Part 2-Call to Action 87
87. We call upon all levels of government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, sports halls of fame, and other relevant organizations, to provide public education that tells the national story of Aboriginal athletes in history.
When I was younger, my aunt, Sheila Erickson, contributed a series of her poems to a book entitled, Notice; This is an Indian Reserve, in which the title was taken from actual signage that was hung around reserves in Canada. One of the lines of the poem went, “When you tell our stories, don’t rhyme the words too close together, or you won’t leave enough room for us to tell our stories!” It’s a line and statement that has spoken to me throughout my life as the meaning is quite simple; probably everything that you have ever read or viewed about Aboriginal people in Canada has not been told or written by Aboriginal people for the most part. This of course has lead to many misunderstandings, half-truths, while great positive stories about Aboriginal people and their great contributions to Canada and Canadian history have simply been forgotten or passed over. Ask any average Canadian today about the contributions of Aboriginal people and you’re bound to hear stories about blockades, militant actions, or nuisances who are holding back industry and development in Canada.
Sadly, you never hear about how snowshoes and birch bark canoes as being pieces of sports technology both invented and introduced to the Canadian lexicon, by First Nations people. Both those inventions were used considerably by the first explorers in Canada, to promote Canada’s first post-contact industry, the fur trade and without them, the history of this country would have been quite different. Although snow shoes were invented by First Nations, their adoption by Europeans lead to the creation of many snowshoes clubs across Canada and were some of the first ever sports clubs created. In terms of popularity, snowshoeing was one of the first sports to have clubs throughout the entire nation. As sport in Canada moved from an
amateur-based model to one that was largely commercialized, many sports left behind their roots and moved towards a secularized model that exists today (even though some sports such as hockey have a fervour that borders on religious fanaticism). As this occurred, many sports left behind their early roots and were adopted for the many new inhabitants that began to call Canada home. One such sport is lacrosse.
Forever the official summer sport of Canada, Lacrosse, was originally a game (Bagataway-The Creators Game) played by the Iroquois Nation as an exercise that was part spiritual exercise, part physical training, part military training, but pure exhilaration to anyone who played it. Lacrosse though, found itself the victim of amateurism and the Lord's Day Act (Downey 2015), which in essence were two attempts to curb sports among the early working class in Canada, but could also be seen as an attempt by church and state as a means to assimilate Indigenous people in Canada. Many eligibility rules were designed to exclude First Nations from participation in sports which ironically included sports that had their origins in First Nations culture. Native players were only added in an act of tokenism to add “Indianess” to the sport, but because First Nations players were considered professional, they were never allowed to fully participate. There has even been talk in some circles that lacrosse was a predecessor to the sport of hockey, but that’s for another discussion. Sadly though, even lacrosse’s origins have largely been forgotten outside of a small segment of the Canadian population, even though it has always been Canada’s national sport.
Where does this lead us in terms of reconciliation today and in particular, hockey? Well for one, the history and stories of Aboriginal athletes need to be told to all Canadians and in particular the contributions they made to Canadian society. Canadians need to be told about great athletes like Tom Longboat, who at his heyday was simply the best runner in the world and whose training methodology, a method he was criticized greatly for, became the standard type of training methodology that is followed by runners the world over to this day. In the hockey world, we often see shining examples of great players such as Carey Price, Bryan Trottier, and Reg Leach, but we don’t hear about the struggles those players made just to exist in a sport that was taught to their ancestors as a means of assimilation. We don’t hear their stories of how they sought to succeed in a world that was very foreign to them and how they faced racism. It is only now that we are beginning to see the life of Fred Sasakamoose celebrated throughout the hockey world and it is a travesty that the National Hockey League (NHL) does not list Fred Sasakamoose as an official ambassador for diversity in sport. Those stories matter to those players and they should matter to every Canadian who loves hockey. They create understanding and that understanding leads to a curiosity that steers people into learning more about others and how their ways of life may be different. Those who do that, no matter what their position in life is, are the better for it. If we allow ourselves to listen to others and let them really tell their stories, we will not fill in the spaces where the truth should exist.
What does that mean in practical terms? It means that Aboriginal people should be featured prominently in the annals of Canadian sports history and see why Fred Sasakamoose matters, why there is an award named after Tom Longboat (which should bring up other discussions about reconciliation as pointed out by Janice Forsyth (2015)), why Carey Price uttered the words, “Snachailya” at the 2015 NHL Awards (what does that mean anyway?). Some associations, such as BC Hockey, have been proactive in their approach by not only creating an Indigenous Partnership Working Group that has created an Indigenous Impact and Legacy Award, which allows and highlights incredible stories to be told about Indigenous people, by Indigenous people. This is one such initiative that is fairly easy to do, but the impact it has leads to activities that lead to a better understanding and ultimately reconciliation. Many of these stories have already been told, but perhaps the words have been rhymed too closely together to this point. Let’s allow those stories to be told again, and this time, let’s ensure there is enough space to tell the whole story! All one has to do is listen and have an open mind.
