Wood Buffalo to host 2022 Arctic Winter Games

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will host the 2022 Arctic Winter Games, announced the Arctic Winter Games International Committee on Wednesday.

The international committee received two bids for the 2022 Games which were scheduled to be hosted by northern Alberta: one from Wood Buffalo and one from Grande Prairie.

“It was a difficult choice,” said John Rodda, the vice-president and chair of the site selection committee.

“Both communities have the facilities, spirit and motivation. The site selection committee was impressed with the diversity, engagement, and support exhibited in both communities.”

“Our government is thrilled that the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo was chosen to host the 2022 Arctic Winter Games,” commented Ricardo Miranda, Alberta’s minister of culture.

“These games are a unique sport and cultural festival, and we look forward to welcoming athletes from across the world’s northern countries to our province.”

The AWGs were last held in northern Alberta in Grande Prairie in 2010.

Before that, Wood Buffalo hosted in 2004 and Slave Lake hosted in 1994.

The Arctic Winter Games rotate through regions in the circumpolar north and are held every two years.

Over 2000 athletes, coaches, mission staff, and cultural delegates gather to celebrate sport, including Arctic sports and Dene games, and culture during the weeklong competition.

Most recently the 25th edition of the games were co-hosted by Fort Smith and Hay River in the Northwest Territories in 2018.

In 2020, the 50th anniversary games will be held in Whitehorse, Yukon, over March 15 to 21.