Thank you, Mr. Chair. I questioned the Minister last week on a concept and the Minister responded positively to an idea. Given the 260-some-odd days left in our term, is there a possibility of looking at a pilot project like they had with the old TEST program. There are some athletes that are very gifted in the small communities and our centres. There are athletes who are going to school and are just all around in our communities. I wonder if there’s any type of discussion or looking at this from a territorial perspective. The TEST program was successful because of the dedication of staff, people, the athletes themselves and the community. It was just a long-term program that produced world-class athletes.
I wanted to say this because in our small communities there are special challenges that some of our young people have to endure and to excel at some of the sports and recreational activities that they have. I thought it would be a good idea to look at a pilot project, take a group of grade sevens and eights and say we’ll do this for you over the next four or five years, build a team. These are good, young athletes. I’d like to see how this group of athletes would do in the community, the school, academics and excel in sports. I’d like to see if something like that could be looked at by this department.
This department is very valuable to small communities. I’ve seen a lot of good work happening in our communities with recreation and youth. I’ve seen it more so in the smaller communities like Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake, Deline and Tulita. There are lots of young ones who are excited in this area here. The department has done a lot of good work in our communities in this area. There are natural-born, gifted athletes in our communities. Some of them we miss sometimes. I’m just thinking out loud here. I know that got some programs. I have already seen the programs for athletes that are aspiring to the Canada Winter Games, Pan Am Games, for the Olympics, in that capacity and they are doing quite well. There are other ones who need a little more attention and care. So, I thought this would be a good pilot to look at.
There is a group of students and young athletes in our communities and we could also monitor how they are doing in school. Are they staying away from alcohol and drugs? It is disciplined to be up there with world-class athletes. Are they doing well in the community? Are they bringing pride to the North and their community? What else do we need to do for them? The communities are so far apart and it’s a lot of work, so I’m not sure how it will be discussed at this level. It might not be a level that would get support because of the cost and funding. I understand that.
The town of Norman Wells has a karate club there. There are just young kids all over. Even to do something like that with them would be good. They have a club going with volunteers and there are little kids there five and six years old. If we had something like that, that would help them out in the community. It doesn’t take very much to get a gym, get some G’s and get a club going. They are great at five and six, so by the time they’re in Grade 12 they will show some good promise. I’m thinking that type of thinking.
We don’t have a swimming pool, so we can’t do like students in Yellowknife do and go swimming. We have good swimmers but we can’t do that, only in the summer. We’ve got a swimming pool we open up; it’s called the Mackenzie River.
We need some thinking on this to get kids moving and bring self-esteem and discipline to the kids. They are in a tough battle dealing with alcohol and drugs, gangs and violence. That world is coming to our communities now and we need to prepare them. They need to build the skills to meet the challenge and overcome it. I’m thinking about that, about these young kids in today’s society. There are lots of good people and communities.
Just last week in Norman Wells they had a parent-child hockey tournament, which is good. I’m just thinking out loud, so I’m going leave it at that. Those are my only comments for MACA.
I think MACA in my region is doing well, very good. I’m happy to see, contrary to my colleagues, what they are doing with the NGO Stabilization Fund. I’m supportive of that; I think it’s a good thing. I just wanted to say that to the Minister. If we can do some things to help our young people deal with some of today’s issues, I’m hoping it can be looked at within the 262 days. Mahsi cho.