BC Hockey Creates Indigenous Participation Work Group
DOWNEY, A. (2015). Playing the Creator’s Came on God’s Day: The Controversy of Sunday Lacrosse Games in Haudenosaunee Communities, 1916-24. Journal of Canadian Studies, 49(3), 111–143.
Forsyth, J. (2015). Make the Indian Understand his Place: Politics and the Establishment of the Tom Longboat Awards at Indian Affairs and the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. Sport in History, 35(2), 241.
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| My daughter with a billion snowshoes steps in her DNA. |
Forever the official summer sport of Canada, Lacrosse, was originally a game (Bagataway-The Creators Game) played by the Iroquois Nation as an exercise that was part spiritual exercise, part physical training, part military training, but pure exhilaration to anyone who played it. Lacrosse though, found itself the victim of amateurism and the Lord's Day Act (Downey 2015), which in essence were two attempts to curb sports among the early working class in Canada, but could also be seen as an attempt by church and state as a means to assimilate Indigenous people in Canada. Many eligibility rules were designed to exclude First Nations from participation in sports which ironically included sports that had their origins in First Nations culture. Native players were only added in an act of tokenism to add “Indianess” to the sport, but because First Nations players were considered professional, they were never allowed to fully participate. There has even been talk in some circles that lacrosse was a predecessor to the sport of hockey, but that’s for another discussion. Sadly though, even lacrosse’s origins have largely been forgotten outside of a small segment of the Canadian population, even though it has always been Canada’s national sport.
Where does this lead us in terms of reconciliation today and in particular, hockey? Well for one, the history and stories of Aboriginal athletes need to be told to all Canadians and in particular the contributions they made to Canadian society. Canadians need to be told about great athletes like Tom Longboat, who at his heyday was simply the best runner in the world and whose training methodology, a method he was criticized greatly for, became the standard type of training methodology that is followed by runners the world over to this day. In the hockey world, we often see shining examples of great players such as Carey Price, Bryan Trottier, and Reg Leach, but we don’t hear about the struggles those players made just to exist in a sport that was taught to their ancestors as a means of assimilation. We don’t hear their stories of how they sought to succeed in a world that was very foreign to them and how they faced racism. It is only now that we are beginning to see the life of Fred Sasakamoose celebrated throughout the hockey world and it is a travesty that the National Hockey League (NHL) does not list Fred Sasakamoose as an official ambassador for diversity in sport. Those stories matter to those players and they should matter to every Canadian who loves hockey. They create understanding and that understanding leads to a curiosity that steers people into learning more about others and how their ways of life may be different. Those who do that, no matter what their position in life is, are the better for it. If we allow ourselves to listen to others and let them really tell their stories, we will not fill in the spaces where the truth should exist.
What does that mean in practical terms? It means that Aboriginal people should be featured prominently in the annals of Canadian sports history and see why Fred Sasakamoose matters, why there is an award named after Tom Longboat (which should bring up other discussions about reconciliation as pointed out by Janice Forsyth (2015)), why Carey Price uttered the words, “Snachailya” at the 2015 NHL Awards (what does that mean anyway?). Some associations, such as BC Hockey, have been proactive in their approach by not only creating an Indigenous Partnership Working Group that has created an Indigenous Impact and Legacy Award, which allows and highlights incredible stories to be told about Indigenous people, by Indigenous people. This is one such initiative that is fairly easy to do, but the impact it has leads to activities that lead to a better understanding and ultimately reconciliation. Many of these stories have already been told, but perhaps the words have been rhymed too closely together to this point. Let’s allow those stories to be told again, and this time, let’s ensure there is enough space to tell the whole story! All one has to do is listen and have an open mind.
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| Mr. Hockey with one of my former players, In a RUSSIAN jersey? Ask me the story, And I'd gladly tell you! |
BC Hockey Creates Indigenous Participation Work Group
DOWNEY, A. (2015). Playing the Creator’s Came on God’s Day: The Controversy of Sunday Lacrosse Games in Haudenosaunee Communities, 1916-24. Journal of Canadian Studies, 49(3), 111–143.
Forsyth, J. (2015). Make the Indian Understand his Place: Politics and the Establishment of the Tom Longboat Awards at Indian Affairs and the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. Sport in History, 35(2), 241.
