A decision to end vaccine mandates at the upcoming Arctic Winter Games had absolutely nothing to do with the Alberta government’s request and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith would not have been able to revoke $1.2 million in funding regardless.
That’s from Arctic Winter Games International Committee (AWGIC) president John Rodda, who spoke to Inuvik Drum while snowed in at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Nov. 29. He said the decision was based on advice from health authorities from multiple jurisdictions that it was safe to loosen restrictions.
“Originally when the policy was implemented, it was done with the advisement of the appropriate health authorities,” he said. “Ultimately, we arrived at what we had thought was the best policy, for the health and safety of all the athletes and participants coming from the circumpolar North. We took those directives and advisements and created the policy.
“But since then, things have relaxed — we understand that. So we deliberated and decided (removing the requirement) makes sense — cautiously. But it was not driven by the Alberta premier in any shape or form.”
During a press conference Nov. 28, Smith suggested she convinced the Arctic Winter Games to drop its vaccine mandate for the Wood Buffalo 2023 games by threatening to cut off $1.2 million in funding for the upcoming youth event.
“The Arctic Winter Games wanted $1.2 million from us to support their effort and they were discriminating against the athletes, telling them they have to be vaccinated,” she said in a response to a question about vaccine mandates in the workplace. “So we asked them if they would reconsider their vaccination policy in the light of new evidence, and they did and I was pleased to see that.”
However, Rodda said the decision to remove the mandate had already been made after consultation with a variety of healthcare experts from participating nations and Smith basically called just in time to hear the news. He noted the $1.2 million in funding for the AWG was given to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in 2019-2020 by the now defunct Alberta Sport Connection and the Alberta government could not actually take it back.
He also stressed the AWGIC was paying attention to world health events and was completely open to reversing the policy if healthcare officials in participating jurisdictions were concerned with Covid-19 numbers or other communicable diseases.
“We always take into account, first and foremost, the health and safety of the athletes and participants that come from the circumpolar North,” he said. “What we were working on was through the Covid-19 pandemic, but if we get directives that come from other health officials, nationally or provincially, that there is some other element that we have to contend with, then we are prepared to work with them to figure out what the best mechanism is to protect those people that are coming to the Games.
“We are not health officials or medical people. We’re trying to do the best we can for the health and safety of participants.”
No mask mandate
Rodda added the AWG was making sure social distancing practices and sanitation procedures were in place in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, but there is no mask mandate at this time. He cautioned that that could change if health advice changed. He added the AWG had a contingency plan in the event of required isolation or other urgent scenarios.
On her first day in office, Smith declared people who chose to not get a Covid-19 vaccine were “the most discriminated group” she had witnessed in her lifetime. She has since walked back those comments, though has not apologized.
On Nov. 18, the Arctic Winter Games announced it was dropping the vaccine mandate for participants, though individual teams could still require their members to be vaccinated. In the email to chefs de mission, Rodda said the organization would work with the Wood Buffalo 2023 host society to ensure other health safety measures are met, “including masking, hand sanitization and other actions that can help mitigate the effects of these diseases.”
“This means that the AWGIC will no longer require participating athletes, coaches, managers, mission staff, and others to be fully vaccinated to be part of the Wood Buffalo 2023 Arctic Winter Games,” reads the release. “If, however, any jurisdiction wishes to enforce its own requirements, including other health measures related to Covid-19, the AWGIC will respect their autonomy as a team decision.”
Athletes who had not signed up because they were unvaccinated or athletes who wanted to back out because of the change were given until Nov. 22 to connect with AWG.
Rodda said he had not heard of any athletes signing on or declining to participate as a result of the decision.
The Arctic Winter Games was cancelled over the last two years due to Covid-19 outbreaks. The event, currently scheduled for Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, is expected to draw more than 2,000 people from across the Arctic.
In less than three years, Covid-19 has killed an estimated 47,923 Canadians and an estimated 6.6 million people worldwide. There are more than 31.5 million vaccinated people in Canada, approximately 83.4 per cent of the population.