{"id":92678,"date":"2024-05-08T13:05:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T17:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=92678"},"modified":"2024-09-01T09:54:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:54:22","slug":"opinion-taylor-mckee-carriera-joy-lamoureux-and-lucas-rotondo-discuss-indigenous-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/05\/opinion-taylor-mckee-carriera-joy-lamoureux-and-lucas-rotondo-discuss-indigenous-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Taylor McKee, Carriera Joy Lamoureux and Lucas Rotondo discuss Indigenous hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article written by Taylor McKee, Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Brock University; Carriera Joy Lamoureux, a Master of Arts in Applied Health Sciences student at Brock University; and Lucas Rotondo, a research assistant and undergraduate student from Sport Management at Brock University, originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The puck has dropped on another\u00a0National Aboriginal Hockey Championship (NAHC)\u00a0\u2014 one of Canada\u2019s most unique youth athletic competitions and cultural celebrations. This year\u2019s tournament runs from May 5 to 11.<\/p>\n

The NAHC was founded by the\u00a0Aboriginal Sport Circle in 2002\u00a0and has been held annually since then. It brings together top under-18 male and female Indigenous athletes from across Canada to showcase the elite athletic abilities of Canadian Indigenous youth.<\/p>\n

Part of what makes this tournament so unique compared to mainstream sport is the inherent focus on\u00a0fostering cultural unity and pride.<\/p>\n

The tournament has distinct ceremonial practices that distinguish it from other elite hockey tournaments and reinforce the themes present in the\u00a0NAHC\u2019s founding documents. These themes are demonstrated through event programming, including a players-only\u00a0welcome event,\u00a0opening and closing ceremonies, traditional\u00a0artwork integrated into trophy presentation\u00a0and playing traditional music.<\/p>\n

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s call to action 87\u00a0asks all levels of government to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples to \u201cprovide public education that tells the national story of Aboriginal athletes in history.\u201d The NAHC provides a tangible answer to this call by\u00a0providing resources that tell the story of the tournament and celebrate past accomplishments.<\/p>\n

In this way, the NAHC presents an important opportunity for researchers seeking examples of Indigenous sport that run counter to deficit narratives of disadvantage. Rather than focusing on potential struggles that players have overcome to reach the tournament, the NAHC is a celebration of the strength of Indigenous sporting communities.<\/p>\n

The NAHC and Indigenous hockey excellence<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exceptionally high skill level of the NAHC has\u00a0attracted the attention\u00a0of scouts from across North America, though that is only a part of the reason the championship has maintained its presence in the Canadian sport landscape.<\/p>\n

During the 2023 championship, tournament organizers called athletes onto the ice in front of their families and local community members. With the best Indigenous youth hockey players in the nation standing side-by-side along the rink boards, tournament organizers, elders and Indigenous leaders\u00a0offered prayers and advice\u00a0to kickstart a week of exceptional competition and athletic ability.<\/p>\n

In addition, the NAHC has hosted numerous\u00a0professional hockey alumni\u00a0such as Jordin Tootoo, Ted Nolan, Bridgette Lacquette, Jocelyn Larocque, Michael Ferland, Brandon Montour and many others. In this way, the event\u2019s legacy is connected with those of its most successful participants, further defining its place in both Indigenous and broader sport history.<\/p>\n

Moving beyond deficit perspectives<\/strong><\/p>\n

The NAHC provides Indigenous youth the chance to\u00a0celebrate their culture and participate in sports at an elite level\u00a0and also tackles the deficit perspective commonly applied to Indigeneity.<\/p>\n

In research, a deficit perspective treats individuals as the subject of numerous problems that need \u201csolving.\u201d\u00a0This perspective\u00a0\u201ccontinues to reinforce to others what is not working, while failing to “actively seek out and report on what is working well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this specific context, the term\u00a0deficit perspective\u00a0refers to language and practices (most often from non-Indigenous people) that emphasize the problems, issues and failures \u2014 both historical and present \u2014 of Indigenous Peoples.<\/p>\n

Because a deficit perspective focuses on highlighting what is missing or absent in one group versus the dominant other, it leads to the continuing subjugation of Indigenous events and evolving traditions, including the NAHC.<\/p>\n

For numerous reasons,\u00a0Indigenous Peoples are routinely the subject of deficit-based research. If performed exclusively and without engaging Indigenous communities, deficit-perspective research\u00a0has the potential to harm relationships between Indigenous and settler communities.<\/p>\n

Shifting sport policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the focus of Canadian sport policy shifted from elite sport and national sporting excellence\u00a0towards the inclusion and participation of marginalized communities.<\/p>\n

As a result, Indigenous sport leaders and organizations participated in sport policy development alongside the federal government. These developments led to the creation of the\u00a01992 Sport: The Way Ahead and 1998 Sport: Everybody\u2019s Business policies, as well as the North American Indigenous Games, Aboriginal Sport Circle, and, eventually, the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship in 2002.<\/p>\n

By facilitating an opportunity for Indigenous Peoples to participate in sports against the best in the nation, the tournament honours the\u00a0resiliency of Indigenous Peoples while emphasizing notions of community\u00a0and presenting youth with the opportunity to grow personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

One unique way the NAHC commits to this strengths-based approach is evident in the\u00a0distribution of tournament awards. As part of the closing ceremonies, each team sits in the stands with award recipients being called down to the ice while being cheered on by both teammates and opponents.<\/p>\n

Because it puts a strengths-based approach in practice by centering and celebrating Indigenous sporting excellence, The NAHC challenges the deficit-based perspective that so often informs research and reporting on Indigenous sport. For this reason, the NAHC maintains an important position in the Canadian hockey landscape as a successful and lasting example of Indigenous athletic excellence.<\/p>\n

Lucas Rotondo, a research assistant and undergraduate student from Sport Management at Brock University, co-authored this article. The authors also acknowledge the extensive contribution of Mel Whitesell, executive director of the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor McKee, Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Brock University; Carriera Joy Lamoureux, a Master of Arts in Applied Health Sciences student at Brock University; and Lucas Rotondo, a research assistant and undergraduate student from Sport Management at Brock University, wrote a piece recently published in The Conversation about the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,6],"tags":[13523,4753,7488,13524,10657,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92678"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92690,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92678\/revisions\/92690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}