Sport is a powerful platform to support Indigenous health, education, behaviours and employability. It is a mechanism for social impact, fostering engagement in the school community, cultural pride and self-worth.  Building upon a rich history of sport and physical activity in Indigenous communities across Alberta, this work offers a strengths-based approach to resiliency and a whole-child approach to learning in Indigenous schools.

We acknowledge and support the Truth & Reconciliation Calls to Action for Sport & Recreation, specifically call to action #88:  

We call upon the federal government to amend the Physical Activity and Sport Act to support reconciliation by ensuring that policies to promote physical activity as a fundamental element of health and well-being, reduce barriers to sports participation, increase the pursuit of excellence in sport, and build capacity in the Canadian sport system, are inclusive of Aboriginal peoples.

Sport can be a motivating factor to keep youth involved with school through social engagement, the development of character, team camaraderie and a positive activity away from drugs and alcohol within the community.  We work in a variety of ways to strengthen the impact of sport on Indigenous students and communities.

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO SPORT PARTICIPATION

We work with funders, tribal agencies and governments, and provincial and national sport organizations to offer professional coach training, community coaching clinics, officiating training, and solutions to transportation barriers.  

In the Spring of 2020, our Health and Wellness Consultants connected with their Indigenous school communities to provide hundreds of ‘Resources Drops’: boxes of physical activity and sport equipment to support Physical Activity at home. These items included skipping rope, sporting equipment, and bicycles.  In partner communities, each school or family household was provided with sporting equipment when schools started learning remotely.

CREATING A CULTURE OF PHYSICAL LITERACY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Without a background in sport or physical activity, it is hard to "break into" sport for the first time, so community sport can sometimes only include the same group of students year to year and sport after sport. Creating fun, non-competitive opportunities for students to be active in creative and engaging ways dismantles fear and builds confidence and skills for students to be active for life. Our strategy includes training school staff to play fun movement games as "brain boosts" and build activity-based learning into the school day; sharing games and weekend play ideas with families through parent engagement activities; and partnering with sport and recreation programs to teach inclusive and adaptive strategies to include all students.

NETWORKS AND SUPPORT FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND COMMUNITY COACHES

The athletic directors driving much of this work are strong voices for the resilience of youth in their communities. Initial meetings with these champions have identified the following areas to address and build capacity: mentorship; reducing barriers to participation; strengthened student voice; more play opportunities; and community engagement. Part of the success of this work so far has been creating and supporting networks for physical ed teachers, athletic directors and community’s coaches to connect, share successes, brainstorm solutions to common challenges, and organize co-run events. For example, the Treaty 6 Athletics Network has been running for over 10 years and offers more than 22 sporting opportunities for their 10 schools every year! We also run a telephone-based network for any school leaders from Indigenous School Authorities to connect and learn from one another.

FUN EVENTS TO CONNECT COMMUNITIES

In the 2018/19 and part of 2019/20 school years, Ever Active Schools held multiple events to bring together many diverse communities through the love of sport:

• The 3rd annual Tri-Treaty Track Meet, bringing almost 400 Indigenous students from 22 Indigenous school communities to compete in a fun and supportive environment.
• Winter Traditional Games tournaments for over 1000 Indigenous students in Treaty 7 at Winsport, Treaty 6 at Mother Earth Children's Charter School, and Treaty 8 in Loon River.
• The first annual 3 on 3 basketball tournament bringing together 12 northern Indigenous communities, partnering with Kee TasKee Now Tribal Council Education Authority and hosted by the town of High Prairie. Word of the tournament reached all corners of the country, attracting coaches’ attention to the talent of two young boys from Atikameg First Nation, who went on to compete on a Canadian basketball team in an exposure tournament in Las Vegas!

When we are able to travel and connect in person again, we look forward to starting up these fun events once again!