Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, refusing to allow slight accommodations for late paperwork not only excludes individual children from sport but also goes against the best interests of youth and the spirit of the Arctic Winter Games. How does the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs justify upholding a decision that penalizes kids rather than supporting their participation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I am not involved in the process of all these applications, and there is an application process in place, like anything else that we do in this world, whether we're applying for passports or any other documents. At times you don't fill out the forms properly, they're denied. And the reality is, is with this process here, we're following Safe Sport. There's a bunch of processes behind that to make sure that all the athletes are filling out the documents, like the code of conduct and everything like that. So when the application process was put out, everybody had the opportunity to fill out these forms and at times, when certain things were missed, residents were contacted a few times to make sure that they fill out these documents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, these residents that I represent were not told that they missed something and that they could fix it. That's the exact problem we have.
Given that the decision to not step in and find a way to allow this young person to participate in the games effectively barred this young athlete from participating in the Arctic Winter Games, why did the Minister, or through their office of course, not through his personal capacity, but why did the Minister not exercise oversight, as he just mentioned, to prevent this unfair outcome for my constituent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's over seven -- you know, roughly about 700 athletes that went to tryouts. There's roughly 350-some athletes going to Arctic Winter Games. And, you know, everybody had the opportunity and fairness to apply for these positions for Arctic Winter Games. And if I was to bend the rules for every individual that were late essentially, then I would be giving out -- or taking away opportunities from other individuals who followed the rules. So, Mr. Speaker, the beginning of October was opening, end of November, November 30th was closing of the registration, and there's a lot of time there for people to get these applications in and fill them out properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are kids and their families; these are not people filling out passport applications or opening bank accounts, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, given that the Minister is not inclined to exercise any kind of oversight to fix this, it seems like we need a more systemic approach. So will the Minister work with Sport North to ensure that there's an appeals process in for when one form wasn't signed, Mr. Speaker -- every other form is signed, one isn't -- can he commit to a process that will ensure errors like this will be caught, can be resolved in a way that ensure no child is unfairly barred from participating in a future Arctic Winter Games event? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot ask the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs or Sport North to be responsible for every parent's application or kid's application when they put in for Sport North or for Arctic Winter Games or anything else like that. However, Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, you know, there is a process to be filling out these forms. There was a few incidents where people were contacted when they weren't done properly and given the opportunity to correct those; however, again, those weren't acted on by the people who filled out the forms. I can't help that, Mr. Speaker; however, I will say that I have I spoke to Sport North and the Indigenous Sports Circle, and I have asked for a review on some of our processes there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
