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The 2011 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) will not be coming to Saskatchewan. In fact, the games will not be held at all next year.
But a variation of the games are expected to be staged in 2012.
The 2011 NAIG had originally been awarded to Milwaukee and were to take place next July. But with just over a year to go, the host organization, NAIG USA Inc., sent out a release in June 2010 indicating it was withdrawing as host. As a result, the NAIG Council, which operates the games, held a teleconference meeting the following day to announce the Milwaukee games were being cancelled.
Council members also decided to meet in Winnipeg from Aug. 11-14 to discuss their next steps.
NAIG Council president Harold Joseph had previously told Sage that two groups - one from Saskatchewan and one from California - had offered to take over next year’s NAIG. But Marcia Trudeau, the proxy for the Ontario rep on the NAIG Council, said there were no actual presentations at the Winnipeg meeting from Saskatchewan or California groups.
“They did not come forward offering to host,” Trudeau said of the two rumoured replacement hosts. “There was no presentations. There was nothing to vote on. You can’t vote on hearsay. And we weren’t going to vote on an email. Nothing was presented to us. We need something in front of us,” she said.
Once it was determined there would be no NAIG in 2011, alternative competitive opportunities for those who would have been eligible for the games next year were explored. NAIG Council members have decided to try and hold various athletic competitions in numerous cities in 2012.
“They’re going to be endorsed by the NAIG Council but the actual name would probably be the North American Indigenous Sport Championships,” Trudeau said.
It is believed that age groupings for these events will be altered somewhat to allow athletes who would have been eligible for next year’s NAIG to also take part in the 2012 competitions.
It is not known whether the 2012 events will be held in both Canada and the United States. The NAIG, traditionally held every three years, typically rotate between Canada and the U.S. The 2008 games were held in Cowichan, B.C. But Trudeau said officials with the Aboriginal Sport Circle, the governing body for Aboriginal sports in Canada, will soon be announcing the bid process for cities or regions interested in hosting competitions in 2012.
It is expected that the sites for the various competitions will be announced by the end of December. It is not known whether the American-based Indigenous Peoples Sport Circle will also be accepting submissions to host 2012 events.
What has complicated matters somewhat is the fact some athletes might still be competing in Milwaukee next year even though there will be no NAIG. That’s because after they withdrew as hosts for the 2011 NAIG in late June, about three weeks later organizers in that city announced their plans to stage a smaller event in Milwaukee next year and call it the U.S. Indigenous Games.
This isn’t the first time the NAIG have been surrounded by controversy when they were to be held in an American city. Buffalo was originally scheduled to host the 2005 NAIG. But that event was moved to Denver and held in ’06.
Saskatchewan officials - headed by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) - have been trying for a rather long time to bring the NAIG to Regina.
For starters, they had submitted a bid to host the 2008 NAIG, which ultimately went to B.C. And back in 2007 they had also submitted a bid for the 2011 games and were rather disappointed when Milwaukee was awarded the hosting rights.
It is believed that Saskatchewan officials will keep trying and submit a bid to host the 2014 NAIG.
The host city for these games was originally supposed to be announced at the Winnipeg meeting. But NAIG Council members did not discuss these games as they focussed their discussions on happenings for the 2011 and ’12 competitions.
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