compete for a spot on Team NWT. This is very disappointing, to say the least. Unfortunately, nothing can be done now for these games. However, I hope we can fix it for future games.
Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that each Territorial Sport Organization was required to have an appeal process in place for athlete selection that was approved by the GNWT. Can the Minister confirm if this is correct and if each organization follows this process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Member is correct that each Territorial Sport Organization is supposed to have a selection process. Within that, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, however, does not take part in the selection process. We do know that we are notified whenever an appeal is brought forward. I will make sure that all of the Territorial Sport Organizations do have an appeal process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that answer and the commitment to make sure that all Territorial Sport Organizations have a process and are following that process.
Mr. Speaker, living in the North, does the Government of the Northwest Territories and especially the department realize that weather can sometimes interfere with the schedule? Therefore, does the department have a contingency plan in place to ensure that athletes are given a fair opportunity to compete for a spot on the team? I.e. using modern technology, other personnel, et cetera, et cetera.
Unfortunately, I, too, felt really not at ease when I heard that the four youth from the MLA's region were not able to attend the games. There were other youth who were affected, as well. Sometimes when there are tournaments going on or children are out of the province, they often don't get to attend the trials, so it is an issue. With this one, the weather was a problem. We do ask Sport North and the Territorial Sport Organizations to try to accommodate whenever possible. We're reviewing at this point. Because of what happened, we're looking at different options that we can implement in the future so that fewer youth will not be able to attend to trials. We can't guarantee that every youth will make it to the trials, because there are all kinds of different reasons, but we will look at options to ensure that as many as possible can attend the trials. These are important to our youth.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Unfortunately, I knew this was what I was going to hear. It is very disappointing to hear this, as it seems that we would want to have a process in place, especially since I've seen things happen in the past because of weather. To ensure our athletes are given the opportunity to try out, will the Minister direct her department to work with the organizations who have been given the response to make up the Team NWT and the Territorial Sport Organization to come up with a contingency plan for the future games using technology and other personnel?
Yes, it was kind of dismaying for me to hear that, all of these years that we have been providing the multisport games, this has been an issue, so I have made it a priority that we will look at options, like I had said earlier, that we need to make sure as many children as possible, as many youth as possible, have a chance for these games. These sometimes change people's lives, and so it is critical that we look at this and we make it a priority, so I will make it a priority to make sure that we look at all available options so that more youth can attend the trials, at least, for the games.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly appreciate the Minister for that commitment in trying to work with our poorer athletes. It is greatly appreciated, and I know it is not going to help the athletes who did not make it this year, but I mean it is a positive step moving on. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister direct the department to reimburse the athletes for the registration fee and other transportation costs these athletes incurred but who did not get the chance to compete for a spot on Team NWT?
The transportation costs, Sport North was already covering these transportation costs to get into the trials. Unfortunately, some of the youth decided to take alternative transportation to try to make it, and my understanding is that, if they would have stayed in place, they might have actually made the trials because the weather was better in that community the next day. So we will not reimburse the travel expenses, but we will reimburse the registration fees that these youths paid because it is not fair that we charged them registration and they could not attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
