This weekend’s senior basketball cager in Yellowknife will have a police presence, professional security, bag checks and ID wristbands for athletes.
Not all of those measures are new, but the security will be sufficiently enhanced that organizers issued a letter this week setting out the steps being taken.
Andrew Gilmour, executive director of the NWT School Sports Association, said additional security felt necessary after the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge and recent incidents involving the two Yellowknife high schools that take part in the tournament – St Pat’s and Sir John.
“There was obviously that horrific incident that happened in BC and, over the last couple of weeks, both St Pat’s had to deal with a security issue and then Sir John had to deal with a security issue,” Gilmour said.
“None of them were, as far as I know, a big enough concern to cancel the event. But with all of that in mind, we thought maybe we should put some more enhanced security on these events to make sure everyone feels safe.”
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Even so, Gilmour stressed that the measures listed in this week’s letter are not vastly removed from things organizers would normally have in place.
“This time we’ve asked the RCMP to be a little bit more present,” he said, pointing out the largest change, while noting that the police have an outreach officer who tends to show up to events anyway.
Beyond that, he said that while out-of-town athletes are used to wearing wristbands so they can readily access school classrooms where they’re staying, this time all athletes will get one “so we know when they’re coming through that they’re there to play basketball this weekend.”
“We’re adding more staff from each school at the venues, so they can just be there, be present and be more aware,” he added.
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“A lot of what we’re talking about, we already do. We’re enhancing those things to be extra safe.”
The senior cager is one of the city’s bigger student sporting events. This year, it follows on from a “mini cager” staged for the first time that welcomed no fewer than 32 teams of boys and girls from grades 4 and 5.
Gilmour said he took heart from the cooperation the schools are exhibiting over security measures and expressed a hope that once students were at their venue, the extra steps would be forgotten and the sport would take over.
“It’s beautiful to see two different school districts come together and address these bigger issues,” he aid, “to be proactive and try to make sure we’re staying on top of these things.”
