Ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, a professional sports team in Ottawa has highlighted Indigenous culture and communities by paying special tribute to the Odawa Native Friendship Centre.
Atlético Ottawa partnered with the Odawa Native Friendship Centre (ONFC) on Saturday to make truth and reconciliation a focal point of its Canadian Premier League soccer game against Cavalry FC from Calgary.
The event also marked ONFC’s 50th year of providing vital community, cultural and social resources for the growing urban Indigenous community in the National Capital Region. According to 2021 Census data, around 46,540 Indigenous people live in the Ottawa-Gatineau census metropolitan area, representing an increase of approximately 22 per cent since the 2016 Census.
Saturday’s contest attracted 4,500 spectators, with many of them wearing orange shirts and team jerseys.
Elder Karen MacInnis and Greg Meekis, bail program co-ordinator for the ONFC, led an opening prayer before kickoff, and all 25 Atlético players wore orange T-shirts before the contest to commemorate the thousands of children who died while attending residential schools.
Indigenous children dressed in bright, colourful regalia and danced to the beat of drums as part of the half-time performance.
ONFC volunteers handed out balloons, sold “Every Child Matters” T-shirts and talked to fans near the entrance to the stadium.
“This is the second year of making them the focus of this game,” said Thomas Stockting, Atlético’s manager of community development and media relations.
“It’s about getting the community to lead us in the initiative. We don’t go in and say we want them to do something.
“We’re really proud to say that Atlético and the host building does not take a penny from (Every Child Matters T-shirt sales), and they all go back to the Odawa Native Friendship Centre and supporting the wonderful programming that they do as they celebrate their 50th year in the city.”
Anita Armstrong, ONFC’s general manager, said the partnership with Atlético Ottawa started four years ago as part of the centre’s Healthy Living program, which gives Indigenous kids an opportunity to play soccer and to participate in organized sports for free through training camps and lessons put on by the CPL team.
It also teaches Indigenous kids how to live an active lifestyle, Armstrong said.
“It’s absolutely imperative … There’s a lot of poverty in our community. Many of our families and community members may not have the opportunity to register their children into programs because we know it’s costly and the cost of living as it is is very difficult and challenging,” Armstrong noted.
“Putting children into extracurricular activities can be a daunting task and just impossible for some of our community members. This partnership allows them the opportunity to gain the skills and get these little ones interested in sports and just get them on a healthy path.”
Armstrong added that Saturday’s game was an opportunity for ONFC to promote its services and spread the word about truth and reconciliation.
“It’s extremely important for us to learn the history, know the truth … From that reconciliation will come, and that’s our hope anyway,” she said.
“What we’re trying to do at Odawa is take a positive spin. We’re trying to educate Canada, make sure that the community and Canadians alike understand what happened, what residential schools did to our communities. And we’re just trying to make change to ensure that that history never repeats itself again.”
MacInnis said Saturday’s game taught Ottawans that reconciliation was for everyone.
It looks different for each person, and everyone needs to be able to meet and have these important conversations, she said.
“One of my biggest teachings is you need to respect the land, and not just for ourselves and the environment,” she said.
“We believe everything is circular. It’s what’s below us, which is the Earth, our mother, and take care of her. And it’s what’s above us, which is the sky, and take care of that. They work in conjunction.
“And all the new people, they need to be welcomed, too, because they’re all part of the medicine wheel. That’s so not easy for everybody to accept, but it’s the truth. If we do that, and we respect that, we are going to move forward in a good and healthy way for this country.”
The elder also said everyone needed to be a steward of the land.
It’s not enough to just focus on Ottawa, she noted. Pollution in Lake St. Clair can make its way down to Lake Erie, then into Lake Ontario and down the St. Lawrence River, for example.
“We need to understand that it’s not one place. It’s all places that we need to look after. We’re all connected in this circle, and without water we cannot live, nor does anything else. We need clean water,” she said.
“We need to take care of our environment — above, below and all around us — and each other.”
