Hay River renews call to stop basing Arctic Winter Games trials in YK

Hay River’s council is formally calling for the NWT government to return to a regional hosting model for Arctic Winter Games trials.

Rather than being hosted across multiple regional centres, Team NT’s trials for the 2026 Arctic Winter Games – scheduled for Whitehorse from March 8-15 – occurred last week in Yellowknife and the surrounding area.

On Monday, Hay River councillors passed a motion that submits a resolution to the NWT Association of Communities calling on the GNWT to scrap that centralized approach.

The NWTAC’s annual meeting, at which that resolution will now be raised, takes place from February 26-28 in Yellowknife.

The decision to centralize this year’s trials was triggered by a GNWT funding cut. (Other changes for this year have included the removal of snowshoeing from the team.)

In August last year, Hay River was among communities that voiced concerns to Sport North – the arm’s-length government agency that manages Team NT – over the decision and its effect on athletes.

Keith Dohey, the town’s deputy mayor, said submitting a resolution to NWTAC is “essentially asking the GNWT to go back to doing things the way they did in the past, for a number of reasons.”

Dohey said the town had invested “millions of dollars” in sports facilities over the years and proven capable of managing major events, including co-hosting the 2018 Arctic Winter Games with Fort Smith.

“AWG trials should be fair and equitable for all athletes participating,” Dohey said, noting he was expressing his own view and not necessarily that of council.

“If every participant has to travel except one group, it’s no longer equitable. One group gets the home court advantage, so to speak, right across the board.”

Dohey said Hay River has proved it has the capacity to host trials “time and time again,” adding that regional economies benefit from hosting similar events, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors.

“We don’t have the winter tourism Yellowknife does, so when we have the opportunity to host larger groups of people in our communities – especially during the typically slower winter season – it’s a big help to our local businesses,” he said.

“Any time we have things pulled from our communities that we’ve had in the past, we feel it and we’re going to speak up about it.”

‘Trials in March, April or May makes more sense’

Table Tennis North’s Thorsten Gohl, who is involved with several territorial sports organizations, took on multiple roles during the weekend’s trials.

According to Gohl, 17 athletes from Fort Good Hope, Fort Providence, Yellowknife and Hay River participated in the table tennis trials, with six ultimately selected. Training took place in the mornings and competitions in the afternoons, with athletes’ scores averaged over three days to determine the top performers.

Gohl said some communities like Fort Good Hope and Fort Providence had to fundraise to find accommodation. He said the City of Yellowknife provided free swim passes for visiting athletes, for which some were “really excited.”

“It’s hard for some of the community kids,” he said. “But when everybody arrived, honestly, everything that counted is: give your best, learn as much as you can. And for me that’s the most important.

“Can we do better? Yes, for sure. But I think at this point, let’s focus on getting the kids as much as we can [and] include as many as we can as well.”

Gohl believes holding trials at the end of the preceding winter season would help many territorial sports organizations. Some sports, like snowboarding, already take this approach, selecting athletes almost a year before the Arctic Winter Games.

Smaller communities rely on natural ice, Gohl pointed out, which limits practice time for sports like hockey and speed skating when trials are held soon after the start of a season. (Natural ice generally arrives later than the ice in communities that boast ice plants in their arenas.)

“Hosting the trials in March, April or May I think makes more sense,” he said. “Everybody has a season in, they have training.”

Maca to review approach

Neilson Vandell has coached table tennis since 2024 and runs a club in Fort Providence.

While the team had to fundraise close to $2,000 for cabs, meals and hotel stays, Vandell said the journey up and time in Yellowknife were both comfortable for the athletes.

The move to hold all trials in Yellowknife was initially surprising to Vandell, but he said it generated increased interest in table tennis and provided a well-organized environment for the competition.

“Everybody gave their best during the competitions,” he said. “I think they were prepared mentally and I think that was really impressive.”

Sport North did not respond to a request for comment by late Tuesday.

Alice Twa – a spokesperson for the NWT’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, which manages funding for Team NT – said Sport North and the territorial sport organizations are responsible for organizing Arctic Winter Games trials.

For the 2026 Games, Twa said Maca worked with Sport North to limit trials to one or two communities to reduce costs and logistical challenges, while maintaining “fairness and access for athletes.”

Twa said the department will review the effectiveness of this approach following the trials and the Games.

“Feedback from communities will inform this review and will help guide future decisions related to Team NT trials,” she said via email.