Whitecap First Nation to host games in '97

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Right now it's a cow pasture, but Darcy Bear, chief of the Whitecap Dakota/Sioux First Nation, doesn't want you to see it that way.

"There's going to be three soccer fields, plus we're going to upgrade the ball diamonds," he said, pointing to a field that is occasionally used by cows for grazing.

There's excitement in his voice and enthusiasm in his eyes, which makes it easy to envision the facilities that are to be built.

Bear has good reason to be excited. The Whitecap First Nation will be hosting the 1997 Saskatchewan Indian Summer Games next June. They beat out two other bands for the games.

He points to the two current baseball diamonds which will be resurfaced with red shale. There will be new roads, a new track field and an athlete's village.

Even though the cows provide the only action on this field to day, by the summer of 1997 it will host over 1,000 First Nations athletes from across Saskatchewan.

Each band that brings a team to the games must provide two demonstration events. Whitecap has already made arrangements with the City of Saskatoon to use its swimming facilities, in the case a water sport should become an event.

The games will coincide with Saskatoon's summer exhibition.

"We'll have a flat and the athletes will march in the (exhibition's) parade," he said.

Bear has been working on a common design for the athletes' track suits that would have a space on them for each first Nation's logo or crest. Bear believes the suits will make the marching athletes look more striking in the parade.

The North American Indigenous Games, which will be in Victoria, are also scheduled for 1997.