The 2017 World Indigenous Nations Games are coming to Canada for the first time. Previously held in Brazil, they will take place in Edmonton from July 2 to 9.

 Canadians will be introduced to cool sports, like Xikunahati, a Brazilian game similar to soccer except that only the players' heads can touch the ball.

If Brazil's games were any indication, fans can expect an archery competition where the target is a small fish, 40 metres away, and competitors aim for its eye.

There will also be tug-of-war, spear fishing and traditional canoeing. Hosted in partnership between Enoch Cree Nation, the University of Alberta, and Wicihitowin Society.

More than 2,000 athletes and cultural delegates, drawn from two dozen countries and hundreds of different first nations, participated in the first world games. The event was chaotic, disorganized and nevertheless full of remarkable cross-cultural connections and moments of sporting triumph.


Canada sent a 53-member delegation that included a women’s soccer team that won gold in a nail-biting final match against Brazil’s Xerente nation, and long-distance runners who won gold and silver medals as well. Canada’s cultural delegation, headed by traditional dancers and drummers from Treaty 6 Cree Nations in Saskatchewan, were scene-stealers, drawing huge crowds to their performances.


Another key lesson from Brazil is the challenge of communication: English, Spanish and Portuguese were all in use at the games here, plus dozens of indigenous languages, while the Mongolians and Siberians, among others, were largely left without translation.