Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the population of the youth in the Sahtu, according to the 2003 statistics, indicate that Colville Lake has 20 percent, Fort Good Hope has 30 percent, Norman Wells has 16 percent, Tulita has 30 percent, and Deline has 29 percent. That's a high population of youth in our region, Mr. Speaker. The future of the NWT depends on the ability of our youth to eventually move into leadership roles. The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow and we, as the leaders of today, will hopefully be the elders of tomorrow.
The youth will be the ones to carry out the important initiatives that we put in place today.
The youth can be difficult at times, Mr. Speaker. It is easy for young people with a lot of potential to get into trouble. I believe it is the responsibility of this government to do all it can within its power to foster healthy leadership characteristics amongst our people. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate this government in supporting initiatives for the youth. As the Minister of MACA indicated, there is a conference in Fort Providence. However, Mr. Speaker, over a year ago the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment made a commitment in this House to work formally with the Minister of Youth, Minister of Health and Social Services and Minister of MACA on a plan to stimulate community-level activities aimed at youth in communities. Mr. Speaker, I'm still waiting for that plan to unfold within this government here.
Mr. Speaker, the communities are looking forward to after-school programs for our youth that would guide them to leadership roles, keep them healthy and give them some healthy choices in their lives. Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, there are no questions about the value of putting resources into youth programs. We can either put government money into programs for youth that support them to make productive life choices or we put the money at the other end, like in youth justice programs, to deal with kids after they've gotten into trouble. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause