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These are difficult stories. We bear witness in this chapter to the role of sport in furthering the settler colonial projects throughout Turtle Island. Here are some supports to access in the community and from a distance:
First Peoples House of Learning Cultural Support & Counselling
Niijkiwendidaa Anishnaabekwag Services Circle (Counselling & Healing Services for Indigenous Women & their Families) – 1-800-663-2696
Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre (705) 775-0387
Peterborough Community Counselling Resource Centre: (705) 742-4258
Hope for Wellness – Indigenous help line (online chat also available) – 1-855-242-3310
LGBT Youthline: askus@youthline.ca or text (647)694-4275
National Indian Residential School Crisis Line – 1-866-925-4419
Talk4Healing (a culturally-grounded helpline for Indigenous women):1-855-5544-HEAL
Section One: History
A) The Residential School System
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
We are asked to honour these stories with open hearts and open minds.
Which part of the chapter stood out to you? What were your feelings as you read it? (50 words)
| I found it interesting how people in Western societies in the 19th century were so adamant about the importance of sports in society and yet were so quick to exclude women and girls from the conversation. Claiming sports as “a fundamental essential… to human life itself” (361) while actively excluding half of the population solely based on gender seems very counter-productive to me. It feels disappointing but then again reaffirms how little agency women have under Christian Eurocentric values.
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B) Keywords
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
Briefly define (point form is fine) one of the keywords in the padlet (may be one that you added yourself).
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Settler colonialism is the process in which a group or nation permanently settle on a land which is already occupied. The nation’s overtake is often forceful and unfair to the Indigenous peoples who are the original inhabitants. Not only will the area be overtaken by colonists, but there will also be displacement through the forcing of religion, values, ideals and rules that they bring from the colonialist’s original land, ultimately forcing assimilation and eradicating the Indigenous culture that previously stood.
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C) Settler Colonialism
Exercise 3: Complete the Activities
Exercise 4: Notebook Prompt
Although we have discussed in this module how the colonial project sought to suppress Indigenous cultures, it is important to note that it also appropriates and adapts Indigenous cultures and “body movement practices” (75) as part of a larger endeavour to “make settlers Indigenous” (75).
What does this look like? (write 2 or 3 sentences)
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D) The Colonial Archive
Exercise 5: Complete the Activities
Section Two: Reconciliation
A) Reconciliation?
Exercise 6: Activity and Notebook Prompt
Visit the story called “The Skate” for an in-depth exploration of sport in the residential school system. At the bottom of the page you will see four questions to which you may respond by tweet, facebook message, or email:
How much freedom did you have to play as a child?
What values do we learn from different sports and games?
When residential staff took photos, what impression did they try to create?
Answer one of these questions (drawing on what you have learned in section one of this module or prior reading) and record it in your Notebook.
| How much freedom to play did you have as a child?
My parents were always encouraging play during my childhood. I remember being put into so many different sports and recreational activities because they were desperate to find something for me to enjoy and find passion in. and when I did find my passion, they supported me by giving me as many opportunities as possible to spend time doing what I loved. Of course I had responsibilities like house chores and school, which they made sure to instill in me as a top priority, but for the most part I was given a lot of freedom during my childhood.
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B) Redefining Sport
B) Sport as Medicine
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
Make note of the many ways sport is considered medicine by the people interviewed in this video.
| In this video, many of the young Indigenous peoples talked about using sports as a way to connect with their culture and ancestors through sports, for example, professional lacrosse player Aidan Baker speaks about being taught lacrosse by his grandfather, Hugh Baker, a Residential school survivor.
There was also a reoccurring theme of having sports as a way of coping with the struggles someone is experiencing, like the use of sports as a distraction for survivors of Residential Schools, noting how sports was the only real form of relief experienced in the schools, sometimes even using it to stay connected with their culture by speaking their native language during games.
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C) Sport For development
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
What does Waneek Horn-Miller mean when she says that the government is “trying but still approaching Indigenous sport development in a very colonial way”?
Exercise 8: Padlet Prompt
Add an image or brief comment reflecting some of “binding cultural symbols that constitute Canadian hockey discourse in Canada.” Record your responses in your Notebook as well.
| One of the most significant symbols throughout Canada is the maple leaf, specifically the one that represents the Country’s main hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whether it’s maple maple-flavoured foods, maple syrup, or just the symbol of the leaf alone, it is used to represent our country. The sport of hockey is something that the majority of Canadians take pride in, I see it as a kind of equivalent to how Americans view football. Playing hockey is undoubtedly a core memory for many Canadian childhoods, however, it doesn’t represent the whole of Canada equally. I have noticed that a large majority of the diehard hockey fans and professional players are straight white men who come from middle to upper-class homes. When someone outside that description is dedicated to the sport, it is often suppressed or limited due to lacking in means. This could be seen in not being able to purchase tickets due to the crazy pricing of Leafs games, or being unable to pursue the sport professionally due to financial or geographical strains. There’s a family on my street who have season tickets to the Leafs that have been passed down for generations and are worth thousands of dollars. This, and the toxic masculine energy I feel from pretty much every hockey boy I encountered in high school makes me wary of the social unity that Sports Canada claims that hockey upholds.
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Section Three: Decolonization
Please see the major assignment for this half of the term in the final section of this chapter.
