Saskatchewan First Nations Winter Games

A bit of history was made early on at this year’s Saskatchewan First Nations Winter Games.
This year’s Games ran March 5-10 in Saskatoon, attracting approximately 3,500 athletes from across the province.                                                 
                                                                                                                          Mark Arcand, who served as the Games’ manager on behalf of the host Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC), said there was one point in particular that he was especially proud of. This marked the first time in Games’ history - they have been held every two years since 1980 - that the opening ceremonies were shown on live television.                                                
                                                                                                   Both CTV Saskatoon and Shaw Cable broadcast the Games’ opening ceremonies and Arcand believes the telecasts signified a historic moment for the Games.

“We’re trying to enhance the Games through the media to let the general public know that we’re getting into mainstream sports,” he said. “And we understand what our kids go through not being promoted enough.”                                                                                                                                                                            
Arcand is hoping that some youngsters who watched the television coverage have some new role models in some of the Games’ participants.                                                                                                              
And he’s also hoping many of the competitors go on to bigger and better things. Arcand said there is a precedent for doing so in hockey player Jeremy Boyer.                                                                                      
The Saskatoon native participated in a couple of the Winter Games while he was growing up. As for this past season, Boyer was a member of his hometown Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League. For Boyer, it was his fourth season in the WHL. He spent his first three years with the Seattle Thunderbirds.                                                                                                                                                                                
As for this year’s Winter Games, the athletes who took part were representing the 13 tribal councils in the province. They competed in five sports; hockey, volleyball, curling, badminton and broomball. Athletes participated in four different age groupings, starting with under-12. There were also under-14, under-16 and under-18 divisions.

Separate girls’ and boys’ competitions were held in hockey, volleyball and badminton. Meanwhile, only girls took part in broomball. And the curling featured mixed (girls and boys) teams.

“Everything was excellent,” Arcand said. “As a host, I think we did pretty well.”

Besides having live TV coverage of the opening ceremonies, Arcand said organizers tried to do something else a bit different. When possible, they tried to stage the girls’ and boys’ events at separate venues.                                                                                                                                                                     
“That way people thought the spotlight was on them,” Arcand said. The Winter Games are held every two years. And the Saskatchewan First Nations Summer Games are also staged every two years, in the year that there is no Winter Games. It should be noted that for a while, only Summer Games, which started in 1974 were held. That changed in ’80, when the first Winter Games took place.

The tribal councils within the province submit bids if they are interested in hosting either the Summer or Winter Games. The Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs will stage the next Winter Games in 2012. This year the Games provided a huge boost to the Saskatoon economy. Including coaches and support staff, Arcand said the Games brought about 4,200 people to Saskatoon for the six days of competition.

“The economic impact was close to $4-5 million dollars for the city,” he said. The host STC team ended up winning the over-all team title. It accumulated 294.20 points to claim the title.                                                                                                                                                                                  
The STC side is comprised of athletes from the following seven bands; – Kinistin Saulteaux Nation, Mistawasis First Nation, Muskeg Lake First Nation, Muskoday First Nation, One Arrow First Nation, Whitecap Dakota First Nation and Yellow Quill First Nation. 
                                                                                                                                                  STC actually just managed to eke out first place in the team standings. It edged the squad representing the Agency Chiefs Tribal Council, which earned 294.05 points. And the club representing the Meadow Lake Tribal Council placed third, collecting 217.00 points.

Besides the over-all team title, winning teams were announced in each of the five sports contested.

The Agency Chiefs Tribal Council were the only team to win a pair of events, badminton and broomball.

STC won the hockey competition, Meadow Lake Tribal Council captured the volleyball title and Team Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation placed first in the curling events. Other participating tribal councils were Team Woodland, Southeast Treaty 4 Tribal Council, Prince Albert Grand Council, Yorkton Tribal Council, Touchwood Agency Tribal Council, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, Onion Lake Cree Nation and Battlefords Tribal Council.

Representatives from all 13 of the competing tribal councils ended up taking home some hardware as they all ended up winning at least one medal at the Games.
The Agency Chiefs ended up winning the most medals, 24. This haul included 12 gold, seven silver and five bronze medals.                                                                                                                                                            
STC was next in line with 23 medals. The breakdown was eight gold, eight silver and seven bronze.
Meadow Lake, which was third in the team standings, also finished third in the medal count. It won 14 medals, consisting of five gold, three silver and six bronze.