Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are facing a health crisis in our communities right now, and I am not speaking about specialists. I am referring to the children of the Northwest Territories who may be facing a lifetime of disease, ill health and frailty due to the lack of physical activity in their lives. Our schools lack the funding necessary to provide a vital physical education program that builds the foundation of amateur sports that we depended on for so long. Children in our communities lack the after school programs that would keep them both safe and provide them viable, physical activity. Small communities lack the infrastructure and funding to provide recreation to our youth.
There has been much discussion in this House and in the media about the attempt of MACA to develop a new system to deliver sport and recreation to all NWT residents. Mr. Speaker, I can understand Sport North and their volunteers being upset about the new board being proposed by MACA. However, even Sport North and other agencies handling sport and recreation programs in the Northwest Territories have to acknowledge that they have a great deal of difficulty getting coaching and training into our smaller communities.
For example, Mr. Speaker, out of the NWT's 33 communities, only four have a level three trained coach. Out of the 1,100 participants in the regional trials for the Arctic Winter Games, only 23 communities took part. Out of the 321 athletes that participated in 2002 Arctic Winter Games, only five came from my riding of the Deh Cho. Finally, Mr. Speaker, out of the 28 territorial sports organizations, or TSOs, listed on Sport North's web site, 26 of them are from Yellowknife, Hay River or Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, the greatest majority of Sport North funding goes to organizations based in the larger centres with ready access to facilities, volunteers and local companies willing to offer donations. Our small communities simply cannot compete. Clearly, Mr. Speaker, it's time for a change. Mr. Speaker, our smaller communities need a fairer system by which sports and recreation programs are offered and delivered in their areas. Clearly, Mr. Speaker, our children in the smaller communities deserve better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause