Yukon handgames tournament gets a new name to honour the elder who created it

This past weekend, the Yukon's annual handgames tournament got a new name to honour the late elder who created it in the first place. 

For over two decades, communities across the Yukon have travelled to Whitehorse for a handgames tournament held the last weekend of February. It was first organized by the late Elder Yvonne Ann Smarch in 1998. 

Before this year, the event was called the Yukon Rendezvous Handgames Tournament. But it wasn't an official part of Rendezvous programming. 

"We've always had handgames on Rendezvous," said Doronn Fox, president of the Yukon Handgames Society. "That tournament was always put on by the Indigenous community to have something that was separate from Rendezvous." 

Yukon Rendezvous, formerly called the Yukon "Sourdough" Rendezvous, turned 60 this year. Among many other festivities, the event has participants dress up in 19th century costumes in reference to the Klondike Gold Rush. 

That connection hasn't always sat well with Yukon First Nations. 

Jackie Callahan, a close friend of Smarch and one of the memorial tournament organizers, said that Smarch saw handgames as a way to bring people together. 

"She reached out to Rendezvous a couple of times to try and partner, but that didn't happen," Callahan said. 

Smarch passed away in 2007. Since then, Callahan and other organizers have helped the event carry on. 

This year, that one event became two. 

Rendezvous organizers partnered with Doronn Fox and the Yukon Handgames Society to hold the first official joint event on Feb. 17 and 18. 

The tournament will now be held each year on the last weekend of February. 

"Snake Charmer" Shantay Karhut is the current executive director of Rendezvous. She said she was eager to incorporate handgames into the festival's roster of events when she stepped into the role this year. 

Karhut said Indigenous people have been involved with Rendezvous for years.