AANIIN BOOZHOO, SHE:KON, TANSI, TUNNGASUGIT, WACHAY: Welcome athletes & guests of the North American Indigenous Games to York U!
York University is among several venues in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding regions that will serve as a venue for the North American Indigenous Games, which provide Indigenous youth, 13 to 19 years of age, with an opportunity to compete in 14 sporting events. York University will also host 1,400 athletes and volunteers in five of its student residences. The games will run July 15 to 23.
In addition to the NAIG opening and closing ceremonies, York University’s Keele campus will be home to a number of sporting competitions. The York Lions Stadium will be the main site for all track and field competitions. Basketball and volleyball competitions will take place in the Tait McKenzie Centre. Wrestling will be held in the Toronto Track & Field Centre. The soccer field adjacent to the Sherman Health Science Research Centre will be the site of the NAIG Cultural Festival, which will feature traditional art and cultural demonstrations, food and craft vendors and information booths along with evening performances. Tickets are free for the sports competitions. CBC.ca will be live streaming 100 hours of the NAIG.
More about the North American Indigenous Games
The games are a multi-sport, multi-disciplinary event involving Indigenous youth from Canada and the United States. In addition to sports competitions, the games offer a vibrant cultural program, showcasing local and North American Indigenous cultural groups and entertainers.
The NAIG, was first held in 1990 in Edmonton, Alberta, and has been staged on seven other occasions since then, in various locations throughout Canada and the United States. Athletes competing in the NAIG must be born of North American Indigenous ancestry. All contingents participating in the NAIG must represent the Indigenous Peoples of a Province/Territory in Canada, or a State/Region in the United States of America. Only athletes registered with a contingent are eligible to compete in the NAIG.
In addition to York University, NAIG is being hosted at multiple sites across the GTA, including McMaster University, Humber College, the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and Durham College.