Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to thank the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs for his Minister's statement yesterday in regards to an Aboriginal Sports Circle being established. I find it is long overdue that we have come to a point where we have established an organization to develop the youth in our communities. Mr. Speaker, almost 32 percent of our population is under the age of 14. Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest problems we have in our communities is the self-esteem of our youth and the younger people not having the resources to partake in sporting events, or not being able to have the opportunities that you have in the larger centres by way of having resources to basically compete at the territorial and national levels. Also not having the resources to have coaches and resource people in the communities to assist them to develop that self-esteem and move on in regards to themselves, to be competitive, to develop their emotions, their mental state, and also their physical state.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is more than just establishing an organization. We have to be able to have the resources for these organizations to do the work and to ensure that they are funded to be able to carry out their responsibilities. I, for one, fully support this initiative. For myself, I have been involved in cross-country skiing, I was on the NWT ski team for five years at which it was probably one of the best times of my life development from the small community of Fort MacPherson and travelling to national events in Alaska, Quebec, Ontario and also the northern part of the United States. With that I would like to thank the Minister for his efforts and to continue to strive to work along with the Aboriginal Sporting Circle for them to develop and find the adequate resources to move on and be successful in what he is trying to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause