Reclaiming Tom Longboat Indigenous Self Determination In Canadian Sport

Reclaiming Tom Longboat recounts the history of Indigenous sport in Canada through the lens of the prestigious Tom Longboat Awards, shedding light on a significant yet overlooked aspect of Canadian policy and Crown-Indigenous relations. Drawing on a rich and varied set of oral and textual sources, including interviews with award recipients and Jan Eisenhardt, the creator of the Awards himself, Janice Forsyth critically assesses the state's role in policing Indigenous bodies and identities through sport, from the assimilationist sporting regulations of residential schools to the present-day exclusion of Indigenous activities from mainstream sports. This work recognizes the role of sport as a tool for colonization in Canada, while also acknowledging its potential to become a tool for decolonization and self-determination. "Through considering the Awards in the broader context of ongoing colonial relations in Canada, and bringing to light the voices of the recipients, this study extends well beyond the Tom Longboat Awards history to encompass the complicated place of sport in the Indigenous experience." --Robert Kossuth, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Lethbridge

"Reclaiming Tom Longboat recounts the history of Indigenous sport in Canada through the lens of the prestigious Tom Longboat Awards, shedding light on a significant yet overlooked aspect of Canadian policy and Crown-Indigenous relations. Drawing on a rich and varied set of oral and textual sources, including interviews with award recipients and Jan Eisenhardt, the creator of the Awards himself, Janice Forsyth critically assesses the state's role in policing Indigenous bodies and identities through sport, from the assimilationist sporting regulations of residential schools to the present-day exclusion of Indigenous activities from mainstream sports. This work recognizes the role of sport as a tool for colonization in Canada, while also acknowledging its potential to become a tool for decolonization and self-determination."--

"Reclaiming Tom Longboat recounts the history of Indigenous sport in Canada through the lens of the prestigious Tom Longboat Awards, shedding light on a significant yet overlooked aspect of Canadian policy and Crown-Indigenous relations. Drawing on a rich and varied set of oral and textual sources, including interviews with award recipients and Jan Eisenhardt, the creator of the Awards himself, Janice Forsyth critically assesses the state's role in policing Indigenous bodies and identities through sport, from the assimilationist sporting regulations of residential schools to the present-day exclusion of Indigenous activities from mainstream sports. This work recognizes the role of sport as a tool for colonization in Canada, while also acknowledging its potential to become a tool for decolonization and self-determination."--

Aboriginal Peoples and Sport in Canada uses sport as a lens through which to examine issues such as individual and community health, gender and race relations, culture and colonialism, and self-determination and agency. In this groundbreaking volume, leading scholars offer a multidisciplinary perspective on how unequal power relations influence the ability of Aboriginal people in Canada to implement their own visions for sport. The diverse analyses illuminate how Aboriginal people employ sport as a venue through which to assert their cultural identities and find a positive space for themselves and upcoming generations in contemporary Canadian society.

This is the Final Report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its six-year investigation of the residential school system for Aboriginal youth and the legacy of these schools. This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission's 94 recommendations for action to address that legacy. This report lays bare a part of Canada's history that until recently was little-known to most non-Aboriginal Canadians. The Commission discusses the logic of the colonization of Canada's territories, and why and how policy and practice developed to end the existence of distinct societies of Aboriginal peoples. Using brief excerpts from the powerful testimony heard from Survivors, this report documents the residential school system which forced children into institutions where they were forbidden to speak their language, required to discard their clothing in favour of institutional wear, given inadequate food, housed in inferior and fire-prone buildings, required to work when they should have been studying, and subjected to emotional, psychological and often physical abuse. In this setting, cruel punishments were all too common, as was sexual abuse. More than 30,000 Survivors have been compensated financially by the Government of Canada for their experiences in residential schools, but the legacy of this experience is ongoing today. This report explains the links to high rates of Aboriginal children being taken from their families, abuse of drugs and alcohol, and high rates of suicide. The report documents the drastic decline in the presence of Aboriginal languages, even as Survivors and others work to maintain their distinctive cultures, traditions, and governance. The report offers 94 calls to action on the part of governments, churches, public institutions and non-Aboriginal Canadians as a path to meaningful reconciliation of Canada today with Aboriginal citizens. Even though the historical experience of residential schools constituted an act of cultural genocide by Canadian government authorities, the United Nation's declaration of the rights of aboriginal peoples and the specific recommendations of the Commission offer a path to move from apology for these events to true reconciliation that can be embraced by all Canadians.

Gene Kiniski (1928-2010) was internationally known to a generation of wrestling fans and to Canadians everywhere as "Canada's Greatest Athlete." Older fans and wrestling historians remember him best for his accomplishments in the ring, his run-'em-over approach to the game, his growly demeanor, and his razor wit he could unleash at will. Drawing on recollections from fellow wrestlers, promoters, and friends, this first biography of Kiniski gives a full account of the life of a champion pro wrestler who won over fans throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan in a career spanning more than three decades.

At first, Canadians showed little interest in marking the centennial. The announcement of a federal program to plan the celebration was met with initial indifference. After all, the event to be celebrated was spectacularly uninteresting--the nation was founded not in blood and revolution, but by discussion and negotiation, bewhiskered men in nineteenth-century frock coats sitting around tables for palaver. But a funny thing happened in the weeks leading to New Year's Day, 1967. Canadians embraced the official plans for a celebration and, encouraged by government largesse, began making plans of their own. For one happy, giddy, insane year, a normally reserved people decided to hold a blockbuster party from coast to coast to coast. Initiatives ranged from epic canoe trips and dangerous dogsled treks to bathtub races. An Albertan town decided to build a UFO landing pad. Hundreds of other centennial projects can still be found in almost every city and hamlet across Canada. The best athletes in the hemisphere gathered for the Pan American Games in Winnipeg. The climax of the party was the world's fair held on man-made islands in the middle of the St. Lawrence River near Montreal. Richly illustrated with period photographs and ephemera, here is the story of that fun, exciting year, told in the same giddy spirit with which Canadians celebrated. Uncover the strange and unique ways that individual Canadians marked the occasion, the birth of traditions, and the moment when Canadians discovered who they were and got a hint about who they were to become in this modern age. Once hewers of wood and pliers of water, they discovered a talent for literature, for design, for athletics, for innovation. And above all, it was a party never to be forgotten. Fifty years later, Canadians are once again celebrating a major milestone in their history, and once again, things are starting off with a collective yawn. Will the national spirit once again burst into flame? It could--if Canadians take a cue from the unlikely, inspiring story of The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country.

What stories are girls told of womanhood? Are they of strength, grace, and creativity? Written for young girls and women of all ages, Moon Time Prayer offers an inspiring perspective. Over strawberry leaf tea, we join young Sparrow as her Auntie and Grandmother share sacred Indigenous teachings of women's Moon Time.