Thank you, Mr. Speaker. February is known as heart month across this country. Today, February 28th being the end of the month, also marks the end of the annual fundraising campaign for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Since 1950, the Alberta Heart Foundation has been responsible for providing information, awareness and results to the Northwest Territories on heart and stroke disease. In 1990, the foundation's name was changed to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta and the NWT to reflect the work and involvement of Northerners.
Their mission is to fund heart and stroke research, provide public advocacy and promote healthy lifestyles. Mr. Speaker, despite a decrease by 50 percent since the foundation began, heart disease and stroke is still the number one killer in Canada. In the Northwest Territories, such diseases can claim approximately 39 percent of all deaths, which is in fact slightly higher than the rate for the rest of Canada.
Funding for the foundation comes from a variety of activities, Mr. Speaker, many of which you will recognize. Some of them are such things as Jump Rope for Heart, Dress Red for Heart, The Mother-Daughter Walk for Heart and Stroke and the all-important door-to-door fundraising campaign.
Locally, Mr. Speaker, there are 32 staff in the foundation and 40,000 volunteers who contribute to the support of 65 research projects within both Alberta and the North. It is interesting to note, Mr. Speaker, that the government does not provide funding and support for this initiative. It is all public fund raising.
In the NWT, there are eight schools that participate in the Jump Rope for Heart. I would like to specifically point out Ecole St. Joseph in Yellowknife. These folks have been the foundations top fund raising school for the last two years throughout Alberta and the NWT.
The NWT raises approximately $1.50 per capita. I understand this compares very favourably with that of Alberta.
On behalf of fellow Members, I would like to thank the residents of the NWT who have contributed to the fight against heart disease and stroke. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause