The Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management is honoured to have presented our partners at the National Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at the University of Manitoba with a gift of a paddle. 

The presentation took place at a ceremony Friday, Sept. 21.

Victoria McIntosh, an Anishnaabe artist and Residential School Survivor, made the paddle to acknowledge the courage of Residential School Survivors and the NCTR’s efforts to help Indigenous and settler Canadians live together in a good way. The paddle was presented as a gift to the NCTR and as a public acknowledgement of the faculty’s commitment to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and Principles of Reconciliation within the field of kinesiology, recreation, sport, and physical education.

Read more about our faculty’s journey and pursuit of honouring the TRC’s nine Calls to Action related to sport (#87-#91) and education (#62-#65) that will support the development of culturally relevant sport, recreation, and physical education systems:

• The road to Reconciliation through sport
• Sport used as a tool for assimilation
• Forging connections through sport
• Reconciliation through sports, a public forum

The emotional three-day forum explored ways to achieve the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s nine Calls to Action (#87 – #91) related to sport (#87-#91) and education (#62-#65) that will support the development of culturally relevant sport, recreation, and physical education systems.

Amongst the panelists and speakers sharing their experiences and knowledge were residential school survivors and their families, Indigenous coaches and community leaders, and sport and recreation program coordinators.  

Day two keynote speaker, Dr Lynn Lavallée, Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement)

The gathering occurred in the wake of an emotionally trying time for the Indigenous community with regard to the recent events surrounding Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine.

Former NDP MLA Kevin Chief spoke the morning following the not guilty verdict in the Cormier trial. In what was a somber start to the day, Chief’s words gently swirled the room, calming the air with empathy and hope.

“Right now, this is the best possible place we can all be. We’re all in this working together,” said Chief.

Through keynote speeches, panel discussions, and group sessions, the forum identified a variety of core issues related to sport and recreation at the Indigenous level, and recommendations on how to move forward.

It was agreed that Indigenous youth face far too many barriers in accessing adequate sport and recreation programs in their communities, specifically in north end Winnipeg.

Also identified was the crucial need for sport and recreation champions in the Indigenous community.

Kevin Chief

“We need to do a better job of sharing our stories of success—and building up our champions. For all the stories of struggle we hear about our people, there are just as many good and powerful stories as well,” said Chief, as he spoke with an image of Team Canada Olympic hockey player Brigette Lacquette displayed behind him.

Discussed, too, was the need to re-design long-standing sport and recreation funding and organizational structures to incorporate Indigenous values and ethics.

“Systemic racism stops opportunities from going forward. Rules and regulations based on colonial models will not work,” said Eugene Arcand, a residential school survivor and catalyst in the Indigenous sports community. “They have to realize that Indigenous people have their own ways of organizing things and that needs to be respected.”

Forum coordinator Bruce Miller is pleased with the progress and outcomes of the three-day event. He admits there’s still lots of work ahead—and it will take plenty of courage to continue the conversations. 

Bruce Miller

“This work is not easy, but it’s important to drive ahead and have those awkward and difficult conversations about the history of residential schools, racism, and sports and the ripple effects it all still has today,” said Miller. “I’m pleased there’s interest to further what we achieved over these three days.”

Next steps include the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council (MASRC) taking the recommendations from the gathering and working with sport and recreation bodies to enact “change and progress,” Miller added.

Sport provided them with an outlet, though, a path to something else. In a new open forum, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management will explore how this path can lead to Reconciliation.

The inaugural Sport & Reconciliation Gathering, which runs Feb. 21-23, will ask and answer how we can achieve the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s nine Calls to Action related to sport (#87 – #91) and education (#62-#65).

Arcand will be among the speakers and UM Today asked him for a preview of his talk.

UM Today: What will you speak about?

Eugene Arcand

Eugene Arcand: First of all, I want to commend the University of Manitoba for taking the initiative to address the Calls to Action especially in this area, which was a major saviour for many of us who went to Residential Schools.What I’m going to talk about is living examples of how sport basically was our outlet. It was our sacred space. The missionaries liked to show of the mission kids, and it didn’t take very long for most of us to realize and recognize that if you were one of those kids that got to travel on the sports teams to various local towns and tournaments, that it was first of all, a safer space than being in the residence area, plus you got fed better. You got treated better for the time that you were on these teams. And that included pretty well every sport, but I’d say hockey, for the boys, was probably the most important. But it required us to be all around athletes in order to stay on those teams, so that included things like track and field—soccer was a big sport where I was at Duck Lake.

I was at St. Michael’s school for nine years, from 1958 till 1967. And I was in Lebret from 1967 until 1969. A total of 11 years. But even in Lebret, sport was the saving grace for me personally, and for many others.

So did it provide you with a means of escape from the realities of Residential School or did those still follow you onto the rink?

It was a safe space. When I talk about escape, I mean running away.

Did you ever think about or try to run away when you were on a sports trip?

That’s part of my speech. Certainly, we all at some point in time contemplated running away. Many of us tried to. But you get caught and the punishment was just horrific. So when we were on these excursions, for most of us, we didn’t know anything else. For us, it was a good space. If we could get on that team, it was good enough for that point in time. If you run away while you’re on one of those excursions, you’d never get taken again, right?

What sports did you play?

My sports were hockey and fastball. And soccer. At that time in my life, growing up, the competition was fierce within the school to get on those teams. There were times we’d injure one another so the other kid couldn’t go, you know. And then you’d get moved up. It was survival mode, right? For me, I didn’t look forward to playing in the NHL. That wasn’t the goal. My goal was to get on that team and get the heck out of there every chance I had. And also to be a big boy so no one would bother me anymore. Those daily threats of psychological, physical, sexual, emotional abuses were absent during those times.

That’s what sports meant to you then. Has it changed at all now that you’re older?

Gordie Howe

When I came out of those institutions in 1969, sports still played an important part of my life. A very, very important part of my life because it was the only thing I knew. For me, I didn’t have any carpentry skills. I didn’t have any farming sills. I didn’t have any skills other than sports.

And the other part, for me, was I had no idea how good I was. All I knew is I had to be good enough to get on the team to get out of Residential School. And when I got out, I kept playing and the other coaches would ask me where I learned to play soccer or hockey. I started to realize I was good, and sport took me around the world. I used to dream of meeting guys like Gordie Howe. I did eventually meet him, and ended up spending a lot of time with him. I have some good, funny stories of me and Gordie, but that’s for another time.

What are you hoping people take away from the event?

I’m happy the U of M is opening this space because there are a lot of young Indigenous people out there that are excellent, excellent athletes. And they’re held back by poverty and held back by systemic barriers that include racism and prejudice.

I have been with the North American Indigenous Games since 1990, and I see raw talent. I see raw warrior spirit wanting to compete, to showcase their skills. But there are barriers.

And the U of M is running programs to identify and recruit Indigenous athletes. This is long overdue. And in this case it’s partnering up to address the Calls to Action from the TRC’s final report. And I applaud anyone who looks into options to accommodate – and appreciate – these young people who are overlooked and are statistics in many other forms of their lives. But post-secondary education sports can be a stepping-stone, or a place to land.

The three-day forum will explore ways to achieve the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s nine Calls to Action (#87 – #91) related to sport (#87-#91) and education (#62-#65) that will support the development of culturally relevant sport, recreation, and physical education systems.

Forum coordinator Bruce Miller [BRS/99] is eager for the community to learn and discuss the role of sport as a way to build a road to Reconciliation, though he admits it will take courage to unpackage the topic in such an open forum.

While the language of sport is universal, sport has been used as a tool to divide and segregate Indigenous peoples.

“It’s important for us to all learn and understand this history, and the significance it continues to have,” Miller adds. “Sport can play a significant role in Reconciliation. I truly believe others will look to us for inspiration.”  

The tentative three-day overview is as follows:
DAY 1:
Learning From Our Past
Honouring Elders, Traditional Knowledge Keepers & Residential School Survivors/Families

DAY 2:
Voices of the Community
Sport, recreation, and the education system
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Lynn Lavallée

DAY 3:
Vision to Action – A Path Forward
Building on the Calls to Action
Keynote Speaker: Kevin Chief

For more information, visit umanitoba.ca/sport-reconciliation and follow the hashtag #UMSRG2018 on social media.

“It’s important to understand sport in the context of colonialism and decolonization,” she says.

The Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management will explore how sports and reconciliation are intertwined, something that will be discussed at the inaugural  Sport & Reconciliation Gathering, which runs Feb. 21-23. Forsyth advised the Faculty on how it can make strides towards the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s nine Calls to Action related to sport (#87 – #91) and education (#62-#65).

Forsyth unpacks the desire for reconciliation by asking: “What needs to be reconciled? Many people are unsure about what this means in sport because they have not taken the time to think critically about sport as it relates to colonization and decolonization. There is also no clear ‘road map’ to getting where Indigenous people want to go, and in most cases Indigenous people have not been put in decision-making power when it comes to developing programs and policies in a way that directly addresses their needs and aspirations. Usually their needs and aspirations get filtered through the dominant sporting lens. The need for appropriate funding that supports their aspirations is a compounding issue as well.”

