SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The clock is ticking for a group of seniors who want to participate in the 2010 Canada 55+ Games in Ontario.

Gary Black, who has participated in bowling since 1998 - the first year the games were held, said the group is behind in planning because of a lack of funding to coordinate the 50 to 100 athletes from the NWT who will compete. At least half of the participants are coming from Yellowknife.

"The money that is required is to provide someone to co-ordinate it all," said Black on Wednesday.

"(To) try and have 50 to 100 individual people making their own arrangements for travel and hotels is going to be virtually impossible, very difficult at the least.

"We're well behind because we haven't been able to get an answer on funding."

On Tuesday in the legislative assembly Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy and Dave Ramsay, MLA for Kam Lake, both pleaded with Sandy Lee, minister responsible for seniors, to find money to help the group with costs for the trip to Brockville, Ont. in August 2010.

"We are talking about $25,000 to $50,000, depending on how many participants there are - to help these individuals go and promote the Northwest Territories," said Abernethy.

"They are our champions."

Lee said the Department of Health and Social Services is unable to find money to cover the funding, which was originally offered through federal funding but has since expired.

"We are not able to come up with the ... $25,000 to $50,000," Lee said.

"At the moment we are not able to renew the funding. (That amount) is not a small amount of money to find from within."

In the past, the NWT Seniors' Society had done the organizing, but wasn't interested in doing it this time and Lee said no other requests for funding have been submitted.

Ramsay asked Lee if her department would be willing to help find someone to take on the administrative role for the seniors, something Lee said the government won't do.

"We don't have the program or funding within our department to provide an organizer to organize events," Lee said.

"It's not in our mandate."

Black said Sport North is more than willing to help organize an NWT team but they require funding to do so.

"The government can always find money if it wants to," said Black, adding it depends on whether or not it makes the effort.

Richard Dreitch, president of Sport North, said the organization's board has agreed to help with organizing the team's trip, but won't be able to unless the group gets funding from the territorial government. He pointed out that the GNWT, specifically the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, supports Canadian Sports For Life, a national program focusing on long-term athletic development.