Hockey equipment drive helps to support Indigenous youth with largest collection yet
Saturday's Indigenous Hockey Equipment Drive was one of its largest collections of the year, as the campaign seeks to continue making hockey gear more accessible for indigenous communities across the province.
What started as a collection of eight hockey bags and 20 sticks donated to Beausoleil First Nation in 2015 has become a nationwide endeavour.
"From there, every year it doubled," said Graham McWaters, the founder of the Indigenous Hockey Equipment Drive.
McWaters estimates that the campaign now gathers 1,000 hockey bags and 2,000 hockey sticks every year for 25 to 35 First Nation communities in Canada. It strives to allow indigenous youth to play hockey even if they cannot afford to do so.
"I'm going to guess that an excess of 5,000 kids have been helped from this program," McWaters added.
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
The Richmond Hill hockey dad founded the Indigenous Hockey Equipment Drive with the help of fellow hockey parent Rosemarie McKenzie.
"They get to pick the equipment out that fits them, and they get to go to their community rinks or join their community teams," said McKenzie, describing how the recipients react upon receiving their gear. "It's like Christmas."
Thanks to the support of community partners and despite an unwanted taste of wintery weather, Saturday's equipment drive in Barrie collected more than 50 donated hockey bags and 100 donated hockey sticks.
Donated sticks being stored at Saturday’s Indigenous Hockey Equipment Drive in Barrie on April 20, 2024 (Mike Lang/CTV News).
Donors drove by throughout the day to drop off their equipment, which included helmets, gloves, shin pads and shoulder pads. McWaters and other volunteers then organized the equipment accordingly into large storage bins, where it will remain until reaching its recipients.
"There's nothing better than putting somebody out on a pair of skates with a stick," McWaters concluded.
Some of the seven storage bins worth of hockey equipment will be delivered to Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec next week. The rest will be delivered to Indigenous communities across the province in the fall.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus survives vote calling for his ouster
Greg Fergus survived a vote to oust him as House of Commons Speaker on Tuesday, but with close to half of MPs expressing a loss of confidence in him, he faces a precarious path forward in maintaining order in Parliament.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
Teen dies after being hit by train in N.W. Calgary
A teenager has died after being hit by a train in northwest Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Black bear kebabs make family sick with parasitic worms
It was supposed to be a celebration, but one family’s unique meal of black bear meat sent several members to the hospital instead.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.