The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse hosted an Arctic Sports workshop for youth recently.

The workshop was run by Eric Porter, who coached at the Arctic Winter Games and is sport coordinator for the Yukon Aboriginal Sports Circle.

It was a joint venture funded by the Jane Goodall Institute. Jamie Joe-Hudson and Kailen Gingell coordinated the event.

“It was good. It was a great turnout,” said Porter.

“Arctic sports is probably trending right now because of Arctic Winter Games. I just love to see that.”

Porter said the goal is to bring more awareness to Arctic sports. He said a lot of people may not know about the cultural aspects or how physically demanding they are. And that it’s a big year for Arctic sports.

Over 20 youth attended the workshop.

“We’re not going to turn anyone away, ever,” said Porter. “It’s just the more, the merrier. If we had a bigger space, we’d probably have 40 kids if we could.”

“Whenever we can get exposure to these northern games, it’s huge for us.”

Youth worker Kristian McKay brought eight kids from Carcross with him. He said the kids compete in Arctic Winter Games at their school.

One of the students there was Nord Bellencourt, who was practicing his Arctic winter sports.

He recently won medals in a school competition.

“I got second medal in the one-foot-high-kick and I think I got bronze in the arm pull.”

Bellencourt, 14, figured he’d been doing Arctic sports since he was in Grade 3.

He said he enjoys it because, “it’s good to get some exercise every now and then, and you get to do some really cultural activities.”

Bellencourt added he may travel Outside to compete in Arctic sports in the future.

McKay’s mother, Shirley McKay and Robyn Smarch, were two ladies who took a turn grappling with a stick. They had accompanied 12 youth from Carcross to the event.

Smarch’s daughter Lily Harvey said she does Arctic sports because “it’s fun and I’m kind of good at it.”

Her favourite events are the Alaskan high kick and greasy stick pull.

Ty Styner was there representing the Jane Goodall Institute and supporting a program called Uncovering Common Ground, “supporting Indigenous led initiatives, land-based for the most part but culture, health, wellness, art, everything that’s tied up in people’s sense of wellness.

“I was up here in the summer and connected with Jamie several months ago and heard about the work they were doing with KDCC and figured I’d reach out and see if maybe it aligned.”

Styner added, “Jane Goodall Institute is supporting the leadership of Indigenous youth, especially. Jamie and Karen have done an incredible job pulling this together. They planned this event, coordinated with Eric to bring all these youth together and run this incredible workshop.”

Hudson said it was “a great opportunity to get the youth down here to either practice their skills with the Arctic sports or to try it for the time and maybe it’s something they want to get involved with in the future, play for Arctic Winter Games or as a personal hobby. It’s just an opportunity to get them involved.

“Originally, Ty reached out and asked if I was interested in working with them to bring some sort of event to Whitehorse.”

In partnership with KDCC, they hosted a series of workshops for Indigenous youth throughout January and February, and this was the last one.

“It definitely built up over time,” said Hudson. “We’ve never really hosted youth events at the cultural centre, so it was kind of like a new initiative we wanted to try out, and with the Jane Goodall Institute, we’re really proud that this is an opportunity we could bring forward.

“A lot of people are becoming more aware of the (Arctic) sports because of the Arctic Winter Games.”

Gingell added “Ty reached out to Jamie and I about setting up some events through Uncovering Common Ground by the Jane Goodall Institute. They provided some funding for us so we could get some youth down here and do some cultural learning down at the facility and on the land.

“It’s nice to come back full force and … bring a lot of the youth together to learn some more about their background.”

“Just really happy to have everyone down here and keep working, learn some more with everyone. “Hopefully we can do some more of this in the future.”

Gingell said they’re going to continue with more cultural programming throughout the year.

“We’re putting together some pretty big plans for the next three years. You’ll see big things from us in the next little while, for sure.”

Future plans include Indigenous Day, the Adäka Festival and a high camp in the fall at KDCC.

He said the Jane Goodall Institute is “a really good connection to make just because it’s rooted in the same kind of ‘for the land’ way of thinking. They’ve been a really awesome partner. We definitely look forward to working with them again in the future.”