Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide Members with some background information on the various types of gymnasiums which may be present in a community. A community gymnasium is a facility which can serve as a combination community hall and gymnasium, and is suitable for recreation games, fitness activities and organized sports. A community hall is a larger public recreation facility suitable for social recreation activities such as feasts, dances, meetings and cultural events, and also meets the Government of the Northwest Territories requirements for school physical education programs. A community assembly hall is a public recreation and administrative facility that can serve both social recreation activity functions, as well as community administrative and assembly needs.
Mr. Speaker, the non-tax-based communities of Enterprise, Kakisa and Nahanni Butte do not have either a community gym or a community hall in place. However, each has a community assembly building that is used for low-structured recreation activities.
Although there are no other indoor sport facilities in Enterprise, Kakisa and Nahanni Butte, there are many other recreation facilities in place. Enterprise has a ball diamond, outdoor active living centre, snowmobile trails, a sliding hill and camping facilities. Kakisa has a ball diamond and playfields. Nahanni Butte has multi-purpose trails, waterfront area, youth centre, playground and playfield.
It is important to note that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, a significant amount of funding was allocated to construct recreational facilities in non-tax-based communities in the Northwest Territories. However, in keeping with today's fiscal realities, the Government of the Northwest Territories must target scarce infrastructure funding to those capital projects that attain high priority through the corporate capital planning process.
The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes the importance that recreational facilities play in the lives of community governments, and how important it is that community members identify which infrastructure projects are of high priority to community residents. I traveled to the community of Nahanni Butte with the Member of the Legislative Assembly this past summer and I am aware of their desire for a community gym. My department will continue to work with the community to try to identify resources for this project.