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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government is gearing up for a big bash this September to celebrate the legislative assembly building's 20th birthday.

The territorial government is planning a 20th birthday party this September for the legislative assembly. The festivities, which include park upgrades and new signage, come with a budget of $400,000. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

According to early plans, the festivities will kick off with a public event in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly building. Later on, a timeline will be unveiled showing the various venues where the assembly sat before the opening of its permanent home on Nov. 17, 1993.

"The history of the legislative assembly and where the members used to sit is really neat," said Danielle Mager, public affairs and communications adviser for the legislative assembly.

"They used to sit in a couple of gymnasiums, in community halls, they sat in the Elks Hall here in Yellowknife, in the Yellowknife Inn and at the Explorer Hotel."

There are further arrangements to set up the Katimavik Banquet Room at the Explorer Hotel similar to how it looked during the sittings. The former speaker's chair will be brought over and a gala event is planned for former premiers, speakers, current members, clerks, the NWT commissioner and support staff, said Mager.

During the celebrations, conceptual designs for enhancements to the waterfront park on Frame Lake will also be revealed. The plan, Mager said, is to turn the area into a functional space to hold public events such as fire feeding ceremonies.

"Because the legislative assembly is supposed to be a building of the people ... they wanted to make a nice area that people of the North felt they could come and use," Mager said, adding work on the park is expected to start in the fall and be completed by next summer.

Portraits of all the NWT premiers, painted by artists of their choosing, will be unveiled as well and signage will be added to the building.

The party itself, including the portraits, timeline, and travel for former premiers, speakers and clerks, has been budgeted at $100,000, while $200,000 has been set aside for the park. The signage, which will essentially identify the building as the "NWT legislative assembly," has been budgeted at $100,000.

Travel for the former premiers, speakers and clerks to attend the party will cost $70,000.

The money is coming from a surplus on investment returns on bonds used to pay for the construction of the $30-million facility 20 years ago. The final payment on the building will be made this fall.

Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny and Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro both described the party as a "mortgage-burning party."

Dolynny said he hasn't seen the figures detailing where the total $400,000 will go, but hopes to see some public input on what they'd like to see take place at the party and for the waterfront park.

"It's taxpayer's money, so the building belongs to the people," said Dolynny. "We need to let them in on the celebration."

He said while he's only speculating, the party seems a bit extravagant. But if the money is going toward improvements on the building or the grounds, that's understandable, he said.

Bisaro agreed on the need for enhancements to the grounds surrounding the assembly building.

"If it's going towards signage then I agree with that," she said. "We have some signs around here but not much, so they can use an upgrade."

- with files from Candace Thomson and Daniel Campbell

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