Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we were advised in the spring of this past year that the requirement for passports was going to be an issue. We were advised by the host society. We were also advised by the international committee that all countries should ensure that athletes and the mission staff have passports. We were also advised by the United States government that they may be proposing or that there was consideration of increasing the security requirements. They could not ensure that anybody that didn't have a passport would get across the border. We, then, in turn, or the Sport North Federation who is responsible for delivering and managing the Arctic Winter Games programs for the Northwest Territories, advised all of the sports groups, the organizations and the communities. That information was out there for a considerable amount of time. The regional recreational officers all knew about it. The community recreation people also knew that there was going to be this requirement. For the most part, it was followed. We did not allow anybody that took part in the territorial trials to participate unless they had their applications filed. That went very well. We have had 336 participants that took part and 200 and some of these are athletes. There is some concern that there were a small few who are not receiving their passports on time. We are trying to work around it. We are trying to find an alternative by using a birth certificate or a government ID. We still have not received confirmation that the border will let us use this documentation, but we are working on that. Thank you.
Michael McLeod on Question 394-15(4): Arctic Winter Games Teams - Change Of Rules
In the Legislative Assembly on February 14th, 2006. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 394-15(4): Arctic Winter Games Teams - Change Of Rules
Question 394-15(4): Arctic Winter Games Teams - Change Of Rules
Item 6: Oral Questions
February 13th, 2006
Page 1001
See context to find out what was said next.