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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)
| One part of the chapter that stood out the most to me was how sport was used as a sort of assimilation. “We put aside Indian thoughts, and Indian ways, Indian dress and Indian speech. We don’t want to hold onto anything Indian” (p.361-362). They only played and promoted Euro-American sports like football with the intent of erasing any Indigenous culture and identity.
After reading chapter 15, it leaves me with many mixed feelings. When I think of the purpose of sport I think about friendship, communication, creating a sense of belonging, excitement and enjoyment. But reflecting on this reading, the positives of sport was overshadowed by the larger system’s intentions of assimilation and removing all cultural ties.
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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 Indian Act: Created and put in place by the Canadian government in order to control Indigenous peoples lives. It stated whether you were considered a status Indian or not, where you could live, how the land was used, and how communities were governed. The Indian Act played a major role in the implementation of residential schools. It has been changed many times and continues to shape the lives of many people in Canada to this day.
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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)
| There are many ways that society has adapted Indigenous cultures and traditions. For example, I another one of my classes we looked into the sport lacrosse that is played competitively on big stages across the country. But what many don’t know is that lacrosse hold a significant cultural meaning for Indigenous people. They often refer to lacrosse as the Medicine Game or Creator’s Game because it’s a way that they feel connected to their heritage and cultural traditions. It’s also used for healing and community building. |
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.
| In the story “The Skate” theres pictures of children playing sports looking like they are having fun and smiling. I think that this created a false impression that residential schools were fun and a place where children were having lots of fun on the surface. But now looking back on these pictures they didn’t show what was really happening behind closed doors. The mental and physical abuse, oppression, mistreatment, and isolations that these individuals were going through. When residential school staff took pictures, they tried to create a sense of normalcy and happiness which also gave them control of the narrative surrounding experiences of people there.
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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.
| Some examples of ways sport is considered medicine by the people interviewed in the video are: a form of healing from intergenerational trauma (residential schools), a feeling on connectedness with their identity, language and culture. In the video Aidan stated that he lacrosse helped him find who he was and become a role models for others like him.
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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.
In Canada, hockey is more than just a sport. It’s part of who we are, it’s ingrained in our identity, we pride ourselves on it and it brings everyone together. The picture above is from the 2010 Olympics and one of the most iconic pictures in the history of Canadian sport. This was when Crosby scored a goal in overtime against the United States winning Canada a gold medal for the first time since 1952, which was even more significant because the Olympics were being hosted on Canadian soil (Vancouver).
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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.
