The mayor of Val d’Or and merchants in the city are upset and angry about the decision to move the Cree Nation hockey and broomball tournament to Rouyn-Noranda.
“It is a big loss,” said Mayor Ronald Tetreault, who added that he was “shocked” on hearing the news.
“I thought all the problems were resolved. We had signed an agreement.”
Tetreault said if the tournament ever returns to Val d’Or it may not get the same reception as before. Moving to Rouyn “will make sponsorship harder to get in the future in Val d’Or,” he said.
The tournament’s major sponsor in Val d’Or is fuming.
“We did everything to find a solution. What’s deplorable is not that we didn’t want them. They didn’t want us. We are disappointed,” said Jean-Pierre Laprise, manager of the Géant des Aubaines and Hart department stores.
Laprise emphasized that he is not angry at anyone in particular, but just “disappointed.”
“It could have been the best tournament to date with everything we had planned. We worked all year for this. I have the contract in my pocket,” he said.
Laprise said it has been known since last spring that hotel rooms would be tight because a mining convention was planned at the same time. “They should have made alternate plans.”
Others in Val d’Or suggested the hotel problems will be the same in Rouyn.
Josee, manager of the Chateau 80 bar, said: “We are used to having Indians. In Rouyn they’re not. I don’t know if they’ll be well-received.”
Larry Demers was manager of the Val d’Or arena during every tournament since the beginning, except the first one. He’s retiring this year and is sad to see the tourney go. “We’re very, very disappointed. I’ve been with those people for 15 years and they just go away like that.
So I’m going to be a little lonesome.”
Demers said the Cree move may have been influenced by bad experiences with certain merchants in the past. “It’s their party. It’s their weekend. And you’ve got to give them everything they want to make them happy. But some people don’t do that, so I’m disappointed.”
