Canoe clubs natural fit for Native athletes

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Sharilyn Johnston considers it a win-win situation.

Johnston is the commodore for the Chippewas of the Thames Canoe Club based in Muncey, located about 40 kilometres southwest of London.

Though the club has been around for five years, it was only this May that it joined the 54-club Canadian Canoe Association. The Muncey-based club was one of nine new clubs accepted by the canoe association this year. It was also one of three Aboriginal clubs to sign up.

All of the new clubs were welcomed by the association during its annual general meeting held in Ottawa.

Johnston's club currently has 16 members, ranging in age from eight to 42. She said it's a big advantage that her club is part of the Canadian Canoe Association.

"They have a wealth of experience," she said of officials with the national body. "And we'll be able to go to the regattas they have, instead of participating against just First Nations competitors."

This is not the first association that the Chippewas of the Thames Canoe Club has joined. It is also a member of the Ontario Marathon Canoe Racing Association and the Ontario Recreational Canoeing Association.

In order to join the Canadian Canoe Association, Johnston said her club simply had to pay the annual $225 fee. She believes it's money well spent.

"They have a lot more resources (that will help our club)," she said.

The Chippewas of the Thames Canoe Club is not strictly a competitive one, though. It offers several different disciplines including a paddle camp, tripping (participants pack food and equipment and go for an outback adventure), recreational day trips, sprinting races and marathon events, usually 10-kilometre races.

John Edwards, the Canadian Canoe Club's director of domestic development, said it is a bit unusual that the sport's national governing body only had one Aboriginal club (based in Quebec) in its membership before. He's hoping to see this number drastically increase in the coming years.

"There's going to be a huge impetus to get these clubs going," he said. "We specifically want to develop a better linkage to the Aboriginal communities. Ultimately it would be nice to think any youth in Canada could get to the Olympics if that's what they wanted."

Alwyn Morris is proof that Native athletes excel at canoeing events.

He teamed up with Hugh Fisher to win a pair of medals (one gold, one bronze) at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

"Alwyn Morris was a great example of what is possible," Edwards said. "That's almost 20 years ago, though. Now, we'd just like to build a bridge and see if anybody can cross it."

The two other Aboriginal clubs to join the the Canadian Canoe Club this year are the Pemberton Canoe and Kayak Club from British Columbia, and the Kanesatake Canoe Club from Oka, Que.

Membership in the Pemberton club is open to all, and does not exclude non-Native competitors.