Rouyn-Noranda is getting a whopper of a Christmas present courtesy of the Cree Nation Invitational Tournament.
Sixteen years of tradition will come to an end this year as the annual Cree hockey and broomball tournament moves to Rouyn from Val d’Or.
Officially, the reason was a lack of hotel rooms in Val d’Or. “What it boiled down to was there was no accommodation for the teams. Entire communities had no rooms,” said Jeff Spencer, co-organizer of the tournament. “Either we had to cancel the tournament or move it.”
Spencer said no hotel rooms were available for 60 to 75 per cent of team members because most rooms Val d’Or had already been booked by other Crees.
But there are plenty of other reasons for the move, according to Cree team members and recreation directors.
The main one is a long string of incidents in which Crees saw discrimination or being unappreciated in Val d’Or. The final straw came this summer during the baseball tournament when two bars allegedly charged Crees more than non-Native customers.
“People said the racism from this summer was one of the big things,” said one recreation director.
“I personally think it’s time for a little change, hopefully for the better,” said another. “That should wake up Val d’Or. We were after them for years for more sponsorship and cooperation. Finally people said that’s enough.”
Rouyn has 399 hotel rooms as opposed to 244 in Val d’Or. The shopping and prices are better in Rouyn, especially since Val d’Or merchants jack up their prices during the tournaments.
Rouyn is offering Crees free ice time (Val d’Or was still charging after all these years). Rouyn has four arenas (Val d’Or has two) and it is offering a free shuttle between the arenas. The new date for the tournament, Dec. 11 to 14, is also better because it’s after exams. Another advantage of Rouyn for one person: the Cage Aux Sports.
The city of Rouyn appointed its director-general of economic development as the liaison with the Crees. In Val d’Or, Crees were dealing with someone lower down.
The decision to move came as a shock and surprise to many in Val d’Or. In the past, the tournament has brought in 3-4,000 Crees and $4 million into Val d’Or.
Even after the decision to move, Val d’Or Mayor Ronald Tetreault was still assuring people Cree chiefs would overrule the recreation people and keep the event in Val d’Or, which didn’t happen.
The city and hotels tried at the last minute to convince Crees to stay during two days of frantic meetings, but nothing acceptable was offered. The tournament couldn’t be moved to another weekend because Val d’Or’s arena was already booked for other hockey games.
The lack of hotel space was made worse by the fact that the Barrick Gold company had booked 60 out of 96 rooms in the Continental Hotel for a convention. Two other hotels in the city closed down this summer, adding to the room crunch.
Mayor Tetreault wondered about the hotel reservations already made in Val d’Or, saying Crees probably won’t get their deposits back. But several hotel managers contacted by The Nation said this won’t be a problem. Just call in advance to cancel and your money is yours.
