High school hockey player says fans in Swan River, Man., hurled racist comments at him during game

A young Manitoba hockey player is speaking out, after he says racist comments were directed at him during a high school hockey game in Swan River last week.

Keagan Gaywish,16, plays with the Minnedosa Chancellors high school hockey team and was on Swan River to play against the Swan Valley Regional Secondary School Tigers on Oct. 31. 

In an interview with CBC News on Friday,  he said he heard racist comments directed at him coming from young people in the stands during the game. Later, when he was leaving the ice, he said a teammate also heard racist comments from people at the rink.

"It made me feel like I wanted to quit hockey, like, I'm not going to, but it just made me like want to stop playing hockey," said Gaywish. "Made me feel very bad as a person and really, really emotional."

Gaywish is from Rolling River First Nation and has been playing hockey for 11 years. He's sharing his story so people can see that racism exists and in hopes of preventing other people from experiencing what he did. 

"It's not a little thing. It hurts, like, a lot," he said. 

The teen's dad, Roger Brightnose, wasn't at the game last Sunday, but said he was devastated when he heard his son saying it made him feel like he wanted to quit something he loved. 

"You never want to hear your kids going through something like this," said Brightnose. 

"When it hits your household like that it's really, it  really takes its toll emotionally and, you know, we actually sat down as a family and talked this through together."

Brightnose said that his son told him someone in the stands also taunted him with that appeared to be a traditional hand drum while he was in the penalty box. 

He said his son's team has been supportive and acted quickly to address what happened. Gaywish said his teammates and the principal at Erickson Collegiate where he goes to school have checked in on him to see how he's doing. 

The Swan Valley School Division said the coaches for the Swan Valley team heard about what happened and it was investigated promptly. 

The Swan Valley Regional Secondary School told the division that the parents of the students who were alleged to have made the comments have been contacted. 

The school also told the division that protocols are being put in place to stop this from happening again including having a parent sit behind the visiting team's bench.