SIX NATIONS/BRANTFORD – The Aboriginal Sports and Wellness Council of Ontario’s 2016 Ontario Indigenous Summer Games drew an estimated 225 registered aboriginal athletes from throughout Ontario, along with family and coaches who came to Six Nations Territory last weekend, some for the first time.
Young athletes competed at a number of venues in a wide range of sporting events, which organizers saw as a precursor to the 2017 North American Indigenous Games being held in Toronto at around this time next year.
Six Nations and Brantford hosted the Games at a number of venues at Brantford, Ancaster and Six Nations last weekend. Although not an official qualifying event for the 2017 NAIG Games, it was certainly a way to put your name in for consideration with an Ontario Summer Games medal.
“I’d say it’s more of an identifier than a qualifier,” explained Dallas Squire, who along with Cam Bomberry and Kevin Sandy, operates the Iroquois Lacrosse Program.
Iroquois Lacrosse played an important role in hosting the opening ceremonies at Kanata Mohawk Village on Mohawk Road in Brantford.
Former NLL star and Hall of Famer, Cam Bomberry, ex-National Lacrosse Leaguer Dallas Squire, and Director, Business Operations of Iroquois Lacrosse, Kevin Sandy, could see the goals of both the Aboriginal Sports and Wellness Council and their own, as dovetailing together well. They were pleased to link arms with those who resurrected the Ontario Aboriginal Summer Games and offered whatever help they could to making it happen.
“There are a lot of events that don’t get a lot of participation like swimming, rifle shooting and archery,” says Squire. “We gave some attention to those sports so that Ontario would have a better showing in those sports at the NAIG’S.”
Squire, Sandy and Bomberry helped organize and oversee the lacrosse competitions over the weekend of the Ontario Indigenous Summer Games.
“It was great,” said Bomberry. “We spoke with kids from the Kenora region, to north of Sioux Lookout, from Akwesasne and Tyendinaga. From everywhere.”
This was the second incarnation of the Ontario Aboriginal Summer Games.
“There was somebody doing this several years ago but it went under,” recalls Squire. “Now, with the support of ASWCO (Aboriginal Sport & Wellness Council of Ontario), Ontario has really stepped up with a number of events, Ontario Summer Games being one of them.
ASWCO is the Provincial Territorial Aboriginal Sport Body (PTASB) for Ontario that provides a variety of programs that promote healthy living and offers training, certifications and support for coaches, athletes and other organizations.
It was far more than an athletic competition. According to Bomberry, it was also a sharing of culture.
In preparation for hosting the Games, Squire, Sandy and Bomberry, along with members of the Mohawk Nation put a lot of effort into restoring the Iroquois longhouse and palisade, which is the central piece at the former museum.
“We did a lot of the heavy lifting and countless hours getting the longhouse ready, right up to the 11th hour before the Games,” said Bomberry.
While in the territory, Aboriginal athletes from diverse cultural backgrounds had opportunity to share some of their own culture while learning about the Six Nations of the Grand River lacrosse culture and elements of the Great Peace, a.k.a., the Great Law.
“Our culture runs very deep here at Six Nations as well as it is in their own communities,” says Squire. “For them to come and see our traditional dwellings and take part in our traditional culture like lacrosse, I think that’s pretty important.”
Organizers have received high marks for their hospitality during the games and especially at Kanata Village.
“We had a nice meal together and that environment alone, along with the good weather, was inviting enough to say, you are more than welcome to come back and maybe stay with us a bit longer next time,” said Bomberry.
The opening ceremony was loaded with culture and talent with guests, the Haudenosaunee Dancers, an Anishinaabe dancer. The Kahawi Dance Theatre also did a performance for the athletes and guests.
Keynote speakers included Six Nations professional golfer, Jesse Smith, as well as Anaheim Ducks NHL property and lacrosse star Brandon Montour. All gave a message of perseverance, education, a healthy lifestyle and lots of practice as the cornerstones of success.
It was an amazing success according to both athletes and organizers in terms of athleticism, but more importantly, in instilling cultural identity and pride they can take home with them, win, lose or draw.
Co-founder of Iroquois Lacrosse, Cam Bomberry explains what the goals and mandate of their program are, saying, “It’s a group of lacrosse guys and girls that do lacrosse skill development among Aboriginal youth beginning with the history and the creation of lacrosse and education around the game and how it connects so close to our culture. It’s that part of it we like to share because there is so much rich history behind it. To us it is much more than a sport.”
Bomberry and his partners also see the game as medicine.
“It’s the medicine part of it that keeps the kids involved and keeps them outside and active, an on the right path,” says Bomberry. “It was great to watch the kids out there running around having fun. Sure there was some friendly competition, but at the end of the day I think they all enjoyed it.”
Lacrosse camps are not new things. Pro-players have been doing them for years, but the Iroquois Lacrosse Program (ILP) is in that it also teaches the history and culture of the game.
ILP and the Mohawk Workers have future plans for the former museum building and longhouse, geared towards education and have, on occasion, given guided cultural tours to groups.
This is something being worked on now in conjunction with the Grand-Erie School Board and others boards the Iroquois Lacrosse Program has brought their program to.
“They can come here now and witness it all first hand,” says Squire. “A key factor with us is working with the Mohawk Nation to revive this place (Kanata Village) and doing it from a good spot in the heart.”
