Our Indigenous athletes set great example for youth

This week, the 2018 Tony Cote Winter Games were held in Saskatoon. This was the first time the games have been honoured to use the name of Chief Tony Cote, who led the Cote First Nation in 1974 when the first provincewide games were held.

It was Tony’s dream to create a venue for young First Nations athletes to compete in their sport on a provincial level. The games were designed for young people and the first games were for youth 14 years and under.

Up to this point, sports in Indian country had largely been for adults. Regional tournaments were held for baseball, soccer and hockey, but they were communities competing against each other and they were designed around adults.

In 1974, Chief Cote piggybacked the games on the centennial of the signing of Treaty Number Four and the Saskatchewan Indian Summer Games were born. These were quickly followed by the winter games.

Today, no reserve community can host the winter games. There are simply not enough facilities to contain all the sports and teams that show up.

This week, Saskatoon saw an influx of 3,800 young athletes; along with their coaches, chaperones, parents and supporters, the number of people involved totalled around 10,000, which was a real shot in the arm for the Saskatoon economy.

One of the traditions of the games is that successful athletes are present to act as role models for the youth. This year, three role models attended: basketball player Michael Linklater, volleyball player Savannah Walking Bear and Olympian and member of the Canadian women’s hockey team Brigette Lacquette acted as official ambassadors of the games.

Linklater is a well-known basketball player who is ranked among the top 3X3 players in Canada. Walking Bear was a standout player for the Lakeland College Rustlers in Lloydminster, while Lacquette played for the Canadian women’s hockey team in the recent Winter Olympics.

Of the role models, Lacquette was a fan favourite. She attended the games from Tuesday to Thursday and served as a role model and ambassador, doing interviews with the media, attending schools and workshops and handing out medals to the winners.

Lacquette’s mother is from the Cote First Nation and she grew up at Mallard, Manitoba, close to the town of Dauphin. She excelled at sports and her parents supported her dream to play hockey at an elite level.

She attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth where she was second in scoring among the team defence for the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs and was named to the WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association) all-rookie team.

In 2016, she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree and moved to Calgary, where she played for the Calgary Inferno in the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League). That year, the Inferno won the Clarkson Cup, which is the women’s equivalent of the Stanley Cup.

In 2013, Lacquette was a member of Canada’s national team that won gold in the Four Nations Cup. She was a part of the national team for the Sochi Olympics, but didn’t make the final roster; however, she went on to play for Team Canada and win silver in 2015 in the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) women’s championship.

Canada lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the Americans and the team took it hard. When the medals were presented, Jocelyne Larocque, the other Aboriginal player on the team, and Lacquette stood side by side in the lineup. Larocque was so upset by the loss that she removed her medal after it was presented to her. It was a controversial move and the media focused on it.

What they failed to see was as Larocque removed her medal, the medal was placed around Lacquette’s neck and she thanked the presenter. Two very different reactions, but it showed the drive and character of the two.

Lacquette now lives in Calgary and within a month she will be back at hockey camp preparing for the world finals. In four years, she plans to be on the Olympic team playing for Canada. This time she is going for gold.

There is an adage in sports that no one remembers who came second. This time we know Lacquette and Team Canada might have been second on the scoreboard but they were first in our hearts.