N.W.T. Indigenous Summer Games begin today in Yellowknife
CBC
The 2022 Indigenous Summer Games kick off in Yellowknife Thursday, with about 120 athletes coming to town for the competition.
It will be the first time the Northwest Territories has hosted Indigenous summer games like this.
"It's huge," said Carson Roche, the event manager, about the competition. "There's gonna be a lot of viewers and athletes from across the North."
The sporting competition, held by the Aboriginal Sports Circle N.W.T., is a celebration of traditional games and Indigenous people and culture, Roche said.
The event will focus on athletes over 13, which Roche said is to help keep up interest in traditional Indigenous games outside of school opportunities.
"Once they grow out of that there's not much to look forward to other than Arctic Winter Games," Roche said.
"So, we've had this in our back pocket for a couple of years now. We've been working really hard, there's lots of moving parts, but it's finally starting."
The games run until Sunday.
It includes a junior category for ages 13 to 17 and an open category for 18 and up, with events happening at Weledeh Catholic School and École St. Patrick High School, in Yellowknife.
There will be 10 northern games and 10 Dene Games, including stick pull, archery, axe throwing and tea boiling, said Roche. Other games scheduled include the one-foot high kick, two-foot high kick, Alaskan high kick, and airplane.
"All the games, you know, they have a history to them," Roche said. "They're meant to show you skills to survive on the land. So that's why we teach these games."
All events are open to the public, including cultural events every evening.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.