Thank you. Deputy minister Gareau.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm wondering if MACA went back to FMB or EIA, or whoever kind of came up with the rules around the NGO criteria, to push back on that definition or to try to work with FMB on expanding that definition to include some of the sport recreation and youth organizations? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

So, again -- just trying to -- the Member's asking for us to go back to EIA and Finance. Right now these programs here are all application based, and this right now, what we're seeing is we're meeting the needs of our residents with the funding we have in place presently. So we do not need to -- like, if we needed forced growth then we would look at it but right now we don't need to do that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think if we went out and we took a trip around the Northwest Territories, that a lot of communities would say that we're not meeting the needs of the Northwest Territories, especially when it comes to youth and sport and recreation. When the Standing Committee on Social Development spoke with communities and spoke with youth organizations, spoke with residents of the Northwest Territories in regards to child and family services, homelessness prevention, and suicide prevention, one of the main key commonalities that we heard with every single one of those engagements in communities was a need for activities, especially youth activities across the territory.

And I know that I'm speaking the Minister's language here and I'm preaching to the converted, but I think it really is important to repeat that kids and youth across the territory are asking for activities. They're telling the Government of the Northwest Territories that they do not have equitable or accessible access to youth and sport activities to provide healthy safe alternatives to what they are doing and what we are losing them to. And so I think that a lot of people would disagree with that.

I know that I spoke with the Minister earlier on in this sitting about the sport recreation -- or sorry, sport, physical activity, and recreation framework, known as SPAR framework, and that there was a commitment that that would be done in the next few months here in this upcoming fiscal year. And so one of the things I wanted to know was if the SPAR fund has a surplus and if the Minister can let us know what that is? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

So there's no surplus. It will be for a multi-sport games within a year. We've had Canada Winter Games, the Arctic Winter Games, the Canada Summer Games, and we are going to be having NAG this July in Halifax. So there is no surplus in that pot. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the Minister clarifying that piece because that was going to lead me down another path. And I'm glad that the Minister brought up access to multi-sport games and Arctic Winter Games, Canada Winter Games. One of the comments that was made, and I know that this has been a conversation that has happened now for years, is access for kids outside of our hubs, and especially outside of Yellowknife, to be able to gain the experience so that they too can participate and compete in these sporting events, so that they have kind of the time on the ice; they have the equipment necessary; they have the access to coaches. And I'm wondering, you know, when there's such a deficit of this access outside of especially Yellowknife, why we're not seeing inflationary costs here. Even, you know, the cost of airfare is more expensive so does that mean that less sport is going to be delivered in certain communities or less ability of events to happen and kids to come together and to really be able to work on not only creating relationships but also creating healthy foundations for themselves. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

So first and foremost, depending on the sport, if you look at hockey as the Member talked about, you know, ice time, for tax-based communities that got artificial ice, you can start in September, maybe late October whereas in some of the other small communities, we don't see our ice in until maybe November, maybe December, and then our ice is out earlier than the other times. So we see the challenges there. So given two months that a -- just that, two months, for our athletes in the smaller communities is the challenge. So that there is the reality is some sports are very specific to what is available within the municipality, within the community.

The other biggest challenge that people need to understand is the people in the community. So you look at the community that I used to live in in Kugluktuk. Lacrosse was big. There was a national -- a movie about the Grizzlies. You know how much lacrosse is being played in Kugluktuk right now? None. They had an indoor soccer pitch built in the community -- or they had a hockey rink and an indoor soccer pitch. They don't play indoor soccer right now. And the biggest challenge is because it becomes specific to the people in there.

In the communities, some of the smaller communities, we see teachers that can offer great programming and then you see a spike in the development of it. So that's one of the challenges that you're seeing there is the facilities, it's the people and, again, it needs to be driven by the community.

I spent 30 years in the sport and recreation field, and it comes down to people being able to commit to the time in there. So that's where that is. So sometimes it's just not the money but it's also other factors. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I have the privilege of sitting next to colleagues of mine whose communities have experienced this, where you have those highs and lows of activity in the community. But one -- and I had the privilege of speaking with a resident of Tuk actually, a young woman who was talking about all of the activities that they were able to sit down and do at the direction of youth. And one of the things that this person said was that everybody who was sitting and working on this stuff is absolutely exhausted. And so they go to their day job, they do their day job, and then the same exact people every time are doing the activities with the kids. And so I'm wondering then what can be done as far as the staff that are working here and working within communities. I know it's a small staff cohort, but what kind of relationships can be formed and what support can be provided from MACA in order to place value on the people that are doing this work in communities so that they're not doing a full full-time job, and then another full full-time job trying to create opportunities for youth, because people are tired when it's the same people doing that same work over and over again. Thank you. Sorry, I'm babbling.

