Submission to Host Indigenous Summer Games Withdrawn

In September 2018, County Council approved a joint submission with Alderville First Nation to host the 2019 Ontario Indigenous Summer Games.  Applications were submitted to the Aboriginal Sport & Wellness Council of Ontario (ASWCO) by the deadline date of September 28, 2018 and applicants were to be advised of their success (or otherwise) by November 2018.  But notifications have not happened – the ASWCO web site says: “The bid process is now closed, and the Ontario Indigenous Summer Games Bid Committee is currently in the process of conducting site visits and scoring communities on the bid matrix.”  So now the County and Alderville First Nation are withdrawing their application since there is now insufficient time to prepare.  The cost of staging the games would have been $250,000 with $100,000 coming from the Provincial Government, some from a $125 fee paid by athletes and the rest from the County budget.

Indigenous Games
Indigenous Games

The benefit would be the attraction of tourists and their spending on accommodation etc – this would have been primarily Cobourg and Port Hope.

The last Ontario Indigenous Summer Games took place in 2016 in partnership with the Six Nations of the Grand River (that’s near Brantford) but at the rate it’s going, it won’t happen in 2019.  It would have featured “300 – 500 young Indigenous athletes of all abilities, from across the province, to compete in the following sports:

  • 3D Archery
  • Athletics
  • Badminton
  • Canoe/Kayak
  • Rifle Shooting
  • Golf
  • Softball
  • Swimming
  • Wrestling”

In withdrawing their application, County staff say in a report to County Council at the next meeting on 30 January that with the compressed timelines, there would be a risk of lost deposits and/or unavailable accommodation space, a problem getting organized with volunteers etc in the time available and the possibility of a reduced schedule of activities due to venue and sporting official availability.  It was felt that a quality event can no longer be assured, hence the decision to withdraw.

It had been hoped that the County could repeat the success of the Ontario ParaSport Games in 2014 since “county staff who led this process are either now leading the Ontario Indigenous Summer Games bid process, or have been consulted for their input.”

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Dice
5 years ago

Seeing the list of events, I am curious why the only True Indigenous sport, LACROSSE, is not on the list???

manfred s
Reply to  Dice
5 years ago

but there’s golf and softball, and they both involve a ball and sticks, close enough?

Frenchy
Reply to  Dice
5 years ago

Excellent question!
Any answer ISWO (formerly ASWCO)? Anybody?

Walter L. Luedtke
5 years ago

Ya’ll are missing the point!
Cobourg coulda been on TV.
Like on nationwide CBC coverage complete with satellite trucks and and winsome lady interviewers and full hotels. Maybe even make The National!
This is woulda been a tourism dream.
Cobourg tourism has the Highland games falling into its lap and Rotary does its bit to promote good ole boys bubba Boss Hogg Suthern rib stuff.
But this means TV – coast to coast to coast and paid for by the Provincial and Federal tax payer.
Our tourism folks better wake up and hustle and work with the Alderville people to snag the next Summer games or the Winter games or some kind of indigenous games,
Multiculturalism in our backyard is an untapped resource.
So let’s tap it.

cornbread
5 years ago

Apparently a small “fortune of government funds” is given each year to the leaders of our indigenous tribes across Canada…most of which is not accounted for in many ways. Perhaps these tribe leaders could come up with the total funds needed for this event since it is supposed to advance their native skills…just sayin’.

squash
Reply to  cornbread
5 years ago

Because white politicians have never stolen a cent from taxpayers? It’s easy to be an uneducated moron. sort yourself out.

manfred s
5 years ago

with reference to the list of sports above, I’m perplexed by some of them, given that this is about indigenous games. Call me picky but I’d think that such an ‘event’ would be driven by an intention to highlight indigenous-based skills as another means of educating non-indigenous people about the indigenous “way of life” that is occasionally referred to by those of indigenous descent. Whenever I hear that mantra uttered in conversations about protecting the “indigenous way of life” I want to also hear what that ‘way of life’ is, TODAY, and to understand how it substantially differs from mine and so many others, and what about it that needs to be protected. Indigenous games could be part of that but I would then think that they should involve games that pay homage to that heritage that needs protection, rather than games that just don’t seem to fit that picture or goal.

Walter L. Luedtke
5 years ago

“CBC Sports will provide a minimum of 100 hours of live and on-demand coverage throughout the series of ISWO events, including, but not limited to the Masters Indigenous Games (2021, 2023), and the Ontario Indigenous Summer Games (2019, 2021, 2023).”
ISWO is Indigenous Sports and Wellness Ontario are the folks who sponsor athletic and wellness events.
Somebody better host those games.

perplexed
5 years ago

Finally some thing that would have attracted Tourists and Business and we Blew it .
I have been to these events in the Past in other area of Can. They are not Boring let me tell you .
Educational , interesting , and Colourful for sure Oh yes and Cultural

Stan G
Reply to  perplexed
5 years ago

We blew it? What are you talking about? If you read the article you’re commenting on, you’ll see that the application had to be withdrawn because ASWCO is taking too long to choose a site.