INUVIK, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, August 17, 2006 -- The Canada Winter Games Torch will travel 130 kilometres through the ancestral lands of the Inuvialuit in a 10-day journey through Ivvavik National Park of Canada. The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, today announced that Parks Canada is participating as a partner in the Canada Winter Games Torch Challenge Relay by hosting the Torch on the Firth River in Ivvavik National Park of Canada.
"The Torch Challenge is a way of celebrating the wealth of visitor experiences available in northern national parks," said Minister Ambrose. "Projects like these are wonderful ways of building knowledge and connecting Canadians to northern national parks."
On August 17, Parks Canada staff, accompanied by two young Inuvialuit athletes, will fly into the remote headwaters of the Firth River in Ivvavik National Park of Canada, Yukon. There they will launch rafts that will carry them and the Canada Winter Games Torch to the Beaufort Sea.
The Canada Winter Games will take place in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2007. In the year preceding the Games, the Torch will travel through every community north of 60. In each territory, Torch Adventure Challenges are exposing the incredible diversity and vastness of the northern landscape to Canadians. Other Torch Adventure Challenges have taken place in Quttinirpaaq and Auyuittuq National Parks of Canada, Nunavut; in Kluane National Park and Reserve of Canada, Yukon; and in Nahanni National Park Reserve of Canada, Northwest Territories.
Ivvavik National Park of Canada was the first Canadian national park established as a result of an Aboriginal land claim, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, signed in 1984. Ivvavik National Park of Canada is part of the family of national parks, national historic sites, historic canals and national marine conservation areas in Canada that protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage, today and in the future.
Information:
Ryan Sparrow
Associate Director and Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
(819) 997-1441
Pat Dunn
Communications Manager
Western Arctic Field Unit
Parks Canada
(867) 777-8823
