Good afternoon, Colleagues. This is a statement I prepared for last fall session, but I didn't get a chance to do it.
Last summer, some of you had the opportunity to see various hand game tournaments across the NWT and are happening now. As some of you know, it is amazing to watch. You can feel the energy and excitement in the venue. The hand games were played years ago as a form of gambling among friends and different groups. Often the games were played to gamble for bullets, furs, dogs, toboggans, or match sticks. Today, hand games are played in cultural centres, gyms, community halls or outside, all over the NWT as a friendly competition fostering community pride. The hand game is based on a simple concept of hiding and guessing of objects using elaborate hand signals and gestures to both find the object and hide the object. This is all done with the sound of the drum. Some say it is not physical, but I have seen games that last for hours and at the end, both teams are sweating and exhausted. However, winning or losing, you are grateful to compete against one another.
This past summer, a team from Fort Liard, Fort Nelson, and an elder from Fort Providence competed at the Charlie Zoe Nitsiza Hand Games Tournament in Whati. The tournament started on June 28th and finished on June 30th after midnight. There were 51 teams competing throughout the weekend. As the 51 teams battled it out throughout the weekend, we finally saw it get down to the last eight teams on Sunday evening. The team managed to stay on the A side bracket until Sunday afternoon when they were dropped to the B side bracket by the team from Deline. This added to the challenge for them getting to the final. Fortunately, they eliminated the remaining teams on the B side to make it to the final to compete against the A side Team Deline.
The captain of the team told me about the message they got from the Deline captain, We're glad to see you in the final. Sure enough, they did meet in the final. In the end, the team came in second.The captain would like to say a big mashi cho to his teammates. It was an amazing time.
In closing, hand games are a healing sport and that is why people are attracted to it. It soothes the soul and it's reconnected you with your ancestors. Congratulations to the teams
and the teams that are competing last weekend in Fort McPherson, and I think they're competing in Deline this weekend. So thank you very much.
