Yellowknife can't afford to host 2026 Arctic Winter Games unless N.W.T. takes the lead, says mayor

If Yellowknife agrees to host the 2026 Arctic Winter Games (AWG), Mayor Rebecca Alty says it would need a lot of help from the territorial government. 

In a city meeting last week, Alty said she plans to bring forward a motion for the city support the territory's bid to host the games, but only in an advisory capacity. 

"I just don't think we've got the capacity to lead this project or financially contribute over $5 million," she said at the March 27 governance and priorities meeting.

The 2026 games had first been slated to be held in Russia, but the Arctic Winter Games international committee has suspended Russia's hosting due to its war with Ukraine.

The N.W.T. had originally been scheduled to host the games in 2028, but the committee wrote to Shane Thompson, minister of municipal and community affairs, to ask if the territory would move up in the hosting rotation and take over the 2026 slot.

Gary Schauerte, the department's director of sport, recreation and youth, brought that proposal to a Yellowknife council meeting in January. At that time, city administration said it would do an analysis of how it would impact other city projects if the city chose to divert resources to hosting. 

Though city staff were expected to have that analysis report ready sometime in the spring, Alty said last week that her motion would be in lieu of that report.

She is suggesting the city support the N.W.T.'s bid to host the games in a couple ways: the city could assign some of its staff to sit on the host committee as advisers, for instance, and write a letter of support saying Yellowknife would donate the use of facilities to the games.

"That's still a significant contribution from the city," she said. 

During his presentation to