Maritime Junior Hockey League launches new jerseys to honor Indigenous communities

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HALIFAX — Beginning Wednesday, players of the Maritime Junior Hockey League will wear jerseys specially designed to celebrate Indigenous groups across the country as part of the organization’s Reconciliation Week.

The league’s 12 teams will take turns sporting jerseys depicting children outside a boarding school, along with the phrase “Every Child Matters.” Each team will wear the shirts, which also incorporate their logos, for one home game by December 5.

League president Steve Dykeman said in an interview Tuesday that league governors agreed to honor Indigenous communities after receiving good feedback on a draft jersey last year designed to celebrate workers in the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They were prompted, he added, by the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at residential schools across the country that began earlier this year.

In May, a First Nation in Kamloops, British Columbia, announced it had found what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school. The following month, the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan revealed the discovery of more than 700 unmarked graves.

“We wanted to have some sort of recognition,” Dykeman said. “The goal is really to show our respect and shed some light on what happened.”

Bob Gloade, Chief of Millbrook First Nation in Truro, Nova Scotia, called the jersey campaign a positive initiative.

“When you have members of the indigenous community … playing in the league and being part of (the initiative), it’s very nice to see,” Gloade said in an interview Tuesday. “I see this as a positive step forward and part of reconciliation.”

Jersey designer Jeff Rector said that along with the “sinister” photo of a group of young Indigenous children gathered outside the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the phrase “Every Child Matters” is written in English, Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqey, the main dialects of indigenous communities in the Maritimes.

Rector said he consulted with members of local First Nations communities to help him capture aspects of East Coast Indigenous groups in his design process. Like Dykeman, he said he hoped the footage would convey a message of awareness and respect.

“I wanted to show the kids,” he said. “These are images that have been etched in our minds since the news broke. This is something we all need to remember and keep close to us as we work towards reconciliation and building a better future together.

One of the consultants hired to help with the design process was Everett Sanipass, a former NHL player from the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick.

Sanipass, a forward who played six seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and Quebec Nordiques, said in an interview Wednesday that the league-wide jersey initiative reflects the teamwork that is key. Sport.

“We can’t move forward without educating ourselves and understanding that this is ancient history,” Sanipass said. “The message is clear: people want change, they want reconciliation.”

The new jerseys will debut Wednesday night as the Grand Falls Rapids host the Miramichi Timberwolves.

After the special reconciliation schedule, the teams will auction off the jerseys with proceeds going to the area’s Indigenous communities.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 24, 2021.

This story was produced with financial assistance from Facebook and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.

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