P.E.I. sports leaders urged to find ways to bring Indigenous youth into the game

Sports organizations across Prince Edward Island are being encouraged to invite Indigenous youth to come and try their sport. 

The P.E.I. Aboriginal Sport Circle invited Island sport groups to Abegweit First Nation in Scotchfort recently to learn more about Mi'kmaw culture, as a first step toward reaching out to share their sport. 

About a dozen representatives from provincial and multi-sport organizations took part in the session, which started with a smudging ceremony and cultural presentation by elder Terry LeBlanc. 

"I think it's important to offer opportunity to Indigenous youth — and you don't know what you might be interested in if you've never had a chance to try," said senior program co-ordinator Lynn Anne Hogan. 

"We at the Aboriginal Sport Circle can't be out and deliver everything ourselves, so that's where partners come in.

"We want to have close working relationships so that we can invite those provincial sports organizations to come to the community, to deliver in community or offer youth an opportunity to try out for a team, or go to a come-try event that might be out of their community as well," Hogan said.

Safe environment

Hogan said the priority of the workshop was to provide an introduction to the Mi'kmaw culture, and talk about what sport organizations could to offer a safe environment to try a new sport. 

"For example, some of our youth who grew up in Lennox Island, they went to school in Lennox Island with a very small number of their community members from kindergarten right to Grade 6," Hogan said.

"To make the jump to a junior high school out of your community could be quite scary, and you just might not see yourself in those other sport opportunities.

"You might think to yourself, 'Well, I've never tried lacrosse, so you know, I don't want to be embarrassed by not knowing how to play the sport, and I'm assuming that everyone else has already learned it.'" 

Hogan said she hopes sports will offer no-commitment tryout sessions for youth at no cost if possible "because sometimes… there's a big price tag that goes along with registering for a sport for a whole season.

You don't know what you might be interested in if you've never had a chance to try​​​​​.— Lynn Anne Hogan, Aboriginal Sport Circle

"If we can remove that, bring the sport to the youth, get them to have fun, they're going to want to come back for more, and to learn more about it."

She said partnering like this will be of benefit for sport organizations too: "They're interested in increasing their participation and part of that is reaching our youth in Indigenous communities."

Cultural connection

Nic Joseph is the assistant coach for the female lacrosse team for Canada Games 2025, and started working with Lacrosse P.E.I. a few months ago. 

"It's nice to have the Mi'kmaw traditions integrated into all the sports because it's such a big thing, especially with lacrosse," said Joseph, who is from Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick.

"A big part of what I do with the Canada Games team is going to be sharing the history of lacrosse with the girls, and why it's important and what it means to the Indigenous people," Joseph said. "That will hopefully make them better players [with] more passion for the game."

Joseph is also taking on a role as the new director of Indigenous development with Lacrosse P.E.I., bringing lacrosse to different communities in hopes of eventually seeing more Indigenous youth on provincial teams in the Canada Games. 

Baseball P.E.I. already puts on summer camps with both Lennox and Abegweit First Nations, including skills development for children without much exposure to the game. 

"We have clinicians that come down in the summer and run camps with the kids and interact and work with them and encourage them to come out and play in our leagues," said executive director Rhonda Pauls. 

I'm really wanting to learn something about Indigenous competition, why competition is important to their culture and how to present it to them in a way that's meaningful for them.​​​​​— Rhonda Pauls, Baseball P.E.I.

Pauls said attending the cultural workshop gave her new insight.

"We present sport, as instructors or as coaches, the way we view sport," she said. "When you're trying to encourage people to feel welcome and safe in a space, to try a sport, you really need to understand what it looks like through their perspective and through their eyes.

"I'm really wanting to learn something about Indigenous competition, why competition is important to their culture and how to present it to them in a way that's meaningful for them."