Wear Them More Often

For the second year in a row, True North Sports and Entertainment will employ its two professional hockey teams in the Winnipeg Jets and the Manitoba Moose as part of the NHL's "This is Hockey" initiative as a way to show diversity and inclusiveness in hockey for one singular day on the hockey schedule in each city. If you can't hear the contempt that I wrote in that last sentence, that's ok because there will be more of it as this article proceeds. The fact that the NHL uses one day per year on each team's calendar to "promote" diversity and inclusiveness in hockey makes me question the NHL's actual belief in diversity and inclusiveness in hockey, but we're all human and we all make mistakes, right?

Back to TNSE and its professional hockey teams, the Jets and Moose will build on last year's initiative that saw Indigenous artist Leticia Spence's used by the organization on its first WASAC (Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre) Night and Follow Your Dreams promotions. Personally, Spence's logos are incredible, and I think she has a serious future in art based on her treatments of the Jets and Moose logos. I also personally think the Jets and Moose should wear these logos more than once per year if TNSE and the NHL are truly interested in promoting diversity and inclusiveness in hockey, but I digress.

The Winnipeg Jets will don these jerseys for warm-up on January 17 prior to their game against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Along with wearing the jerseys, the Jets will welcome 30 Indigenous youth from remote and northern communities including Shamattawa, Lac Brochet, Pauingassi, Duck Bay and Oxford House to the game, and the students will attend the morning skate at Bell MTS Place and take in a mindful movement session, courtesy of the True North Youth Foundation's Project 11 and the Yoga Barre. In what I believe is the best part of the experience for the kids, the 30 students will have the opportunity to skate with Indigenous hockey role models at Camp Manitou's covered outdoor rink the next day where they'll be joined by hockey stars Brigette Lacquette, Jamie Leach, and Frazer McLaren.

As per the release by the Winnipeg Jets, "The WASAC game itself will feature elements of Indigenous culture during the pre-game ceremony and throughout the game including drumming group Spirit Sands Singers (First Nations), Métis fiddlers and Inuit throat singers. The game will mark the first time that O Canada will be sung in Ojibwe at a Winnipeg Jets game. The anthem will be performed by a choir from the Seven Oaks School Division."

I would hope that recognition of the Treaty One territory is made prior to the game as well. The BellMTS Centre and True North Sports and Entertainment's offices and businesses are, after all, located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation, and recognition of these lands, the treaty, and the acknowledgement of the harms and mistakes of the past only furthers the efforts made by the Jets on this special night. Personally, it would be impressive if the Jets made this recognition at each and every game, but I'll start with one night in an effort to promote diversity and inclusiveness at the very least.

The AHL's Manitoba Moose will take to the ice on January 18 in their Follow Your Dreams uniforms against the Laval Rocket. The Moose will welcome 200 youth from Indigenous communities throughout Manitoba, including those mentioned above and the city of Winnipeg, to the afternoon AHL game where students will take in an exclusive meet-and-greet with Lacquette and McLaren. Having 200 kids meet two hockey stars from Manitoba? Awesome. Having 200 kids meet Brigitte Lacquette, a proud Indigenous woman who played hockey at the Olympics and knows the challenges these kids face in achieving their dreams? Even better!

The Moose game will feature the Canadian national anthem being performed in Cree as two of Manitoba's most prominent Indigenous languages are featured on consecutive days while singing the anthem. I would like to see more of the Cree language featured during the course of the game, perhaps for goal and penalty announcements, but it seems that the only exposure to the Cree language for most fans that day will be "O Canada". Nevertheless, having the anthem sung in Cree is a start, but there's certainly room for more usage of the language. I also would hope that the Treaty 1 recognition happens before the AHL game as well, so we'll see what the Moose have in store for game day.

I was surprised that the Jets didn't mention any tie-in on the weekend to the January 19 game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The game is being played in Chicago as the Jets begin a road trip, but it's also the first of six collaborations for NHL games this season between Sportsnet and APTN to broadcast games in Cree! You would think that the NHL and/or TNSE would want to promote not only the game between the Jets and Blackhawks, but the broadcast in Cree as part of the "This is Hockey" initiative that is occupying the entire weekend for True North Sports and Entertainment. Again, this seems like an easy target to hit for the NHL and TNSE, but it's almost like they have no awareness for what its broadcast partners are doing to help their game.

We're one week from these events happening at the BellMTS Centre, and I'm not sure these events and happenings are even on the general public's radar. I know it's a busy time of year with many families and teams busy with their own schedules, but I would hope that both games are sold-out to help support the diversity and inclusiveness that hockey claims it promotes, but is missing from its product on the ice.

The jerseys are great. The effort is there. It's just a matter of making the entire weekend into a celebration of diversity and inclusiveness by going all-in on the cultures, languages, and histories of the Indigenous people in Manitoba. Being "better than nothing" isn't justification for "good enough".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!