Team Nunavut uniforms aim for success with harpoon motif
Blue and yellow parkas, windbreakers and snow pants for Arctic Winter Games athletes
Team Nunavut athletes Robbie Nowdlak, left, and Mia Hainnu, sport their new uniforms for the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse. The apparel was unveiled at Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit last week. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Team Nunavut is dressed for success after its athletes’ new uniforms were unveiled at a ceremony in Iqaluit on Thursday, in advance of the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse next month.
The 2026 Team Nunavut Arctic Winter Games pin set depicts the pole push event from the Dene Games. (Photo courtesy of Team Nunavut)
Athletes, coaches and their families and fans filled the Inuksuk High School atrium as Community Services Minister Craig Simailak hosted the big reveal.
Premier John Main also attended.
“We have a bunch of strong, intelligent, talented athletes, performers and representatives and I’m sure they’re going to do Nunavut proud,” Main said.
“The uniforms will be a part of that.”
The blue and yellow parkas, windbreakers, and snow pants feature the Team Nunavut logo, which depicts a hunter throwing a kakivak, the Inuktitut word for a style of traditional harpoon.
The parkas and windbreakers are also emblazoned with the 2026 Arctic Winter Games logo. Red hoodies are part of the athletes’ wardrobe.
“They’re warm, I’ll tell you that much,” said Robbie Nowdlak, a 16-year-old futsal player, who was one of two athletes who helped showcase the uniform on stage.
Arctic sports athlete and fellow apparel model Mia Hainnu, 17, said she was honoured to be first to don the gear.
“I really like the jackets,” she said. “The big jacket is so nice and I’m so glad I got to represent it.”
Simailak and Main also presented the first peek at Team Nunavut’s pin sets for the Games. The pins depict a Dene game called pole push.
Hainnu and Nowdlak approve of the designs.
“I love them so much and I want to trade,” Hainnu said.
The audience erupted in applause as Simailak announced that under-19 basketball player Peyton Dyer-Aknavigak, 18, from Cambridge Bay will be Team Nunavut’s flag-bearer at the Games’ opening ceremony on March 8.
The presentation began with a performance by the Inuksuk Drum Dancers, six of whom will attend the Games as cultural ambassadors.
The Games are expected to bring together approximately 2,000 athletes, coaches and cultural delegates from March 8 to 15.
Team Nunavut will compete against teams from Nunavik, Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, Greenland and the Sápmi region of Scandinavia.
The Games host 20 sports that include hockey, curling, badminton, and wrestling.
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