Kamloops, Tk'emlups prepare to host 2025 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships

Top players to compete

Photo: Pexels / Ron Lach

The Tournament Capital and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc are getting ready to host Canada’s premier Indigenous hockey event, which will see some of the best players across Canada competing.

The National Aboriginal Hockey Championships will see six male and six female hockey teams of under-18 First Nations, Inuit and Metis hockey players from across Canada compete for the Turtle Island Cup.

Duncan Olthuis, executive director of the Kamloops Sports Council and manager of the 2025 NAHC leadership team, said the six-day event will be held from May 4 to May 11.

“We haven't received the final schedule yet, but it's typically a round-robin schedule and then the regulation matches are on the Friday, and the championship, the medal rounds, on the Saturday,” he said.

Round-robin games will be played at the McArthur Island Sports and Event Centre, while medal round action will take place at Sandman Centre. All games are free to watch.

Olthuis said teams are chosen provincially. While there have traditionally been eight teams, the Atlantic and Northwest Territory teams are unable to attend this year.

B.C. has previously hosted the championships twice — in Prince George in 2004 and the Cowichan Valley in 2017.

“It’s an honour to be able to host this type of tournament in Kamloops,” Olthuis said.

“I think the most important thing is the reconciliation side and the culture side of this event, but it will bring a lot of economic impact to the city as well.”

Olthuis said the successful NAHC bid was put together after Kamloops lost out on a bid to host the 2027 North American Indigenous games.

He said he thought the Tournament Capital was the perfect place to host the championships.

“Kamloops has always stepped up with their volunteerism with these types of events,” he said.

“It just goes to show what we’re all about, what Kamloops is — it’s a sports tourism hub for sure.”

The successful Kamloops bid was supported by the host communities of TteS and the City of Kamloops, as well as Kamloops Sports Council, Tourism Kamloops, Thompson Valley Charters, BC Hockey, Kamloops Minor Hockey Association, and the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council.

Kamloops Sports Council has secured an $80,000 grant and another $22,200 grant for the event from the provincial Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.