North

Team NWT 2016 Arctic Winter Games uniforms get fur-lined hoods

Members of Team NWT at this year's Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk will be sporting parkas with hoods lined with fur trapped in the territory.

Fur supplied by N.W.T.'s trapping industry

N.W.T. Premier Bob McLeod with a group of Team N.W.T. athletes modelling this year's Arctic Winter Games uniform. (Juanita Taylor/CBC)

Fur harvested by N.W.T. trappers will keep members of Team NWT safe from Greenlandic windchills at this year's Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk. 

The team's parkas, unveiled in Yellowknife on Monday, sport a fur-lined hood made from pelts from the Government of the Northwest Territories' Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur program.

Kiah Debogorski, 17, and volleyball coach Chrissie Carrigan sport the new look. (Juanita Taylor/CBC)

Doug Rentmeister, Team NWT's Chef de Mission, said the wild fur provides a link to the cultural and economic roots of the territory.

"Team NWT is proud to carry in its uniform this element of the aboriginal traditions and practices that are the foundation of our Northern identity," he said.

The jackets themselves are grey and green, and the pants are green — inspired by the aurora borealis. Athletes will also wear black tuques.

More than 300 athletes from Team NWT will head to Greenland and Iqaluit for the games March 6-11.