Whitehorse Canada Winter Games bid committee files first of 2 major reviews to host Games

The bid committee that's vying to bring the Canada Winter Games to Whitehorse in 2027 says that for the city to play host, it needs a new 3,500-seat arena and an athletes village capable of housing 2,000 athletes.

Those are the two biggest projects the bid committee identified in the technical review it prepared and submitted last week to the Canada Games Council.

Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said delivering the technical report brings Whitehorse one step closer to bringing back the Games.

"As we've seen since 2007, more and more Yukon athletes are representing our territory and Canada on national world stages,"  he said in a statement. 

"A lot of their success can be attributed directly to the ability to use the legacy facilities for the Canada Winter Games."

The technical review looked at whether the facilities required to host the games exist in the community and, if they do, whether they're adequate or need to be upgraded, said Piers McDonald, chair of the bid committee.

"We've identified some gaps that we'll need to fill and we've committed to filling those," he said.

It's the first of two reports the bid committee needs to file to the council. The second report, due in September, is a comprehensive review that will look at the planning of the Games.

"When it comes to the Canada Games, we have to remember that there are 20 to 22 national-class sporting competitions all happening at the same time, in the same place," McDonald, a former Yukon premier and a former chancellor of Yukon University, said on CBC's Airplay. "So it fills up a small town like this pretty quickly."

He said the new arena needs to be big enough to host the opening and closing ceremonies.

He added the committee is hoping to build the village at Yukon University, like it did in 2007 when it was Yukon College.

"It requires housing of the 2,000 athletes who will be participants in the games, feeding them and taking care of them," said McDonald.

"So it's a big, big operation. We have to make sure that we do that properly."

McDonald added that all the facilities that will need to be built to host the Games will have to meet two objectives, one for the Games and the other for Whitehorse.

"Given the size and cost of facilities like this, it has to have a very profound legacy value," he said.

Other gaps

MacDonald added the bid committee identified the lack of a long track speed skating oval in the city.

He said that in 2007, the city built an outdoor long track speed skating oval.

"It costs a small fortune and of course, it melted with the spring," he said.

"So we thought that rather than spending so much on a facility, which had almost no legacy value, we would partner with Fort St. John as other games have done because they have one of four long track speed skating ovals in the country."

He said the B.C. community, which is about 1,300 kilometres southwest of Whitehorse, has helped out with other games.

McDonald noted the new recreation centre that is scheduled to be built in Whistle Bend will have a climbing facility within it.

"[That's] fortunate for us because one of the sports for our games will be climbing," said McDonald, adding the ski hill will also need some upgrades to host the skiing competitions.

Site visit

The Canada Games Council will send a technical review committee on March 29 and 30 to see all the facilities the bid committee is proposing to use.

"It'll be a description of where we are right now," said McDonald.

He said the next step will be putting the rest of the bid together.

"It's a big project," he said. "We have to describe the entire culture and ceremonies program. We have to describe how we're going to raise sponsorship ... for something that is $10 million probably."

Partnership with Yukon First Nations

He said the biggest thing the bid committee is trying to create is a partnership with Yukon First Nations.

He said the bid committee hopes to partner with them "in a much larger and more profound way," than in 2007 so that Yukon First Nations can help deliver on the Games and benefit from them as much as possible.

"So we all work together to do something that is unique and significant for the community."

The Yukon government said the Canada Winter Games generates approximately $80 million to $110 million in revenue for the host territory or province.