A Treaty Right to Sport?
AbstractThe integral role of sport in the lives of First Nations peoples suggests that sport has the capacity to promote the physical and social well-being of both individuals and communities. With this in mind, Aboriginal leaders in Canada are championing sport as a mechanism to address "many of the social ills facing Aboriginal people" and the "heightened health risks" faced by Aboriginal youth. Sport, for example, has also been likened to "the strongest type of medicine" because of its "preventative nature" The difficulty, however, is that while sport is "deeply rooted in the cultural history of indigenous peoples" and directly related to the cultural experience of indigenous peoples many Aboriginal peoples no longer play sport and are generally under-represented in the Canadian sport system. I consider these paradoxes through a historic lens and identify events occurring during the eighty year period - from the 1870's through to the 1950's - that I believe assist in understanding same. |