Provincial Native sports on the move

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The native sorts movement is gaining ground in Alberta and is destined someday to parallel mainstream amateur athletics, predicts the newly elected President of the First Nations Indigenous Sports Council in Edmonton

Cara Currie said Native youth are being given the opportunity to use their sports skills at this summer's Indigenous Games in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan - and their communities are backing them up.

It's encouraging, Currie noted during an interview at a recent Treaty 6 health conference in Edmonton, where she spoke at a workshop on the value of community recreation.

"Native youth are finally being offered choices. It's a way to fill the dead space they must face in the community every day. They now have goals."

Currie, who works for the education department in Hobbema, was elected earlier this year to head the group organizing Team Alberta for the Games. The First Nations Indigenous Sports Council of Alberta recently celebrated its first anniversary, marking a year-long commitment to promote amateur sports participation in Alberta. Currie said the struggle for recognition is beginning to pay off.

The strength and talent that's surfacing for the finals leading up to the July competition in Saskatchewan puts Native athletes on par with their mainstream counterparts, Currie said. And she believes that the Native sports movement in Alberta will grow over the next five years, making the province's aboriginal amateur sports component one of the strongest in the country.

"It's a way to help turn things around for Native people. And the communities are recognizing this," she said.

The first in a series of playoff events was held March 13 at the Beaver Lake

Indian reserve in northern Alberta, where the council selected its wrestling squad to represent Team Alberta at the Games July 18-25. Alberta playoffs are scheduled over the next several months at other venues throughout the provinces.

One of the most striking feats of the council thus far, Currie explains, is the ability to keep politics from interfering in the selection process.

Despite a drive by the Metis Nation of Alberta to send its own team of athletes to the games in Saskatchewan (a move that was finally halted by the games' organizers in Prince Albert), the council has been able to attract a full range of Native leaders to its side. That includes 48 community recreation directors, both Indian and Metis, who were instrumental in developing a playoff schedule for their teams.

"We've brought people together, not divided them further," said Currie. "There's no politics involved. We made sure of this."

Beaver Lake recreation director Cliff Whitford said his community was in dire need of a program geared toward youth.

"It's more than just another sporting event," he said. "Kids can see some hope for their future. It's become part of a dream."

Harold Burden, executive director of the First Nations Indigenous Sports Council, said Team Alberta is shaping up to be the largest and most talented going to the contest - all despite funding shortfalls that have plagued Alberta organizers since the games were first announced.

But with the recent selection of 15 board members, a financial boost from Health and Welfare Canada, and a commitment from Alberta's community and recreation department for seed funding, the council has proven there's a commitment and need to develop programs for Native youth.

"Of course it's just a baby step. But it's now in motion and there's no stopping it."