Whistler’s International Partnerships with Sister City Karuizawa in Japan and its Friendship Pact with Les Deux Alpes in France strengthen economic and cultural ties, promote tourism and offer opportunities to share knowledge and experience.

Karuizawa Sister City

The Resort Municipality of Whistler has a sister city relationship with Karuizawa, Japan.

Whistler and Karuizawa both boast year-round tourism and a multitude of outdoor recreational activities. In addition, the two municipalities have hosted the Olympic Games. Karuizawa hosted the Summer Games in 1964 and the Winter Games in 1998, and Whistler hosted the Winter Games in 2010. 

The two municipalities became the 67th pair of Canadian-Japanese Sister Cities in 1999.

The mayor of Karuizawa visited Whistler in October 2012 and spent three days exploring our community with a tour of the Cheakamus Community Forest, tree planting outside of the Meadow Park Sports Centre to commemorate the mayor’s visit, tours of the Whistler Sliding Centre, Whistler Olympic Park and the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. 

Karuizawa Sister City Youth Exchange

The Sister City relationship includes student exchanges between Whistler and Karuizawa. The exchange provides a cross-cultural experience that explores the traditions, history, language and present-day geography of both countries.

Program Information:

Each year, Whistler youth participate in this exciting exchange program; Karuizawa youth visit Whistler for six nights in March and Whistler youth visit Karuizawa for six nights in October.

Shared interests between the successful applicants:

• An eagerness to represent Whistler as an Ambassador. 
• An interest in learning about the Japanese culture.
• Participation in school or community activities.
• Independence and working in a team.

Youth must in Grade 8 or Grade 9 and reside in Whistler full-time to be eligible to apply.

Important participation information for families:

• Accepted youth and their families must host Karuizawa youth in the home for three nights during Karuizawa’s visit to Whistler.
• Two chaperones from the RMOW travel to Karuizawa with the Whistler youth.
• All homestay family parents require Police Information Checks.

Costs:

The RMOW funds 50 per cent of the flight costs for the Whistler exchange to Karuizawa. The RMOW also organizes various fundraising activities. Students taking part in the program cover the remaining travel costs.

Contact:

For further information about the Sister City Youth Exchange program please contact recreation@whistler.ca.

Friendship Pact with Les Deux Alpes in France

The Resort Municipality of Whistler signed a Friendship Pact with the French mountain resort area Les Deux Alpes in July 2018.

Les Deux Alpes comprises two communities, Mont-de-Lans village and Venosc village, and is the oldest ski resort area in France. Whistler and Les Deux Alpes share the experiences of renowned winter ski and snowboard activities and summer mountain biking. Importantly, both share a focus on the preservation of community and the environment.

The Friendship Pact began with an invitation from Les Deux Alpes Mayors to delegates from the Whistler municipality, resort operations and tourism (Whistler Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler), local biking association (WORCA), real estate and housing representatives and Ecole La Passerelle to visit in July 2018.

The towns and their representatives met to share lessons learnt, best practices and advice on year-round tourism, governance for community and housing sustainability, aging infrastructure maintenance, longevity of mature resorts and school, language and cycling club connections.

The Friendship Pact formalizes this ongoing partnership and knowledge sharing for the mutual benefit of Whistler and the Les Deux Alpes.