Arctic Winter Games

Background

At the first Canada Winter Games in Québec City (1967) Cal Miller, financial advisor to the Yukon team, was disappointed by the performance of northern athletes. With limited access to training opportunities and sporting facilities, northern teams struggled to compete with their southern counterparts. Fellow spectator and commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Stuart Hodgson, echoed Miller’s concerns stating, “We just weren't in the same league… Our people did it as a sport, whereas the people in the south had sponsors and everything under the sun backing them up.”

As a means of supporting northern teams, Miller, Hodgson and Bud Orange (Member of Parliament, Northwest Territories) proposed a winter games competition for northern athletes. Miller called Yukon Commissioner James Smith, who arranged for a meeting with Miller and Arthur Laing, minister of Northern Affairs. Miller later recalled walking into Laing’s office boasting that he had “the best idea since the invention of 7-Up” – creating a northern circumpolar sporting and cultural event. Miller also discussed the idea with Walter Hickel, governor of Alaska. Hickel fully supported the idea, and helped found the Arctic Winter Games Corporation (AWGC) on 18 January 1968.

The first games were held in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in 1970. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau opened the Games, welcoming roughly 500 athletes from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Since then, the Games have taken place every two years, alternating among participant jurisdictions.

Growth of the AWG

At the second AWG in 1972, the three founding participants (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska) were joined by athletes from Northern Québec and Greenland. The Soviet Union and Labrador also sent observers. In 1976, Northern Québec hosted the AWG in Schefferville – the first time the games took place outside of the Yukon, Northwest Territories or Alaska. However, in 1980, 1982 and 1984, the Games returned to the founding participant jurisdictions.

After the 1984 Games, the AWG Corporation reached out to other northern contingents in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as a means of including more athletes and increasing the level of competition and the appeal of the Games in other parts of Canada. However, Alberta was the only province to send an observer team of about 40 athletes to the 1986 Games. They became a permanent partner in 1988 and first hosted the Games in 1994.

In 1992, Russian athletes from the province of Magadan competed in the Games for the first time; athletes from Greenland also returned to compete in the AWG. During this year, the Games’ budget increased to approximately $1.2 million. As a result of the Games’ increasing international appeal, the AWG Corporation changed its name to the Arctic Winter Games International Committee (AWGIC) in 1993. Nuuk, Greenland, became the first city outside North America to host the Games in 2002.

The AWG now regularly includes representation from the Yukon, Alaska, northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Greenland, Nunavik, Magadan, Sápmi and Yamal.

Did You Know?
For the first time since its creation, the Arctic Winter Games were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The year 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the Arctic Winter Games, which were set to take place in Whitehorse, Yukon. The Arctic Winter Games returned in 2023 in Wood Buffalo, Alberta.

AWG International Committee

The Arctic Winter Games International Committee (AWGIC) is the ruling body of the Games and is responsible for promoting the philosophy of the Games, choosing a host city and controlling the visual image of the Games. The committee consists of a president and board of directors, who meet four times a year to evaluate and discuss host bids, AWGIC policies, sporting events to be held, sport-specific rules and the general preparation of the host city for the Games.

The directors are appointed by the region they represent and are all volunteers. In 2024, there are nine directors on the committee as well as a president, vice president/treasurer, secretary and past president. The president in 2024 is John Rodda from Alaska.

The AWGIC is funded by annual levy to the five governments with directors on the committee: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, Alaska, Alberta and Greenland.

Sport and Culture

The number and type of sports events vary slightly from year to year, depending on the number of athletes competing in each event and access to sporting facilities. While the AWGIC tries to select sports unique to the North, other sports are included if there is wide participation among the participant jurisdictions or if there is the potential for development of the sport. The sports commonly supported by AWG host cities include:

In addition to sporting events, the AWG host city develops a cultural program that lasts the duration of the Games and that displays visual arts and crafts indigenous to northern communities (see also Indigenous art and Inuit art). Each contingent brings a small group of performing artists to the Games as a means of expressing their distinct culture. The AWG culminates in a cultural gala.

Hodgson Trophy

Named after one of the AWG founders, Commissioner Stuart Hodgson (Northwest Territories), the Hodgson Trophy is awarded to the contingent whose athletes best exemplify team spirit and fair play. Team members also receive a distinctive pin in recognition of their achievements.

The Hodgson trophy is a piece of Inuit artwork from the Canadian Arctic (see also Arctic Circle). The centrepiece is an engraved narwhal tusk. A soapstone bear reaching for the top of the tusk symbolises the spirit of competition. The figure of a walrus is carved into the soapstone base of the trophy and wraps itself around the tusk.

The Hodgson Trophy is on display at Sport Yukon Hall of Fame in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Host Cities

The cities that have hosted the AWG since its inception in 1970 include: