Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement, I have questions for the Minister of MACA.
As I mentioned in my Member's statement, Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague, the Member from Range Lake, had brought to the House many times the issue of iGaming and the potential for revenue around that. I'd like to ask the Minister, can we get an update on the status of the work on the legislative framework around iGaming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're in continued talks about the iGaming topic. I think there's more to the iGaming than just iGaming. I think we have a lot of things going on with even land-based gaming type stuff. So there's a lot going on with that. We haven't reached the legislative proposal stuff yet, but there is a lot of internal workings right now on how to pursue and move this concept forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So from what I'm hearing is we're not super close to that, having that work prepared yet. Something, certainly, we'd like to see in this Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, then if the Minister doesn't feel that we may get iGaming and get that revenue stream flowing, does he have a proposal, or will he be bringing forward other opportunities to ensure that we're funding the physical activity, sport, and recreation fund appropriately? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a few plans bringing forward to cover that fund off. One of them is obviously submitting to the government for more funding to help support that. However, we also need to fine tune what we're doing, you know, looking at expenses, looking at what we're paying for in order to contribute to the actual fund itself to make sure that the funds are actually getting to the athletes and their abilities to participate in sports and games. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And certainly, yes, I mean, that is the goal is to ensure that funding gets to the athletes, particularly the athletes in the smaller communities. And I spoke in my Member's statement about the spirit of the Arctic Winter Games. I appreciate we have a lot of high-level athletes in this territory. They do have other venues to go through and other options if they want to pursue a career or pursue, you know, that avenue for their sport. But participation is important, Mr. Speaker. So I know we have a seat on the international committee, the Arctic Winter Games international committee. Would the Minister commit to ensuring that that spirit and that we are creating sports that open up doors for athletes in all our communities so they can participate and take advantage of this oftentimes once in a lifetime opportunity for those youth. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, rest assured to the Member I've been echoing his statement quite a bit to the international games committee. Most recently in Alaska when I was there during a meeting, you know, I've requested -- or I encouraged them to look at how we do the Arctic Winter Games, participation-wise, how often the games are held. You know, these are important things to help ensure that the Arctic Winter Games are -- first of all, the ability to afford them is there but that we're able to hold them in other communities throughout the Northwest Territories. You know, it's not only us as a territorial government; it's also the International Games Committee that has to make some tough decisions and I hope that these decisions, you know, reflect the need of getting communities and small communities to the Arctic Winter Games to participate. I myself have been very passionate about having small communities participate in the Arctic Winter Games. I know there's been some question about it, but rest assured that when I'm talking about Arctic Winter Games and participation, I do that with the communities in mind. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
