Littlechild pushes for recognition of Indigenous games in sports halls of fames

Sitting in the bleachers in front of his grandsons waiting for the closing ceremonies of the latest Alberta Indigenous Games, Wilton Littlechild is pleased with his grandsons’ determination to choose sports and proud of what the AIG stands for. And that is why he wants to donate a complete set of his AIG medals to the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, in Red Deer, where he has been inducted in the “builder” category.

“The original ideal of sport was sports and culture and this medal outlines all of that in a real good way,” he said.

The medal is an artistic rendering of the various sports inset in the eagle feathers that line the top of the medal with the four sacred teachings included in the circular body of the medal.
“I always tell young people they should seek the path balance in life.  Life is about balance if you can balance out your emotional, your spiritual, your physical and your mental elements of life then you can really do whatever you want to do. You can seek whatever goals you want to set for yourself and accomplish them,” said Littlechild.

Littlechild organized the inaugural AIG, which were held in Enoch in 1971. Three thousand athletes took part. In St. Albert, where the games were held this year in early August, 300 athletes competed. Littlechild is not discouraged, though. He says AIG was initially established as groundwork for the North American Indigenous Games, something else he was instrumental in pulling off. The first NAIG took place in 1990 and then were held annually. Now, NAIG takes place every second year. Littlechild has now set his sights on establishing a World Indigenous Games.

“In order to reignite our (Alberta) games, we’re heavily involved now in promoting culture and traditional teachings plus the sports. It’s a new start but eventually I’m sure we’ll have 2,000 athletes,” he said.

The Indigenous games are a combination of traditional games, in order to promote culture, and mainstream games. Littlechild points out that traditional Indigenous sports such as kayaking, canoeing and archery are now part of mainstream competition, included in the Olympics, while lacrosse has its own world championships.

Littlechild would like to see traditional Indigenous sports, and particularly in the way of the various levels of Indigenous games, taken into consideration when selections are made for the induction of athletes into sports halls of fame.

“At some point our games need to be recognized as legitimate games,” he said. “If young people start winning these kinds of medals here, they should be recognized in the mainstream sports world. Just because they’re not part of the Alberta games, doesn’t mean they’re lesser. For us, they’re more important in a way because of the promotion of culture and our teachings.”
The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame includes Indigenous boxer Charlie Smallface and cowboy Jim Gladstone in the athlete category; Ted Hodgson as a member of the Oil Kings in the team category; runner Deerfoot for an achievement award; and Alex Decouteau as a “pioneer.”

“The problem is getting nominated, getting support from the selection committee.  We need to start encouraging our own people to nominate Indigenous athletes who are eligible to be inducted in the Sports Hall of Fame,” said Littlechild.

Donna Hateley, executive director with the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, says the institution receives 70-90 nominations from the public, which are kept open for consideration over a three-year period. No point system is used or criteria set by the seven-member selection committee in choosing inductees.

“They look at the sport and they look at what is the highest (level) a person could obtain. Not all sports go to the Olympics,” Hateley said.

While AIG or NAIG would be taken into consideration, how those games fit in the hierarchy of competition is discussed at the board and selection committee levels.

Hateley says a request to the selection committee to give more standing to AIG and NAIG accomplishments could be brought forward.

There are no Indigenous members on the selection committee at the moment, although Gladstone did serve earlier.

Hateley says the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame had a display on traditional games in 1999 that ran for four years and included Littlechild’s medals from NAIG. She says they would be pleased to display Littlechild’s AIG medals permanently.

Littlechild has been inducted in seven different sports halls of fame having competed in nine countries for hockey, three countries for baseball, and two countries in swimming.