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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)
| When reading, I felt a bit of anger and sadness, but also admiration for the way Indigenous athletes overcame diversity and for their resilience. And as important it is to recognize the injust acts Indigenous peoples have faced, what stood out to me is when games like cricket and lacrosse are mentioned and how Indigenous peoples had games that are similar or formed into those sports, and yet so many people do not know who brought these games to life.
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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).
| The Sport for Development Ideology is that sports can be more than just a competitive game and can be used as a way to improve social problems. It is the idea that sports can help people grow their skills in a safe place. A good example when talking about this week is having a lacrosse league in an Indigenous community, which can promote teamwork and reconnect with their culture.
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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)
| Colonialism changes Indigenous peoples, not just suppresses their culture. Settlers do this to make it feel as if the land and traditions they take are truly theirs, as if it were theirs. For instance, taking deep-rooted traditional ways of life and survival for Indigenous peoples, such as hunting, and not allowing Indigenous peoples to do that anymore, and settlers taking it up as a skill. Or when talking about sports, settlers turned snowshoeing into a hobby without recognizing that it is a survival skill that was very important to the indigenous culture.
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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.
| The impression residential staff were trying to create when taking photos, was to give off the impression that residential schools were an enjoyable place to be. As the reading says, these photos were used as propaganda, and specifically these photos of students playing hockey and other sports, were to show society that Indigenous people have accepted the colonial way of life, and to go even farther, it was to show they enjoyed it. This caused lifelong negative effects on the survivors of residential schools.
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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.
| There were many ways the sport is considered medicine, one way that was mentioned was traditional Indigenous language, because in these residential schools, it was being stripped from them, but out on a sports field playing their game, they would speak their traditional languages. The only happy moments that they could have in residential schools were playing sports because it was an outlet and a form of therapy. sports can be a release from the world, and it is central to the progression of the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples, and it keeps people together. Sports is a gift from the creator and it’s a medicine game to the people.
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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”?
| What Waneek Horn-Miller means with her comment, is we are not giving proper access or tools to Indigenous Peoples when it comes to sports. As an example, Horn-Miller talks about how she used sports to release trauma, that was caused in the OKA crisis. And that shows how beneficial it could be if the government spent time to give resources and access to Indigenous communities to sports as an outlet for passed down colonialism trauma, and because the government is not, that is why it feels to Horn-Miller how we are approaching this issue. |
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.
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I believe this image shows a lot of Canada’s hockey culture. This is an image of Canada’s Women’s team after winning goals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and I think it holds a lot of pride in how respectful Canadians can be in hockey. What the Women are doing is raising their sticks as a symbol to say thank you to the fans and the other team for their support. Canada’s Women’s team does not get as much registration as they deserve but now having the PWHL it has gotten more publicised and gives hope to women who want to play hockey.
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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.
