Third time proves lucky for Regina NAIG bid committee

It’s a good thing Regina officials did not give up after failing to land both the 2008 and 2011 North American Indigenous Games.

After submitting yet another bid, Regina successfully landed the 2014 NAIG. The games will last for two weeks that summer but exact dates have yet to be announced.
The NAIG council awarded the Saskatchewan city the multi-sports competition after final bid presentations in Moncton in mid-May were evaluated.

The two other cities that were vying to host the 2014 NAIG were Halifax and London, Ont.

Regina had first submitted a bid to stage the ’08 games which were held in Cowichan, B.C.

 Also, Milwaukee beat out Regina in its attempt to host this year’s games. This competition was eventually cancelled when last summer Wisconsin city withdrew its intention to host and a suitable replacement could not be found.

Courage Bear, the chair of this year’s Regina bid, said his group was not confident of landing the 2014 NAIG simply because it was the third time it had submitted a bid.
“I don’t know if you’re ever confident,” he said. “Our attitude was be prepared and work hard.”

Besides city officials, the Regina bid also consisted of joint efforts from officials with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Metis Nation Saskatchewan and the provincial government.

The bid consisted of three phases. Each city interested in hosting the 2014 NAIG began by submitting a bid book last October. Next, site evaluations were done in March. Finally, presentations were made in Moncton.

“In each of the three phases, I think we had the highest score,” Bear said.

Ken Cheveldayoff, minister of First Nations and Métis Relations, was part of the Regina contingent in Moncton. And he felt the chances of landing the 2014 NAIG were fairly decent.

“We knew we had a strong proposal and we had a strong team,” he said.

FSIN Vice Chief Morley Watson said officials from the province were not dissuaded by the fact they failed to land both the 2008 and ’11 games. He thought it was imperative to try again.

“We believe in all of our young people and sport is a builder of character,” he said.

The NAIG primarily features athletes aged 15-19 years.
A total of 15 sports will be contested at Regina’s NAIG. That competition will be capped at 5,000 participants, which includes athletes, coaches and managers.

However, when family members and friends are included, organizers are anticipating 10,000 people will converge in Regina for the games.

Saskatchewan will be allowed to have a maximum of 500 participants.

Bear believes the economic benefits to the city will likely be somewhere between $20 million to $25 million during the games.

Regina’s games are expected to have an operating budget of $10.5 million. Bear does not anticipate funding will be a problem.

The provincial and federal governments will each be chipping in $3.5 million. The city of Regina will contribute an additional $1 million. About $800,000 is expected to come from registration fees.

“That’s almost $9 million we’ll have without even going after corporate funding,” Bear said.

The University of Regina is expected to be one of the main venues for staging several sports. The First Nations University of Canada will also play a key role for the games where the athletes village is expected to be located as well as the media centre. Also, many of the cultural components of the games are expected to be held at the school.

The majority of the sports will be contested in Regina. Bear believes rifle shooting and archery are the two sports that will be held outside of the city limits.