Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to make a few comments on M.A.C.A., as it relates to local and community governments. I have always believed that self-government starts at home. I know the change in direction from the government started way back in the late 1960s, early 1970s, when even the department names were changing, when we moved from the federal government responsibilities, to territorial, from Department of Local Government to what it is today.
I was one of the first settlement secretaries hired in Fort McPherson, when we changed from the old area administrators to settlement secretary, and settlement managers. Communities have developed very rapidly, from settlement councils, to hamlets, to towns, and we have one city. Sometimes this development is too fast.
One that I am very familiar with, a town which continues to struggle through various boom and bust cycles, and when things are good, there is a lot of money available, and developments take place very rapidly, but people are still left with the bills to sort out after a major development. We wonder what happens, and how it happens? The point here, is that assistance is needed for communities like this to guide them through these times, and more emphasis is needed, not to take away from communities that need basic infrastructure, and basic development, but existing and larger communities also need that help.
You cannot have self-government without people, and you need to continue, as Mr. Zoe has put it, with people development. You have to have people that are going to manage the affairs of the communities, and they need to be trained in finances, decision-making, land management, recreation, and all the components in running communities. People have to be trained, and we have to continue putting resources into the types of programs that are being offered by Arctic College, and other training institutions.
One of my colleagues has been very vocal in supporting M.A.C.A., as a lead agent for the development of self-government. I would like to state, and we mentioned in a motion earlier, in the west, especially in my area, that we put a strong emphasis on the communities to do a lot of this self-government work. Our situations are quite different than the east, in that we have band and the tribal councils, and in two situations, we have land claim agreements, which have specific conditions and terms for self-government.
On page 13-3 of the budget, there is a reference in there, on the environment, that we are working on, and the department is working under. One statement, I would like to focus on, is the one that says these local governments, clients of the department, are being challenged by aboriginal land claims, and demands for new form of political and constitutional development.
I hope those statements are made in a positive mode, and not a negative mode. I think it is a sign of the times. There has been rapid developments in our lifetime, mine especially, and we have seen great changes, and as changes go, I think it is not necessarily bad.
In terms of sport and recreation, again, I get very concerned about the quality of life of our residents, in terms of what they do with their leisure time. On one hand, government is increasing the social and health funding, and decreasing the sport and recreation funding, and there seems to be an anomaly here that maybe if the trend were reversed, we would not have social and health problems if people were kept busy.
I would just like to make those comments, and I, too, will have some specific questions and concerns when we get to the various activities. Mahsi.