It’s Sunday night in Behchokǫ̀, and Tłı̨chǫ youth are running the livestream of handgames so that everyone from at home and afar can watch the final games of the Ediwa Weyallon tournament. 

“We are training the youth how to livestream so they can, in the future, do it on their own,” said Shaun Moosenose, a live broadcast technician from Whatı̀.

He’s working with northern production company Artless Collective to train the next generation of handgames broadcasters.

“A week ago, most of them didn’t know how to operate the equipment, and today, they can do it on their own,” he said.

“They inspire me. They make me feel proud.”

Moosenose wants to keep up the momentum with future trainings and to create work opportunities for youth who are interested in broadcasting and digital technology. The training model has garnered interest from people in other communities, like Lutselk’e, he said.

Moosenose said the youth will eventually have all the skills they need to train their peers.

Halley Lafferty, 14, said she’s ready to to help.

At handgames ground control at the Kǫ Gocho Sportsplex on Sunday, she’s dialed in to her headsets and communicating with the team. 

Lafferty is selecting which camera feed to broadcast. The crew is discussing their mic placements, upcoming games and whether the drummers are coming through clearly.

“I really want to do this in the future, doing stuff with technology, doing live streams,” said Lafferty.

People travel from across the territory to participate in handgames.

It’s common to see women in the community running DIY broadcasts from the bleachers. In these informal broadcasts, the most dedicated aunties go live on social media for hours so that people who can’t be at handgames or a drum dance can watch. 

“We’re trying to get everybody to see where their families [and] their friends are, so that everybody has a first-person view of the event,” said Moosenose.

“We hope that everybody gets to see it,” he said.

Moosenose said live broadcasts keep people connected, like families who live down south, or shift workers tuning in from the mine site out on the barrenlands.

Emerging broadcast technicians like Hayden Lafferty relate. She just moved back to Behchokǫ̀.

She grew up watching her dad play handgames but lived in Edmonton for years and understands what it’s like to be far from home.

“It was hard staying in touch when we didn’t have the live [broadcast], and even then, it was hard to watch because the Wi-Fi wasn’t the best,” she said.

This type of broadcast is good for students away at school and family who live outside the N.W.T., her mom included.

“Shout out to my mom. She’s heading home right now to B.C.,” she said, laughing.

“She always watches the live just to see what I’m doing. She thinks it’s really cool.”

By the end of the tournament, the youth are running the livestream with little need for assistance from their mentors.

Morgan Nitsiza, 17, enjoys setting up the cameras and getting all the angles right. She’s interested in photography, and this training is a gateway to that type of work.

Nitsiza is running the iPad with her friend Halley Lafferty. The two say they are building their confidence and can see a future in tech.

They only periodically look at the three well-seasoned technicians for minor guidance. 

Moosenose said he loves teaching the kids as much as he can, in hopes that they one day have the skills needed to progress into film and digital work. He wants to secure financial support to expand the training, which he describes as a success.

“They can do all the broadcasting themselves. They troubleshoot easily, they communicate well with each other, and they teach and help each other through the process,” said Moosenose.