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Arctic Winter Games sports rescued NWT could host some events cut from 2016 games in Greenland
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, June 20, 2013
INUVIK
Robert McLeod, the MLA for Inuvik-Twin Lakes and a GNWT cabinet minister, said he hopes Inuvik athletes will benefit from a decision to move displaced sports to other venues for the 2016 Arctic Winter Games.
Six sports are on the chopping block in Greenland due to a lack of facilities available there and other difficulties, but there has been some intense lobbying to have them operate in alternate venues.
Inuvik has traditionally been a hotbed of sporting stars, McLeod said, and he wants to see that tradition continue for local athletes.
The affected sports are midget hockey, gymnastics, figure skating, speedskating, dog mushing and curling.
"The ministers will gather in October and at that time we'll make a decision then," he said.
It's not impossible Inuvik could be a venue for the alternate games, McLeod said.
"Obviously we'd like to see an event like that here, but we have to work with our partners to see if they're in agreement if the NWT is one of the locations."
Three-hundred-and-fifty athletes are affected by the decision, including some in Inuvik.
"We've been showing that (the NWT) can compete nationally and internationally," he said.
"We don't want to lose a cycle of athletes. We want children to be active, and it affects more than just the people who might make the team. It starts at a regional level," McLeod said. "It'll be a lot more than that affected.
"Some of these events make a huge difference in a kid's life. They see there's a huge world out there and they want a part of it," he continued. "We don't want to take that opportunity away from them."
He pointed to the results of the recent track and field championships won by East Three Secondary School as an example of the quality of athletes coming out of here.
"That's huge," he said. "I was talking to a guy years ago who said the best natural athletes he ever saw came out of the North. But there's a lack of opportunity here. There's a lot of good athletes up here going back to the skiing days of the Firth sisters and the national ski team."
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