On a previous occasion the Minister replied to one of my questions about working for sport and youth infrastructure from different sources. Can the Minister tell me if he has worked directly with the communities of Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution in regard to leveraging dollars from other sources?

Today I talked about the importance of providing adequate support to deliver sport recreation youth programs to my communities and to another riding. My questions are for Minister of MACA.

Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister going to do to assist the community of Lutselk’e regarding problems associated with the operation costs of a new arena?

Today I wish to acknowledge a young athlete and role model, 16-year-old Amber Mandeville of Fort Resolution.

Amber enjoys being out on the land, helping others, giving meat to elders, and taking visitors up the Talston River and Jean River. Last year, Amber was chosen as top junior ranger and was also a recipient of the Youth Award for Akaitcho Territory Government. She volunteers as a gym supervisor, coaching younger children in badminton and soccer. Amber is the only youth from Fort Resolution in this year’s Arctic Winter Games.

Please join me in acknowledging and congratulating this young role model and dedicated athlete, Amber Mandeville of Fort Resolution. Good luck, Amber.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, the department’s mandate is clear: to provide support to communities, to provide local sport and recreation programs. According to my communities the support being provided is insufficient. The department needs to re-examine its priorities and provide efforts where the communities can see immediate, positive results.

Later on I will follow up my statement with questions to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

[English translation not provided.] Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, back on November 28 I spoke about infrastructure needs for the youth in Tu Nedhe, the Tu Nedhe riding. On Monday I talked about providing support to communities to allow them to hire qualified recreation staff. Today I would like to talk about input that I have received to date on the issues from the communities.

In Lutselk’e they have a new arena, but they do not have the staff to properly maintain the facility. As well, the community is not fully prepared for the high O&M costs of running a community arena. And they still have no Zamboni.

Keep in mind that Lutselk’e is an isolated community of under 400 people. You can put the entire community population in the multiplex arena here and still have room to spare. It’s clear that a

community of this size will have a lot of difficulty to operate such an essential piece of infrastructure. They simply do not have the human or financial resources to do so. They need help from our government.

If run and maintained by properly trained staff, sport, recreation and youth facilities can have a positive impact on the community. In Fort Resolution an example of this is from April to December ’06. When the arena was closed, the local RCMP reported a total of 26 youths that had been charged with various crimes. When the arena was opened from December to April’07, a total of only four youth were charged. Unfortunately, the arena was closed again from April to December the following year, and 18 more youth were charged with various crimes.

The difference is significant, and it sends a message that is loud and clear. Adequate recreation for youth facilities run by properly trained staff can produce immediate results. In my October 19 Member’s statement I briefly talked about resources, tools, expertise needed for communities to effectively address and deliver youth and recreation programs and services. Today I would once again reiterate the urgency to provide these supports.

Mr. Speaker, on the MACA website it states that MACA recognizes that sport, recreation and physical activity are essential to the health and well-being of citizens and the community. The department provides support by assisting the community to provide local support, recreation, physical activities and programs and services.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to recognize individually Chipewyan interpreter trainees and elders from Tu Nedhe. We have Elizabeth Boucher, Nancy Casaway, Henry Catholique, Bernadette Lockhart, Mary Jane Michel, Alizette Abel, Joyce Isadore — all from Lutselk’e — Terry Villeneuve, Pete King, Archie Smith, Joyce Hessdorfer and the instructor Sabet Biscaye. Terry and Pete are from Fort Resolution,

Archie is from Thebecha, Joyce Isadore and Sabet are from Tetlit’Zheh.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

I'd like to pass my condolences to the family of Noel Abel, from Lutselk'e, who passed away just before lunch yesterday, February 11. Noel Abel was 84 years old and lived in Lutselk’e all his life. Noel Abel was one of 17 siblings and was the last living man of the family. I believe there is only one member of that family still alive, and that's Vicky Sanderson, also from Lutselk’e.

Noel had many, many relatives. I spoke to a couple of his nieces yesterday, and they tell me that Noel had 50 to 100 very close relatives, counting all his siblings’ children and so on. His nieces and nephews still have a few in-laws that are living well in Lutselk’e.

It’s with great sorrow that I pass my condolences on to the Abel family in Lutselk’e, and advise that funeral services for the late Noel Abel will be held this coming Saturday.

