More Indigenous youth across the country, who otherwise wouldn’t have the access or money, get to lace up and hit the ice to play Canada’s sport. It’s all thanks to the generosity of one local man who began the Indigenous Hockey Equipment Drive 12 years ago in Barrie, Ont. Graham McWaters first saw the need when he took his son to a hockey rink in Midland. He says he noticed a parent fixing a helmet that didn’t have a cage and kids lugging their equipment in garbage bags. One of the people at that rink was Rosemarie McKenzie, a resident of Beausoleil First Nation, who would regularly bring a slew of kids to the Midland rink. McWaters says he asked McKenzie if those kids would be interested in donations of hockey equipment. When she said yes, he managed to round up eight bags of gear and 25 sticks from his son’s hockey team, and thus was born the hockey drive. “How could you dream this, right?” McKenzie says about youth in her community gaining access to the sport of hockey. “It literally felt like hockey Christmas to see all these kids leaving with full bags of equipment and sticks and that.” The annual initiative took place on Saturday at Access Storage, where volunteers gathered to distribute the equipment to eight Indigenous communities in Ontario. The volunteers were made up of hockey players, football players, coaches, family and friends, and other community members. The goal, McWaters says, is to help Indigenous youth get into sports. “Hockey is a very expensive sport and by doing this, we’re giving them the chance to play hockey, which is Canada’s sport,” McWaters says. He says a lot of Indigenous youth live in remote communities, so even if they did have the money for the gear, the nearest store could be as far as 10 hours away. “We’re making hockey available to people who can’t afford it or don’t have access to it,” McWaters says. Along with Beausoleil First Nation near Midland, other communities who received equipment were Walpole Island First Nation near Windsor, Thessalon First Nation along Lake Huron, Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, Oneida Nation of the Thames near London, Nipissing First Nation near North Bay, Curve Lake First Nation near Peterborough and the Munsee-Delaware Nation near St. Thomas. The equipment they collected were sticks, goalie pads, hockey accessories and bags. Volunteers then load it all into the trucks and vans of representatives from those Indigenous communities. Each community received 25 bags, 45 sticks and three sets of goalie gear, plus brand-new LEGO, water bottles, helmets and neck guards. While the initiative coincides with National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with both in the same week, McWaters says this has been going on before truth and reconciliation came into effect. “We had no idea what we were doing was actually participating in our own form of truth and reconciliation,” he says. This particular drive takes place every year but McWaters leads hockey drives all year, which get the equipment sent out continuously to Indigenous communities. He partners with hockey associations and high schools, then gathers, sorts, bags, and tags, and brings it all to Access Storage. He also raises money all year to buy new helmets and neck guards. Access Storage says it provides 650 square feet of storage space where the hockey equipment lives year-round. “We’re a very proud Canadian company and we love to support our national sport on all levels,” says Laurie Book, regional manager for Access Storage in Barrie. “This one is really special to our hearts because of the amazing work that Graham does in getting this equipment to the Indigenous communities all over Canada.” The initiative grows and expands every year, with Indigenous youth benefiting not just in Ontario but Canada too. After Saturday, the initiative will have seen 1,000 bags every year go out to 30 to 35 Indigenous communities across Canada. Since it all began 12 years ago, 6,800 bags of gear and 10,000 sticks have been donated to 81 different communities throughout the country. McWaters says he doesn’t do this for a pat on the back, but he says the number one thing he hears from communities is: “‘Ever since you started donating hockey equipment to our community, you’ve changed and saved lives in our communities.’ That really touched us,” he says.
