Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir are heading to Halifax to find out whether their joint bid for the 2027 North American Indigenous Games is successful.

Hamer-Jackson is hoping the Indigenous-led Tk’emlúps bid – chosen in November as B.C’s official host bid – will be victorious as he says it would be a big boost to the local economy.

“I mean we are going against Calgary which is a giant compared to us but you know what, I felt that Tk’emlúps and ourselves put together a really good presentation and who knows? You just don’t know,” he said on NL Mornings with Jeff & Bill.

“We’ll see what happens.”

A Kamloops-Tk’emlúps delegation – which included Hamer-Jackson, Casimir, Kamloops City Councillor Bill Sarai, and others – made their final pitch to the North American Indigenous Games council in May.

“It is a totally collaborative effort when you look at all the sporting venues that Kamloops has to offer and how we’re going to be bringing in the cultural and traditional perspectives to be able to support these games moving forward,” Casimir told Radio NL at the time.

If successful, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and Kamloops will welcome some 6,000 athletes, coaches, team staff, and cultural performers for eight days of competition in the summer of 2027.

It would be the largest sporting event held in the Tournament Capital, and its expected to generate as much as $15 to 20 million in economic spending.

An announcement on who will be the 2027 host is set come on Friday, July 21.