Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 03/01) - Territorial funding for the Living History symposium was secured just a day before the official unveiling of the symposium.

According to officials who responded to calls from the Yellowknifer, cabinet dealt with funding for the project on Tuesday, during the second of two days of cabinet meetings.

At a press conference held Wednesday to announce the symposium, deputy premier Jim Antoine said details of how the $100,000 will be provided have yet to be finalized.

"We need to work with the MLAs on this process," Antoine said. "We need to go through the process to get the funding in place."

The Living History Society indicated the federal government has agreed to contribute $155,000. A BHP Billiton official said the company is providing $50,000 of a total of $65,000 contributed by diamond companies. The society said petroleum companies have contributed another $30,000.

During review of the 2002-03 territorial budget last March, regular MLAs balked at the lack of justification the government had to offer for spending $250,000 on the project. They said the government initially recommended contributing $500,000 to it, including security costs associated with the Governor General's visit.

During the budget review Antoine failed to produce any formal funding application from the Living History Society.

A government official said the formal request was received March 15. MLAs also questioned why the request was coming through Aboriginal Affairs instead of Education, Culture and Employment, the department that typically handles such funding requests. Antoine said the funding will be coming through ECE.