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Windspeaker Sports Briefs

Author

SAM LASKARIS

Volume

26

Issue

12

Year

2009

APTN TO BROADCAST OLYMPICS
The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) will make a bit of history next year.
APTN will become the first Aboriginal network in the world to broadcast live coverage of the Olympic Games. APTN will provide 10 hours of daily coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. The coverage will be in English, French and Aboriginal languages.
Daily broadcasts will include two hours of prime time coverage in various languages. There will also be four hours of English and four hours of French broadcasting each day.
The network will also provide coverage of both the Games' opening and closing ceremonies in Aboriginal languages. Coverage for these events will feature English and French subtitles.
"APTN continues to raise the bar in defining and expanding television for, by and about Aboriginal Peoples in Canada," said APTN's chief executive officer Jean LaRose. "And we are thrilled to be the first Aboriginal network in the world to bring viewers live coverage of the Olympic Games."
All of APTN's Olympic coverage will be provided in High Definition. APTN is an official broadcaster of next year's Olympic Games. APTN is one of the 11 networks that make up Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.Other networks part of the consortium include CTV and TSN.
All of APTN's Olympic programming details have yet to be finalized. But the network's news broadcasts will include Olympic highlights, footage and athlete interviews leading up to and during the Games.
Besides Olympic venues, APTN will also broadcast from various cultural events, which will include Aboriginal artists.

ANOTHER OLYMPICS FOR JUNEAU
An Aboriginal community will be well represented at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Former National Hockey League star Joe Juneau was named as an assistant chef de mission for the Canadian Olympic squad that will compete in next year's Vancouver Winter Games.
Former skier Steve Podborski was also chosen as an assistant chef de mission for the Canadian team. Juneau and Podborski will work with former Olympic speedskater Nathalie Lambert, who was previously chosen as Canada's chef de mission.
Juneau, who is from Pont-Rouge, Que., moved his family to one of the most northern points of the province, the Aboriginal community of Kuujjuaq, in September of 2007.
One year earlier Juneau had launched a grassroots hockey program in Kuujjuaq. He opted to move there in order to be closer to the community, where he is hoping to make a difference.
In Kuujjuaq, Juneau is working with more than 700 youngsters, aged 5-18. The area is plagued with high rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide and poverty. Besides teaching the youth about hockey, Juneau is using the sport to show them about various other things, including the importance of education, how to develop leadership and how to have a healthy lifestyle.
Juneau also works with local teachers to make sure the youngsters are going to school and trying their best.
For Juneau, the 2010 Games will not be his first taste of the Olympics. He played for Canada at the 1992 Albertville Games and led his squad to a silver medal. Juneau also led all Olympic scorers that year with 15 points (six goals, nine assists).
Juneau turned pro later that season with the Boston Bruins. Before retiring from the NHL in 2004, he also had stints with the Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, Phoenix Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens. Juneau appeared in a total of 940 NHL games and earned 651 points, including 181 goals.

SASKATOON HOSTS NATIONALS
Saskatoon's Granite Curling Club will be the host for this year's National Aboriginal Curling Championships. The four-day event will begin on Apr. 10. The national competition will feature three divisions.
There will be a maximum of 28 entrants in the men's division. There will also be a 28-team limit in the mixed division, which will include teams with two female and two male players.
The winning teams in both the men's and mixed divisions will take home $4,000 each as well as championship jackets. In both divisions, there will also be prize money for those that place second through eighth. There will also be a youth (19 and under) mixed category, that will feature a maximum of 16 teams. There will be prize money awarded to the top seven finishers. The winning squad will receive $2,000 plus jackets.
The entry fee is $200 per youth team and $400 for the adult squads.The registration deadline is Apr. 2. Proceeds from the national tournament will go to the Métis Youth and Sports Fund.
For more info. call Louis Gardiner at (306) 833-2420 or (306) 833-7766.