Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this week, NWT athletes will begin to travel to Whitehorse for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. These games are the first to be held in the territories and I want to congratulate the host society on their excellent work in planning for these games, which will provide a showcase of the North for the rest of Canada.
The Northwest Territories will be represented by more than 200 athletes at the games in a variety of sports and I want to wish them the very best. While the games provide an opportunity to promote athletic excellence, it also provides participants with a means of experiencing and celebrating the diversity of life in Canada and provides the host region with an opportunity to showcase itself to the rest of the country. I know our athletes will do us proud in the sporting events, but also as representatives of the Northwest Territories.
In addition to the regular games, athletes from the Northwest Territories will be participating in special Dene and Inuit games competition that will be featured as part of the national television and media coverage of the games. Thirty pan-north youth ambassadors will also represent the Northwest Territories at the games. These young people are from communities across the Northwest Territories and I am sure they will represent the Northwest Territories well through their volunteer roles at the games.
As noted, the Canada Winter Games provides an important opportunity for the North to promote itself to the rest of the country. The Canada Games Host Society and the governments of the Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories have partnered together to promote travel and investment in the North. This marketing campaign has already started to run and will carry on throughout the games and into the spring.
Territorial artisans and performing artists will also play important roles during the opening and closing ceremonies throughout the games. These activities will provide cultural industries and artisans from all three territories with the opportunity to promote cultural products and educate visitors on how the wilderness, history and culture of the North are reflected in art. The NWT artisan performers will also be participating at cultural festivals planned during the games and at a First Nations cultural retail venue. Also, two NWT artists were selected to be part of 10 artists from across Canada included in an arts exhibit sponsored by the Yukon Arts Centre that will coincide with the Canada Winter Games.
Finally, NWT House will be open for the duration of the games. This central meeting place located in downtown Whitehorse is designed to promote the Northwest Territories to visitors and to provide a place to meet, warm up, have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate for NWT athletes and their parents. NWT House will have a communications centre for e-mail contact with friends and family back home, will provide NWT results from the games and will feature workshops, presentations and performances by NWT artists and performers.
In closing, I am sure you all join me again in wishing the very best of luck to our athletes and in providing our best wishes to all NWT representatives at the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.
---Applause
