Yellowknife (June 09/03) - Sport North may soon be disbanded.

That was what Vince Steen, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, said last week during the sixth session of the current government.

"We are going to replace the Sport North board with the territorial sports board," Steen said, referring to a new sports and recreation board that the government and other community organizations, including Sport North, are trying to get started.

Sport North chairman Abe Theil said he was concerned when he heard the minister's comments.

"All our discussions with the department and with partners were that there was not going to be any replacement of existing organizations, said Theil.

"There would be moratorium of two years on existing boards and programs. Nowhere along the lines have we been told otherwise."

Bill Braden, MLA for Great Slave, said Steen doesn't have the authority to disband the organization.

"It's not (the minister's) jurisdiction to say what will happen," he said.

Charles Dent, Frame Lake MLA, wasn't convinced that Sport North would be disbanded because in the minister's plan, the organization is still present in a diagram detailing the new hierarchy of sports in the North.

"It's clear ... that we are adding a layer and not taking (one) away," he told the assembly.

Theil said he was also concerned about other issues and said there were some "inconsistencies" with what Sport North had been told earlier and with what the minister stated in the assembly.

"We are trying to set up a meeting with the minister and officials to talk about these inconsistencies," he said.

The new board is expected to be up and running by July 1, but Sport North has already expressed doubts in the process. If the board of directors feels the minister of MACA is not addressing the federation's concerns, it will walk out.

And that has Braden wondering why Steen is pushing this issue if "there is so much resistance."

The minister answered that the new board is in place to help out smaller communities get the money they need to organize sports and recreational activities.

"Sport North did not address the situation despite being asked to by the former minister. (They) did not respond to suggestions to work closer with communities," said Steen.

One MLA from a smaller community said he thinks the new board is worth the effort.

"It's about time we start embracing all our communities to formulate a system that is there for everyone. I, for one, have to speak in favour of the minister's endeavour" said David Krutko, Mackenzie Delta MLA.