So I guess that’s about it. I guess, again, I’d like to say that my main points continue to be youth, cost of living and making sure that they have programs that fit the people. Thank you.

I listened to and read the Sessional Statement by the Premier from Wednesday. I have a few comments on it.

I think during the last government there was a lot of effort put into negotiations across the Territory. There was a lot of effort in housing, whether it be the social housing kind or the housing of professionals for market housing. A lot of time was spent on resource development, non-renewable resources and renewable resource development.

I’d like to see our attention shift just slightly, not because all of those things aren’t important, but because this government has to have a vision into the future. If we continue just to spend our billion-some odd dollars and continue on in the way we are continuing on, I think ultimately we will face failing infrastructure and failing programs, and we’ll be suffering the problem of hitting the debt wall.

The way I view this statement and all of the other discussions that we’ve had… The way out of our problems, in my opinion, is to prepare the youth. I find that educating and training our youth, and having youth ready to…. I’m having a little difficulty explaining exactly what I’m trying to say. I guess in layman’s terms, I’m trying to say that if we heal the youth of our Territory, then I think we will heal the entire Territory. The youth is our next generation of people who will be running the Territory. It would be good to have well-educated and healthy youth. In our objectives, our priorities — the priorities of this Assembly — we have to ensure that we have well-educated and healthy people. That’s what we’re trying to achieve. If we focus in on our youth, I feel that will go a long way to solving a lot of issues of dependence on government.

With the way budgets are split up now, I don’t know the exact percentage, but a high percentage of the budget from this Territorial government is being spent on social programs — income support and housing being two that probably should be and can be reduced. A lot of that reduction will occur with training, educating and assisting the youth in preparing for the future so there will not be generations and generations of people in the social envelope, so to speak.

The very important item for me in my riding is the cost of living. A reduction in the cost of living can

address some of the issues the people are facing today. When I go back and talk about educating and training and preparing our youth and making sure that the youth have all the things necessary to be well-educated, healthy people, that is something I think this government is going to do for its own future. But currently we do have a real issue of a high cost of living in some of the communities. My communities are affected by that as well.

I think the government is going in this direction, but a reminder that we have to have programs that work for people, not programs that are hamstrung by policies and procedures and that theoretically look like they would be a nice application to help the people of the North. Then once it comes down to the practical application of the programs, many of the programs become hamstrung by policies and procedures, as I indicated just a minute ago.

Infrastructure is important. Right now there is always the fear that this government will hit the debt wall, so we don't want to approve a whole whack of infrastructure that is going to make us do that. I feel that there should be a realignment of the infrastructure priorities by the government. I looked at the 20-year needs assessment, and it’s important to note it is a needs assessment based on certain criteria and not necessarily what's needed on the ground in the various communities.

It’s an opportunity to re-profile our infrastructure with the priorities of this Assembly in mind, and maybe the priorities of this Assembly used as a filter when we're spending infrastructure dollars and when we’re spending O&M dollars, period. But definitely in the focus on improving infrastructure that we have in the Government of the Northwest Territories, we should use our priorities as a filter.

There is always that looming $500-million debt-wall limit. As earlier indicated by one of my colleagues, maybe something could be done with the federal surplus, to move some of the federal surplus and have the federal government take responsibility for new infrastructure so that it won't be a cost to the G.N.W.T.

I feel that responsible, renewable resource development — whether it be non-renewable or renewable resource development — is something that’s important for the economy and for the economy in the Tu Nedhe riding as well.

In conjunction with that and dealing with all of the youth priorities that I would like to see this government put in place, I think that environmental monitoring and training is an area that would fit well with the youth of my riding in the area of the diamond industry and the uranium industry.

If there is more development in those areas…. I’m not indicating that there would be, but if there is, then it would be important that the youth of my

riding be trained in the environmental monitoring, assessment or review areas so that the people of the Tu Nedhe riding are taking care of their own land, so to speak.

And I guess, finally, I feel that the government needs to look at the issue of keeping all of our elders in the community for as long as possible, with the understanding that there are costs associated with the way the elders are being kept. Once they go to a point where they do need assistance to continue on existing, then that assistance should be provided in their own hometown.