Mission staff with teams competing in the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse this month say the teams are readying uniforms, arranging travel and preparing athletes for events while eagerly anticipating the competition, the camaraderie and the cultural exchange. 

Team Nunavut Chef de Mission Sonja Lonsdale said the opening ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, is one of the events she looks forward to the most.

“It’s a chance for every single athlete representing Team Nunavut to kind of have their moment to shine,” Lonsdale said.

“We’ll have the gear on. We have flags. It’s obviously televised and streamed, and that’s really cool now because everybody can see it. It’s just really special.… I got little goosebumps just talking about it.”

This year’s Arctic Winter Games will bring an estimated 2,000 participants to Whitehorse to compete in 20 sports and one cultural program. Sports include alpine skiing, Arctic sports, basketball, curling, Dene games, futsal, hockey, speed skating and table tennis.

Eight teams — from Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Northern Alberta, Nunavut, Nunavik-Quebec, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), and Sápmi in northern Scandinavia — will take part. 

‘I would think they’re pretty jazzed up’

Participants range in age from 12 to 18 with occasional ones in their 20s taking part in open older categories, according to Team Yukon Chef de Mission Trevor Twardochleb.

The host territory has around 287 people competing, Twardochleb said, and a total contingent of around 365 when coaches and mission staff are factored in. 

“I would think they’re pretty jazzed up,” he said.

Team Nunavut is bringing around 290 competitors to the games, along with youth ambassadors, dignitaries, officials and mission staff, Lonsdale said.

Greenland’s Team Kalaallit Nunaat will have 59 participants focusing on sports such as snowboarding, Dene games, badminton and table tennis, Chef de Mission Aviaaja Geisler said.

And Team Sápmi is bringing 53 people to Whitehorse, including 36 athletes and three cultural participants, said Assistant Chef de Mission Sini Rasmus.

The team, made up of athletes from across the Sápmi traditional lands in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, has two U16 futsal teams and nine boys and nine girls competing in cross-country skiing, she said. 

It also has three cultural participants.

But team members are looking forward to more than just competing and performing, Rasmus said.

Cultural exchange important, chef de mission says

“Both our team leaders and the athletes and participants have heard so much about the previous games, they look forward to the social activities, making new friends, trading pins, trading clothing,” she said. 

Geisler said the cultural exchange is an important part of the games for Team Kalaallit Nunaat.

“We are very happy and excited people. We’re very proud of our country and our culture,” she said. 

“Many of the young people today speak very good English. But I remember when I was a child and participated in the Arctic Winter Games, we couldn’t speak that much English. So we couldn’t communicate that much with other contingents. But today it’s something else.”

Lonsdale said Nunavummiut and Team Nunavut are known to be positive ambassadors for their territory, and people who trade pins — a popular activity at major athletic events — love their pins.

“That’s a highly sought-after thing, and it’s awesome,” she said. “Our kids get really into it, and they know that their pins are pretty special. So that’s really fun for them.”

Twardochleb said trading pins at the games is almost like another sport.

“All the kids have them,” he said.

“So it’s just amazing.… And then of course, once they’re done their competition, they’re allowed to trade their uniforms. And you know, people will be brokering deals all week for that to happen.”