WASAC kids follow their dreams

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2019 (2726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Indigenous kids had a blast at Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre Night and Manitoba Moose Follow Your Dreams Day.

The events held on Feb. 16 and 17 were part of the NHL’s This Is Hockey initiative to promote diversity and inclusiveness. True North Sports + Entertainment has a longstanding relationship with WASAC, running programming to give inner-city kids a chance to play hockey.

With hockey being one of the most popular sports in Canada, This is Hockey aims at making it a sport for everyone and providing an inclusive environment.

“This partnership made a lot of sense in terms of the focus of what we are trying to do to building a sense of pride and contributing back to young people in our community,” Kevin Chief, founder of WASAC, said.

As part of the WASAC Night, the Winnipeg Jets welcomed 30 Indigenous youth from remote and northern communities to a professional hockey game. Their experience included taking in the Jets and Ottawa Senators gameday skates and skating with Indigenous NHL alumni Reggie Leach, Jamie Leach, and Daryl Stanley at Camp Manitou before the game at Bell MTS Place, which started with a ceremonial puck drop featuring Indigenous youth and elders.

The Manitoba Moose Follow Your Dreams Day welcomed 500 Indigenous youth to take part in a meet and greet and question-and-answer session with Reggie and Jamie Leach and Stanley before the Moose matchup against the Milwaukee Admirals. Fans were also treated to drumming from the Spirit Sands Singers.

But enjoying the sports was not the only goal of this partnership. After the events, the youth were asked to write about their experiences participating in this rare opportunity and about what the Jets mean to their community.

“We can’t talk about the history of Manitoba and Canada without talking about the relationship with Indigenous people. It’s our collective history and we can’t tell people that’s important. We’ve got to be able to show people. And there’s no better place to show that and to celebrate it in the loudest barn of the National Hockey League,” Chief added.

“This is a celebration of who we are. This was the first time that many of them were at Bell MTS Place and when you walk into a building like that it can really change who you think you can be.”

This is the first time WASAC and True North held an event like this and Chief explained the idea is to make it annual. Kory Harnum, manager of community relations for the Winnipeg Jets said they want to continue to strengthen the relationship and partnership they have with WASAC and the Indigenous community.

“The ability for True North to work with an Indigenous organization that supports the message of This is Hockey was a natural fit and a natural next step given the history between True North and WASAC and the work they do around the province in helping facilitate and get Indigenous youth to be part of the game can be so much more,” he said.