Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I wish to speak on the Lady of Fort Providence Church. The church was in very bad condition. During the last few years, the community has been renovating it to restore the church to its original conditions. The priest advised us last week at church, that the renovations to the church would be completed the first week of December. We will be able to celebrate Christmas in our original church, for the first time in years.
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Mr. Speaker, many groups took part in providing money for this project. The parish raised more than $9,000 through local fund raising and through donations from parishes in the Northwest Territories and southern Canada. The hamlet of Fort Providence donated $5,000, as part of a pledge to match community donations. The hamlet also provided the time of several of their employees, to get this important historical project up and running.
Even though I thought the government was a little slow in coming up with the money to do this project, I'm proud to say that they contributed a total of $77,000 to the renovation of the church in Fort Providence. Mr. Speaker, $57,000 of the money the Government of the Northwest Territories gave to this cause was for the NWT workers' training program. The money was used to hire a carpenter who specialized in historical renovations, to train three Fort Providence residents in carpentry.
The people who have to be thanked individually are too numerous to name. The community rallied around the project and a lot of time and material were donated by the residents of Fort Providence. When you add up all the donations of money, materials and labour, approximately $200,000 was spent on this very worthwhile effort. I'm proud to say that the residents of the community did most of the work. I'm proud of the community spirit that refused to allow the church to be torn down. This project is an excellent example of what can be done, if all levels of government and members of the community work together to complete a project of this magnitude.
I proudly invite any resident of the Northwest Territories, who wants to see this important part of our heritage, to visit us in Fort Providence. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
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