Yellowknife is willing to host the 2026 Arctic Winter Games. All that needs to happen now is for the GNWT to agree to do most of the financial lifting.
The city’s Governance and Priorities Committee (GPC) met in council chambers on March 27 and one of the items up for discussion was a motion brought forth by Mayor Rebecca Alty regarding the potential AWG bid by the city for 2026.
The motion includes three parts: the City of Yellowknife supports the GNWT bid to host in 2026 by allocating staff resources in an advisory capacity on the bid committee; providing a letter of support indicating the city will offer its facilities at no charge to the Games and; an allocation of staff resources in an advisory capacity on the host committee.
The motion, said Alty, was in lieu of having city administration do an analysis on what it would take to host.
The idea of Yellowknife hosting in 2026 first came back in January, when Gary Schauerte, the director of sport, recreation and youth with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) made a presentation to the GPC on why it would be beneficial to host. During his presentation, Schauerte highlighted the Fieldhouse, the new Ecole Itlo — replacing the former J.H. Sissons School — and the new aquatic centre as drawing cards for potential tourists. There are also multiple arenas, gymnasiums and other buildings in Yellowknife that could help support sporting competitions, he added.
The NWT is slated to host in 2028 as per the current rotation schedule. Yamal in Russia was supposed to host in 2026, but with Yamal suspended from all AWG-related activities indefinitely due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, that won’t be happening.
The Arctic Winter Games International Committee sent a request to MACA that the NWT consider moving up one spot in the rotation. Schauerte said back in January that the NWT would agree only if Yellowknife takes on the hosting duties.
“While the GNWT does have an interest in regional economic development, hosting the Arctic Winter Games in any other region other than Yellowknife would not be practical in 2026,” he said.
Alty noted at that time that if the city had to come up with the cash to host — roughly $5 million — a property tax increase of 14.5 per cent would be needed. Spread that out over three years, she added, and it would be $1.7 million per year in 2024, 2025 and 2026 — a non-starter, in her opinion.
The last time the AWG was held in the NWT was the joint Hay River/Fort Smith bid in 2018. That bid received $3.5 million in direct funding from the GNWT, along with $1 million of “in-kind” support. Schauerte indicated in January that this amount would be the starting point for any negotiations between the city and GNWT.
During the GPC meeting late last month, Alty said raising $5 million through the city would be a tough ask.
“Whether it’s a municipality, and that’s taxpayers, who have to provide that, or if we’re looking for sponsorships … budgets are really tight for businesses,” she said. “Our next couple of years are going to be difficult with the diamond mines closing.”
She also indicated that what the motion was offering is a “significant contribution” from the city.
“Our next couple of years are intensive from a workload perspective and with a limited budget, we can’t really add more staff just to focus on the games,” she said. “At the end of the day, we’re responsible for it.”
As a comparison, for this past year’s AWG in Wood Buffalo, Alta., the local municipality provided $5.4 million in funding while the overall budget was expected to be in excess of $13 million. The 2024 AWG in Mat-Su, Alaska, has a current price tag of just under C$10 million.
Coun. Ben Hendriksen was in support of the motion, but wanted to know what time commitments would look like when it came to advisory roles.
“While I’m supportive of the motion, I think the right way is to try and balance these things,” he said.
City manager Sheila Bassi-Kellett said that question was a hypothetical at this point in time, but the first hurdle the city needs to clear is the under-construction aquatic centre, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2024.
“That’s taking an enormous amount of our time right now,” she said. “When we get to the operational phase, that’s going to be consuming a lot of our attention as well, knowing that we’re going to a larger facility with more demands.”
Alty indicated that the motion would be brought forward to the next full council meeting on Tuesday evening.