Thank you. I totally agree with the Member. One of the biggest challenges is trying to get people in there. Some of the capacity that MACA can do is have regional staff that can do that. We can provide camps. We can work with the municipality to bring in youth tours in there and that. So we're able to do those things. Is it perfect? No. But we work with the communities to get those things done. So thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, just in regards, we brought this up numerous times in regards to into my riding, you know, sport and recreation in the small coastal communities, travel will be the most impactful to get any child or sport in -- to travel for sport. You know, recreation, our youth, our communities, they do their best in regards to what's provided to the community, local community government, the community. And, you know, people are -- with my youth, I mean, we're already behind the eight ball. The opportunities they have are none almost, other than your -- if you're an elite athlete. I think that we brought this up in the House before that, you know, the Beaufort Delta as a whole, for having youth sport like soccer and different -- and different parts, soccer, basketball in different communities, that not just on the road system. Paulatuk, Sachs, and Ulukhaktok should be invited to those. We're failing those youth. The Minister knows it. I mean, the Minister lived in a small community and still lives in one. But at the end of the day, those youth are not being properly served. Our government, we're failing them in regards to that. We should be increasing travel or giving an increase in the budget for the Beaufort Delta at least by a million dollars for all nine communities to get youth out. Post-pandemic now, we're in a post-pandemic, you know, and we need to get them out. We need to get them active. We need to bring people in to motivational speak. We need to get coaches brought in for hockey, soccer, you know, even ping-pong, stuff like that. Something easy other than, you know, what -- the biggest thing I find with the communities that I represent, it's the same people doing it for hockey coaching, for volunteering. And people are tired, Madam Chair, in regards to that. People -- there's no recognition. Does our government give recognition for any of our volunteers? None. We say youth and recreation for, you know, children resiliency. A little increase, but we need to put our money where our mouth is. Recreation funding, we need to give that million dollars in increase and cut some of this other stuff off their budget. You know, youth contributions. Youth contributions are a big one for me. Everyone want to say, youth, youth, youth are our future but nothing's backing it up. Nothing. We really need to get -- get serious about this. Our generation coming up now, they're too much on cell phones and too much playing games. They're not out being active half the time because there's nothing happening in the community. We need help. Beaufort Delta, Nunakput needs help. This Minister could make a difference. You know, volunteer contributions, he should be given out awards, getting a list from us as Members to give awards out. A little bit of recognition will go a long way and maybe it'll pull people out to help. The cost of travel, again, we need to get that increase into our travel budget for the Beaufort Delta so all our youth could travel and participate and not just selected communities because they live on the road system. It's not fair. We really need to do this. And I'm really hoping the Minister hears this. And it's a lot of a -- a little bit of a rant, but I'm really -- I'm just tired. I'm tired. I worry about my youth all the time in my communities. We live it. You know, it's not because -- not -- it's just a really worrisome time right now we're in. We have to do something. And I hope this Minister hears me, and I hope our government hears me in regards to this because it's going to come into the budget and if not, we'll just start cutting. Find the money. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I didn't really hear any questions. So I'll take that as a comment unless the Minister would like to respond.

Thank you. I hear the Member's frustration. Sport and rec is my life. When I'm done this, that's where I'm going back to. I'm going to be a coach; I'm going to be a volunteer, because that's where my heart is and that's where it is. Like, it's about our youth. These are some challenges and we are trying to work with that. Again, we have limited dollars. I can tell this House here when we were at the Canada Games and we had the FPT, one of the conversations we had was about the Truth and Reconciliation section 88 and to 91, and we pushed the federal minister on that as well. We talked about those things. And it's actually part of our process. So you know, we are trying to get this addressed. We are trying to work on it but, again, when we are competing against the health and education, infrastructure and housing, you know, these are our challenges that we have. I mean, I would love to put $10 million into sport and recreation but where are we going to take it from? But there is things like the youth tours.

There's coaching clinics that we can offer, and those are some of the things that we can work with the constituent on. And we do have recognitions to volunteers. From 2023, I believe, we got a thousand dollars that went to Tuk. And then a thousand dollars went to Paulatuk to recognize the volunteers. And volunteers are our core, our foundation. So, yes, there is funding programs available to recognize volunteers. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regards to that, you know, under Truth and Reconciliation section 88, residential school, as a survivor myself, and other Members in this House, you know, the federal government has to step up in regards to this right across Canada. It's not only us in my riding, it's right across Canada. You're hearing it in Yukon and Nunavut. What we have to do in regards to this is maybe our Minister has to take a bold step and our government has to and throw a million dollars into a sport fund. And not only that, I mean, I know where the Minister's coming from. I did the same thing.

I coached minor hockey for 20 plus years in my community. I did all that volunteering. I still do. My wife, everybody. But people are getting tired and getting burnt out. We need our youth to start -- you know, our youth are so resilient. I have so much good youth in my riding, and across the Beaufort Delta. We need to help them.

I'm working with First Assist to try to get a coach into a community for one year, and they'll help you pay. The Minister should look into that for the communities and getting somebody from the outside to come in to help our youth and train, train a trainer. Being able to do stuff like that, but we have to get serious on it. Can't just lip service it all the time and don't do nothing and yeah, yeah, yeah. Let us hear what we want to say while we're here then when we go, nothing. Got to stop it. Got to take that step. So, Madam Chair, I mean, I'm just -- wish the Minister would listen; I wish our government would listen and help us. Help us help you. Thank you.