This year's Yukon Native Hockey Tournament is off too

The annual Kilrich Yukon Native Hockey Tournament in Whitehorse has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was a very difficult decision, but we wanted to stay on the safe side," said Karee Vallevand, tournament co-ordinator.

The annual event, scheduled Mar. 27 to 29, typically draws hundreds of visitors to the city. This year, there were 26 teams registered from Yukon, nine from the N.W.T., and 10 from northern B.C.  

The cancellation is another big blow to Whitehorse businesses already counting their losses from the Arctic Winter Games, which was cancelled a few days ago.

Besides spending at restaurants and hotels, many who come to the hockey tournament from rural communities typically shop for goods they can't get back home. It's a big weekend for vehicle sales in the city.

"We're going to take a hit," said Jens Nielsen, general sales manager at Whitehorse Motors.

He said he expected 10 to 15 more sales than usual during the week of the tournament.

"I think that some of the people that took time off work, scheduled a trip for the tournament, they've been putting off shopping, so I'm hoping that, you know, if it's right for those people, some of them still may come," Nielsen said.

Hard decision

Vallevand said cancelling was a hard decision but it was the right one. She teared up as she spoke about it.

"It's just too much of a risk to our elders, to our babies, to our families," she said.

As of Thursday, Yukon had no confirmed cases of COVID-19. Vallevand said she didn't want the tournament to be responsible for changing that.   

Vallevand said it would also be difficult if people returned to their home communities afterwards and showed symptoms of COVID-19. 

"You have six people living in a home [and] if you've got one person that has symptoms, they're isolated ... Are these people going to have enough space in their community to be isolated?" Vallevand asked.