The meeting was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but it has been postponed due to the pandemic. The games were to bring together thousands of athletes from across the continent, who will take part in, among other things, 3D archery and lacrosse competitions.
This is a major event, the most important cultural and sporting event ever held in Kijipuktuk (Halifax)
According to the president of the Host Society of the 2023 Games, Fiona Kirkpatrick-Parsons, this announcement made two years in advance allows for better preparation of the event, even if the organizing committee is already ‘more than ready’, notes she does. Funding is assured, with the support of the provincial and federal governments.
The 2020 North American Indigenous Games logo resembles the styling of Mi’kmaq artist Melissa Labrador.
Photo: Courtoise / North American Indigenous Games 2020
Thousands of athletes, nine days of competition
More than 5,000 participants between the ages of 13 and 19 from 750 Indigenous nations are expected. Sixteen sports competitions will be spread across twenty venues in the Regional Municipality and Millbrook First Nation. The meeting will last nine days.
Sports disciplines cover traditional Indigenous activities like lacrosse and canoeing, to which are added track and field, baseball and basketball. Millbrook will host 3D archery, where the targets targeted by athletes are three-dimensional animals arranged in nature.
Fiona Kirkpatrick-Parsons points out that the 2023 games will honor residential school survivors and the children who died there. These games are a goal to be reached, a celebration of young people and their future,
she adds.
Among indigenous peoples, culture and sport are intimately linked, ”explains the president of the Host Society of the 2023 games. Cultural aspects are an integral part of sports. There is always a ceremonial associated with everything we do.
With information from CBC
