On Saturday, Dec. 7, Indigenous Sports Circle NWT (ISCNWT) hosted its annual awards dinner in Yellowknife, and five hard-working individuals were honoured for their efforts.
"We've got to recognize our Indigenous people of the NWT," said Carson Roche, ISCNWT's events manager. "Some of our award winners are local, some come from remote areas of the North... You get to see the important work that some of these individuals are doing in their communities.
"They come and share their stories, and it's inspiring to see what they're doing."
ISCNWT strives to promote healthy, active and culturally-connected Indigenous communities throughout the territory. The organization's year-end awards dinner occurred at Yellowknife's Explorer Hotel.
The 2024 community builder award went to Fort McPherson's Joyce Blake, who "significantly influenced her community and the Beaufort Delta region through her commitment to Indigenous sports and youth development," according to the ISCNWT.
Fort Smith's Victoria Heron received the coach award for her "dedication to preserving and promoting traditional hand games."
The language and culture award went home with Devon Notaina, a cultural mentor from Ulukhaktok, who "has made significant contributions to preserving the Inuvialuktun language and traditional practices."
Aaron Plotner of Ndilo won the teacher award for "promoting healthy, active lifestyles among students through sports and recreational activities."
Fort Simpson resident Lydia Nelner, 18, received the sport award for her success in the inaugural WomenSA国际影视传媒檚 Dene Games at the 2024 Arctic Winter Games in Mat-Su, Alaska.
The award winners were "very excited," according to Roche SA国际影视传媒� though some experienced a bit of nerves, which is understandable given that there were close to 200 people in attendance for the dinner.
"I'm from a small community up in the North too, and seeing that many people, we get a little nervous, but we helped them out and they got to bring out one family member from the community to come and join them," said Roche. "They all came up to me during the dinner and gave me some thank-you gifts and appreciated all the work that we did."
In addition to the award ceremony and dinner, the event featured performances from Nolan Kasook, Tyren Kisoun, and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation drummers, as well as a jigging performance. Several notables also took the stage to speak that night, including Yellowknives Chief Ernest Betsina and NWT MP Michael McLeod. Mandee McDonald served as master of ceremonies.
According to Roche, who has helped organize the dinner for several years now, things went exceedingly well.
"I've been part of the last five years now, and this one was definitely one of the best," he said. "This year went really smooth. Everyone's flights made it on time, and we stuck to the program. The food was good. The speeches went well."
The dinner capped a momentous 2024 for ISCNWT SA国际影视传媒� a year that saw the organization officially change its name from Aboriginal Sports Circle NWT as part of a major rebrand.
While the team behind the organization will hopefully get some well-earned rest over the holidays, Roche has started planning for next year. In fact, he's already given some thought to the 2025 dinner.
"I've already got plans for next year's dinner, with different awards and how to get more nominations," he said. "Everyone's getting ready for the holidays but I'm already working on stuff."
