Abstract
Aboriginal Peoples & Sport in Canada provides an intersectional analysis of the participation, organization, and development of Aboriginal athletes within Canadian sport. Edited by Audrey Giles and Janice Forsyth, this book positions sport as a lens to explore the broader social, political, and economic complexities that influence how indigenous populations participate in physical activity within contemporary settings. Currently, there are very few resources that explore Aboriginal relationships to sport and physical activity. Forsyth and Giles argue such conditions limit the expansion of the field, and constrain the global understanding of the pressing issues tied to Aboriginal peoples and sport.
Forsyth provides a historical analysis of indigenous relationships to sport and physical activity, which encourages readers to consider how sport has played a role within the process of colonization. She discusses this theme in the chapter, ‘Bodies of Meaning: Sports and Games at Canadian Residential Schools’, where she examines the highly gendered, racialized, and colonizing sporting practices instilled through the residential school system. Drawing on Foucault’s (1977) discussion of discipline and the production of docile bodies, her analysis demonstrates how Aboriginal bodies were assimilated through sport and military training exercises. In this respect, sport was used as a cost-effective method to combat the declining health of students, while military training replaced cultural traditions, thereby educating Aboriginal students on how to be ‘good’ citizens that were ‘civilized’ and worthy of re-introduction into Canadian society. Gender also played a pivotal role in determining how sport was consumed within residential school spaces. Male students were encouraged to engage in competitive sport, while female students gained physical activity through gardening, cleaning and other responsibilities necessary for everyday life. In this way, Forsyth demonstrates how sport in residential schools reproduced hegemonic gender roles that framed how physical activity was negotiated and taken up by indigenous youth. Her examination draws on themes of gender, race and colonization, exposing how residential schools used sport as an organizing mechanism to control and assimilate Aboriginal bodies into broader Canadian contexts. Knowledge of such practices allows for greater understanding of how indigenous peoples have been defined as ‘others’ through sport, which Forsyth positions as instrumental to the healing process.
Ann Hall builds on the work of Forsyth by providing a critical feminist examination of the representation of female Aboriginal athletes within mainstream sport. She reflects on her earlier work, specifically The Girl and the Game: A History of Women’s Sport in Canada (2002) to problematize the manner in which female Aboriginal athletes remain absent from the history of sport in Canada. Her analysis of Waneek Horn-Miller, a Mohawk athlete from Kahnawake, Quebec, exposes how female Aboriginal athletes encounter racism, sexualization, and discrimination within the realm of competitive sport. Horn-Miller was captain of the Canadian national water polo team that competed in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. She also appeared on the cover of Time magazine where she posed naked with only a ball covering her breasts. Shortly after, she was dismissed from the team: ‘After nine years, Waneek was removed from the national team – a decision she fought, accusing Water Polo Canada of racism’ (84). Currently, Horn-Miller acts as coordinator for the First Peoples House at McGill University, and continues to speak out against racist practices embedded within Canadian sport systems. Such practices permit Aboriginal participation to be assessed in relation to Eurocentric values, resulting in an inaccurate rendering of Canadian sport history, and often limiting the opportunities afforded to indigenous athletes wishing to compete in high performance sport.
The historical examinations of Aboriginal relationships to sport and physical activity enable readers to critically engage with issues framing Aboriginal participation within contemporary settings. Audrey Giles and Michael Heine pay specific attention to the tensions that persist for Aboriginal athletes in sport. They identify a common dilemma experienced by many Aboriginal athletes, which is the ability to keep cultural values alive within the structures of modern sport. Despite these immense challenges, the book moves toward activating a renewed confidence for the development of inclusive sport, which begins with formulating new frameworks for culturally relevant physical education, physical activity promotion, and policy development. Victoria Parashak outlines the importance of including Aboriginal voices within the development of Canadian sport policy. Her chapter, ‘Aboriginal Peoples and the Construction of Canadian Sport Policy’, details the strengths perspective, a theoretical framework that incorporates Aboriginal perspectives within the construction of sport policy. This timely shift serves to empower indigenous community members to build upon the strengths of a community while addressing challenges in a manner that privileges Aboriginal voices and ways of knowing. It is positioned as a tool for mobilization that is respectful of indigenous values, and which may increase opportunities for Aboriginal sport participation.
Creating inclusive sporting environments is a critical movement for Aboriginal athletes competing within contemporary sport. Amy Carpenter, Joannie Halas and Heather McRae discuss the intricacies of inclusive sport, and offer alternative approaches for physical education and physical activity promotion. Their chapter, ‘The Quality and Cultural Relevance of Physical Education for Aboriginal Youth: Challenges and Opportunities’, imparts a thought provoking examination of culturally relevant physical education that would be of particular interest for educators wishing to explore alternative approaches to overall health and wellbeing. Lynn Lavallée adds to the conversation of inclusive sport in her chapter, ‘Two-Eyed Seeing: Physical Activity, Sport, and Recreation Promotion in Indigenous Communities’. Drawing on her Anishinaabe and Western worldviews, Lavallée imparts an indigenous model for grassroots physical activity promotion. Her ‘Integrated indigenous–ecological model for sport and physical activity promotion’ incorporates a (w)holistic understanding of physical activity and health, which may be useful for the increasingly diverse populations of youth participating within mainstream Canadian sport.
Aboriginal Peoples & Sport in Canada’s combination of historical foundations and contemporary sports issues successfully illustrate how Aboriginal bodies continue to be silenced within and through Canadian sporting spaces. Forsyth and Giles provide a voice for Aboriginal sport participation, which places emphasis on creating inclusive opportunities that are respectful of both indigenous values and Western worldviews. It provokes readers to examine the ways Aboriginal peoples have shaped the Canadian sport system, while challenging the manner in which such systems continue to preserve the status quo for indigenous participation within mainstream sport. It would be an excellent stand-alone resource for undergraduate courses interested in acquiring an intersectional examination of the issues framing the participation and representation of Aboriginal athletes within Canada.