Indigenous representation will speak as part of USPORTS Panel

TORONTO — U SPORTS Conversations, a live speaker series celebrating equity, diversity and inclusion within university sports in Canada, is set to host its second panel event celebrating Indigenous History Month on Wednesay, June 30th.

Hosted by John Urban, of the Ojibway First Nation from London, Ontario, a former Sports Director at CHRW, and radio play-by-play voice of the Western Mustangs. The event will feature five panelists, including Jana Headrick, of the UNB REDS women’s hockey team, and other prominent Indigenous student-athletes and alumni of U SPORTS member athletic programs and institutions.

Headrick is a 5’7’’ defensive player and represented Ontario at the Canadian Aboriginal hockey championships, claiming the silver medal from 2014-16 as part of her national experience.

Her varsity experience had her dress for all 24 regular season and 10 playoff games: she scored one goal and added four assists during the regular season and added five assists in the post season in the 2018-19 season. In the 2017-18 season she dressed for 15 regular season and two playoff games: scored one goal and added one assist during the regular season and scored her first career goal at Waterloo on Jan. 28, 2019. In her 2016-2017 season she dressed for 23 regular season and five playoff games and notched one assist during the regular season.

Along with Headrick, of the Garden River First Nation, speakers will include University of Northern British Columbia women’s basketball player Cevanna Carlson, of the Deninu K’ue First Nation, University of Regina women’s hockey player Rachel O’Toole, of the Couchiching First Nation, Algoma University women’s soccer player Shayla Pine, also of the Garden River First Nation, and McGill University hockey alum Francis Verreault-Paul, of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation.

The live conversation will represent an opportunity for U SPORTS to hear from those in the sport ecosystem, by celebrating the success stories of the Indigenous community, using the national platform to examine the issues and barriers faced by First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples and highlight the advocacy work being ac-complished by U SPORTS members on the unceded territories they occupy.

U SPORTS Indigenous Conversations, which follows the inaugural live event held in February, in celebration of Black History Month, will be broadcast on Wednesday, June 30th, at 2:00pm ADT/1:00pm EDT on U SPORTS Twitter channel, @USPORTSca

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