NAIG Council

The NAIG Council is the International Governing Body for the NAIG, which exercises exclusive jurisdiction, either directly or through its affiliate members or committees, over all matters pertaining to the North American Indigenous Games. It ensures the purposes and philosophies are reflected in all aspects of the Games. The Council is the principal authority for policy development, rules and regulations for the North American Indigenous Games. In its role, the NAIG Council supervises the overall development and implementation of the Games, including the selection of host communities through a bid process. The NAIG Council enters into a formal Hosting Agreement with the host community, which stipulates the terms under which the Games are awarded.

NAIG Council works in a manner, which is consistent with the cultural, spiritual and traditional values of the people it represents. In their activities they promote and encourage holistic individual development that focuses on the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual growth of participants.

Structure and Composition
North America has been divided into twenty-six regions for the purpose of representation on the NAIG Council. A Council consisting of 13 mandated representatives from Canada and 13 representatives from the U.S.A. Canada is represented by the Aboriginal Sport Circle’s 13 Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies that have a grassroots mandate to represent the interests of the First Nation, Inuit, and Metis people of their region. The USA is still evolving towards this model with the creation of the Indigenous Peoples Sport Circle. Its 13 state regions are the USA’s representation on the NAIG Council.

NAIG Council Representatives (Canada)
Canada	Province/Territory	Representatives
Region 1	British Columbia	Alex Nelson, Ken Edzerza
Region 2	Alberta	Ted Hodgeson
Region 3	Saskatchewan	Shirley MacDonald
Region 4	Manitoba	Keith Dick, Ron Chartrand
Region 5	Ontario	George Lepine (Vice President)
Region 6	Eastern Door and the North (Provincial boundaries of Quebec)	Alwyn Morris, Jeff Spencer
Region 7	New Brunswick	Jake Caplin
Region 8	Nova Scotia	Robert Bernard (Treasurer)
Region 9	Prince Edward Island	Allan Gillis
Region 10	Newfoundland & Labrador
Region 11	Yukon	Teena Dixon, Dean Masterangelo
Region 12	Northwest Territories	Fred Koe
Region 13	Nunavut	Frank Tootoo

NAIG Council Representatives (USA)
USA	States	Representatives
Region 1	Alaska, Hawaii, Washington	Harold Joseph (President)
Region 2	California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon	Susan Geurin (Secretary)
Region 3	Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah	Robert Roybal
Region 4	Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming	Lance Azure
Region 5	Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota
Region 6	Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota	Don Cook
Region 7	Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas
Region 8	Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin	John Powless III
Region 9	Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusettes, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island	Sandi Pineault
Region 10	New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania	Dale Henry, Orville Green, Vern Jones
Region 11	Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Georgia
Region 12	Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina	Bo Young
Region 13	Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee	Barry Jim

With respect to the NAIG, the Aboriginal Sport Circle and Indigenous Peoples Sport Circle are custodians of the NAIG movement within Canada and USA. These two national bodies are the official bodies representing all domestic matters concerning the NAIG. The national bodies deal directly with the Host Organizing Committee on all matters related to each country’s participation in the NAIG. Both the Aboriginal Sport Circle and Indigenous Peoples Sport Circle host the responsibility of maintaining a positive working relationship with their national/federal level of governments in order to gain support for Aboriginal/Indigenous sport and recreation and the NAIG.