All-Black hockey game will celebrate the past and inspire the future: task force chair
CBC
A piece of Nova Scotia's hockey history will be celebrated in Dartmouth, N.S., this weekend as two all-Black hockey teams hit the ice.
The two sides will meet Saturday night to commemorate a 1920s game between the Truro Victorias and the Africville Seasides of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes.
Speaking with the CBC's Tom Murphy on Friday, Dean Smith, the chair of Hockey Nova Scotia's diversity and inclusion task force said the original game was a "fierce battle."
"Many people are looking forward to seeing this rematch," he said. "I think it's important not to neglect our history or to forget our history."
Smith said the Colored Hockey League had a big impact on the game.
"The league contributed to many of the innovations you see in hockey today. They're just not recognized for it," he said. "So it's important to remember that history and show it on the ice."
The game isn't just about celebrating the past, Smith said. It's also about inspiring future athletes.
"Many kids of colour don't see themselves in the game of hockey," said Smith, whose task force has studied racism in the game. "I think this is an opportunity for young people to see those who look like them on the ice excelling at this sport."
Smith said when he was growing up, incidents of racism turned him away from the game and he hopes that this event will help to show that hockey is for everyone.
"If it's really a Canadian game, if it's Canada's winter pastime, then every kid, regardless of race, regardless of socio-economic background should have an opportunity to play," Smith said.
The event will also feature a Black Youth Ice Hockey (BYIH) demonstration, which Smith said is evidence that his task force is helping to get more kids of colour involved in the sport. Smith called attention to the Indigenous Girls Hockey Program as another example.
The two teams will take the ice on Saturday night at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. AT with the BYIH demonstration kicking off after the second period.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.