She says that sport has always been used as a tool of assimilation. In the history of Canada, Residential Schools encouraged Indigenous students to participate in mainstream activities such as hockey or football instead of Indigenous activities such as lacrosse, for example.

Lacrosse players

“Sport is not value-free,” Forsyth explains. “Built into it are ways of prioritizing values and beliefs that may not be part of Indigenous cultural heritage.”

She adds: “If you shift the lens a bit, and instead see sport as a cultural activity that teaches and reinforces cultural values and beliefs, it’s not hard to see how sport has been implicated in the history of cultural transformation. In Residential Schools especially, it was used as a tool to instil dominant values and beliefs in the students who went there.”

One facet of mainstream sport that is often emphasized is that of “winning.”

“Winning is advanced as the most important part of sport,” says Forsyth. “There are different types of prestige and sometimes financial rewards that come with being a winner at a particular competition. But in some Indigenous cultures, winning is looked at differently.”

“Sport has been implicated in the history of cultural transformation”

For instance, in the far north of Canada, Elders reaffirm that winning is not the most important part of participation. The prestige of winning does no last beyond the moment of being on the podium. In a communal orientation, athletes are recognized for their accomplishments in the moment, but are discouraged from elevating themselves above the people around them. This might mean that wearing medals throughout the sporting event is not encouraged, and bragging is frowned upon.

That is only one example, and each culture will have its own ideas about what sport means and what it looks like at the community level, and what values and beliefs should be instilled through participation and competition.

“Indigenous people have always participated in sports and games, since well before the newcomers arrived on this land. It is a part of who they are. It reaffirmed their ties to land, to one another, to their spiritual beliefs, and was a source of community building and helped with their health and wellbeing, among other things,” says Forsyth. “Sport remains an important part of who they are, but their history and views are frequently distorted or lost by dominant mainstream views, and this is what needs to change. I think we’re getting there, with this learning, but the mainstream sport system has a long way to go in terms of understanding.”

When she’s not working as part of the National Inquiry into Manitoba Missing Indigenous Women and Girls’ (MMIWG) legal team, Menzies, 31, is criss-crossing the province running sports camps in rural, remote and fly-in First Nation communities.

The U of M Faculty of Law graduate also spends a significant portion of her time coaching provincial-level Indigenous girls’ volleyball.

Menzies has been highlighted as a voice of the community, and will be sharing more about her experiences as a leader and advocate for Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis youth at the inaugural Sport and Reconciliation Forum.

Her time coaching and mentoring kids goes far beyond the bullet points in the experience section of her LinkedIn profile. For her, this is all personal.

Menzies was also the head coach of Team Manitoba’s gold medal winning women’s volleyball squad at the 2017 Canada Summer Games

Menzies is Métis. It’s not just something she says, like a quip in passing. Being Métis is a fundamental part of who she is. An important block in the quilt of her identity.

She isn’t from Winnipeg originally. She moved here from Brandon, Man., after high school in 2004. A gifted athlete, she caught the attention of the University of Winnipeg Wesmen who recruited her to join their volleyball program and study at their school.

The University of Winnipeg’s main campus is located in downtown Winnipeg, bordering what is commonly known as the city’s core area. Menzies was 17 and new to the city. Her new surroundings were a lot to take in, she remembers.

“I was really frustrated with the racist attitudes I was confronting. I was frustrated with the poverty I was seeing. I knew I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how at first.”

Advice columns and self-help books often state it’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how you respond. Not one to cower from a challenge, Menzies took it upon her to make a difference in the community using the instrument she knew best: sport.

For the better part of a decade, Menzies has been heavily involved coaching Indigenous girls’ provincial level volleyball teams. In 2016 she was bestowed with the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports & Recreation Council coach of the year award.

She’s also created a variety of all-ages, all-gender sports camps she brings to First Nation communities across the province. She calls this experience life-changing.

“I’ve only found that the kids are grateful, polite, hardworking. I’ve actually stopped being surprised by this because I know I’m going to be welcomed with open arms and made to feel at home when I visit these communities.”

“Spending time with these kids has done as much for me as it has for them. They’ve changed my life and my viewpoints on things. I wish everyone could have these experiences.”

She admits she’s not sure how she feels about the progress of the Reconciliation process thus far. However, she says sports can create connections—and forging connections can lead to relationship building and mutual trust.

“When I leave a community, some of the kids will add me on Facebook. I don’t hear from them a whole lot, but they’ll drop me a line every once in a while, letting me know how things are going or asking for advice. Our connection through sport has given them a relationship with me they feel they can rely on.”