It was an exciting day for the Nak’azdli Trees U-17 boys basketball team, as it was officially announced they will be hosting the 2027 Junior All Native Basketball Tournament (JANT).
Nearly 130 teams of around 1,800 athletes will be competing, something Tourism PG Executive Director Scott McWalter said will bring immense impact not only economically, but for sporting tourism.
“Sport tourism in Prince George is hot right now, and we want to lean into that even more.”
“We just had the Indigenous Hockey Tournament last month which brought in 50 teams, and now we have JANT 2027. That’s something that we really want to lean into, especially during perhaps the shoulder seasons where tourism might be down a bit.”
McWalter said an event like this will help hotels, the visitor economy, and the overall tourism ecosystem.
For Tournament Director Erica McLean, bringing this event to PG took a considerable amount of time, with conversations starting in late 2025, with the scope only expanding.
“This is a conversation we have with many local and northern teams is that they don’t have the capacity to host, because the tournament has grown so much.”
“I had heard a question ‘what do we do here that is maybe a little bit different?’, and that’s something I really want to emphasize.”
McLean also mentioned how important it is to have the tournament where families don’t have to travel too far away to see the players play.
When Trees player Tezzeron Holdis heard that PG would be hosting, he couldn’t be happier.
“I always wanted JANT to be in PG one year, and this is the year it finally came and I got excited we were hosting it.”
Volunteers are needed, and those looking to join can do so by reaching out to the JANT basketball Instagram page here.
The tournament will be coming to Lheidli T’enneh territory in Prince George from March 21st to the 27th, 2027.
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