Working in a Good Way: Fighting inequality with sport

Daniel Scott photo

Spirit North breaks down the barriers to outdoor recreation  

As part of this story series, we will feature recreation organizations that are advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples through trail and outdoor recreation projects. We hope these stories inspire other community groups to contribute to advancing reconciliation in a meaningful and positive way, thereby ensuring the long-term sustainability of the outdoor recreation activities we love.

Beckie Scott remembers the day she knew sport and recreation had an important part to play in reconciliation. The two-time Olympic medalist in cross country skiing was in Lac La Biche, Alberta as an ambassador for the charity Ski Fit North Alberta. Her role was to introduce Indigenous youth to skiing, but before she taught the kids, she met with the school principal. 

In Lac La Biche, the principal had a big cardboard box in their office. When Scott asked about it, she learned an eight-year-old student hid in the box when he needed to feel safe. The story almost made her cry.

Later that day, Scott and the principal watched that same kid slide down a hill, throw his hands in the air, giggling and smiling. It was the first time the principal had ever seen the kid laugh.

“It’s a heartbreaking story,” says Scott. “I instantly saw the impact sport can have on mental health.”

Over the next eight years, travelling to many remote Indigenous communities with Ski Fit, she witnessed the need was pervasive. 

“I saw firsthand the reality of their lives,” she says. “The trauma they experienced. The lack of opportunities. The inequality in access to sport because of socioeconomic or geographic barriers. As someone who had so many opportunities in my life, it seemed so unfair.”

When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report in 2015, Scott decided she wanted to be part of the change it was calling for. Using Ski Fit as a base, she started her own charity, Spirit North, with the goal of increasing opportunities for Indigenous kids to access sport, promoting health and wellness at schools and communities at the same time. She started in Alberta, but has since expanded. Last year Spirit North worked with more than 6,300 students in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

Guided by three of the Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 calls to action, and a board of directors that’s more than half Indigenous, Scott says Spirit North works in collaboration with communities. They meet with community and school leaders to understand their needs and barriers. They use local facilities and skills; they’ve expanded beyond cross country skiing to canoeing, hiking, mountain biking, skateboarding and running and have built trails in communities where there are none. They operate during school and after school, on reserves and off, right from school or busing to a trailhead. 

“It looks different in every community,” says Scott. “It’s whatever best benefits the kids.” 

In Penticton it started with cross country skiing and has since grown to skateboarding and mountain biking. 

The Penticton Indian Band Outma Sqilx'W Culture School was one of the first in B.C. to work with Spirit North. The nearby Nickel Plate Nordic Centre was already offering band members free skiing and Levi Bent, a cultural educator at Outma was helping them translate the trail signage to Sylix, the Okanagan language. The nordic centre was a natural first partner. Spirit North started busing students to the Nickle Plate a couple times per week and supplying instruction and gear.  

Knocking down the financial barriers to sport might be the most powerful thing Spirit North does, says Bent, a member of the Penticton Band and a community program leader with Spirit North.

“Some members of the native community live below the property line,” he says. “You can’t think about things like cross country skiing when you’re wondering about how you’re going to put food on the table.”

For kids in those kinds of households the chance to try new activities “broadens their horizons” and builds life skills, he says. They fall, get up, try again, fall some more. And then one day they’re cruising all over the trails. 

“When you achieve success you feel good about yourself” says Bent. “That feeling carries over into the rest of their lives.”

Teachers tell Perianne Jones, the southern B.C. coordinator for Spirit North, that the kids in the program have better physical literacy, better mental health and are better at focusing in class. 

She says there are a few other key components to Spirit North’s success. One, is the program’s continuity. In Penticton, it runs year-round. Bent took the kids skateboarding, one of his favourite sports. The Penticton and Area Cycling Association is helping to build a mountain bike trail at Outma Sqilx'W school and the Spirit North coaches are teaching the kids to mountain bike; many of the kids have never ridden before. Sometimes they just go for a walk in the woods. The leaders stay the same for all of the activities, creating a strong, stable relationship for the kids. 

Another, is the program’s focus on having fun, rather than skill or competition. And there’s the knock-on effects.

For instance, the ski equipment is available for all band members to use. “The kids are taking their parents skiing,” says Jones. “It’s been really amazing to see how being able to ski without having to figure out equipment first, opens doors for people.”

She also sees the non-Indigenous community embracing the new skiers; when Spirit North didn’t use Nickel Plate because of COVID people missed them. 

“I think it creates an opportunity to build relationships between the band and the rest of the community,” she says. “These are measures of success we can’t quantify.” 

Bent would add one more. He remembers a principal who brought gymnastics to the school. When the principal left, the gymnastics program went with them – the equipment hasn’t been used in years. In contrast, Beckie Scott says Spirit North will stay in the community as long as they’re welcome. That commitment builds longevity into the system: kids who learned to ski with Spirit North come back to teach the next generation.

“My hope is we’ll see it continue to build and more and more kids will gain health and wellness,” Scott says. “There’s such an incredible imbalance of power and opportunity. We can’t call our society fair and just until all kids have the same opportunity for sport and recreation.”

As for that little eight year old in Lac La Biche. A couple years later, he was on the first Indigenous cross country ski team to attend the Alberta Winter Games.

“Sport is not the only answer to reconciliation,” Scott says. “But I do think this is one way to help restore the balance.”

Ryan Stuart started writing about his adventures as a way to get paid to play. Twenty years later he’s still at it. Look for his name in magazines like Outside, Men’s Journal, Ski Canada, online at Hakai and The Narwhal. When he’s not typing at his home office in Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley, you can find him skiing, hiking, mountain biking, surfing, paddling or fishing somewhere nearby.