All-Native team organized for Can Am games

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Later this year, thousands of police officers and firefighters from across Canada and throughout North America will invade Regina. If Cst. Jamie Couillonneur has his way, part of that invasionary force will include a select group of Aboriginal officers from Saskatchewan.

Couillonneur, an RCMP constable stationed at Rose Valley, is hoping to organize an First Nations hockey team to compete at the Can Am Police-Fire Games, to be held June 23 to 28 in Regina. The games are expected to attract more than 3,000 athletes from Canada, the United States and central America.

All athletes participating at the games must work as police officers, corrections workers or firefighters.

Ice hockey is one of 63 sports to be included at the event.

For Couillonneur, the Police-Fire Games represent a perfect opportunity to showcase some of Saskatchewan's most talented, Native hockey players who are involved in firefighting and law enforcement.

The plan, according to Couillonneur, is to assemble 17 of the best Native players in the province. Once that's accomplished, he hopes to collect corporate sponsorships worth $7,800 from First Nations businesses to cover the cost of competing.

"I grew up in Saskatchewan so I know there are a lot of good Native hockey players in Saskatchewan and I also know a lot of people who are in law enforcement as well," said Couillonneur.

"Last year, I participated in the World Police-Fire Games (in Calgary) with a First Nations team from Alberta.

"Basically, I really enjoyed that experience and I thought to myself I could pull something like this off in Saskatchewan. There's a lot of very good players in Saskatchewan. A lot of them have junior backgrounds and. . . are sort of famous in Alberta and Western Canada.

The task of organizing an all-Native police-fire team is no easy task, but with his long list of contacts in hockey circles and in law enforcement, Couillinneur is a likely person to meet the challenge.

Couillonneur was born in Grenfell, grew up in Meadow Lake and later moved to Beauval, about 300 km northwest of Prince Albert.

During his stay in Beauval, he played junior hockey throughout northern Saskatchewan against teams from Ile-a-la-Crosse, Buffalo Narrows and Pelican Narrows.

He later moved to Saskatoon to attend classes at the University of Saskatchewan and was eventually stationed at the Rose Valley RCMP detachment, about 250 km west of Saskatoon.

Couillonneur has been competing on Saskatchewan's Native hockey circuit for several years and since joining the RCMP, has also participated at the 1996 and 1997 RCMP Western Canadian hockey championships in Brandon, Man. and Vancouver respectively.

With all this hockey experience, it comes as no surprise that Couillonneur's list of skilled players is bursting with names.

So far, Couillonneur has commitments from about 10 of the players he wants.

He's also talking with several others and hopes to have commitments from seven more players by March 31, the deadline for registration at the Can Am Police-Fire Games.

Most of the players will be from Saskatchewan, but there will be at least two imports from Alberta, he said.

One of the imports, former Western Hockey League player Jamie Ground, has already arranged financing to send the team to the World Police-Fire Games in Sweden. . . That's if the team qualifies.

"If we play well enough in Regina, we already have the backing to go to Sweden," said Couillonneur.

"We want to make sure we've got the best players available."

Couillonneur plans to hand pick every member of the Can Am Games team, a system he said will eliminate confusion later on. Some teams invite too many players to a tournament and then are forced to cut players just prior to the event.

"I don't like that set up. Some guys travel all that way and then they have to turn around and go home again. We're trying to avoid a situation like that."

The Can Am Police-Fire Games are expected to attract more than 10,000 people (sectators and athletes) to Regina and should generate between $12 million and $15 million in economic spinoffs, said games director Grant Nicurty.

A group of 50 people from Puerto Rico will attend the event and a contingent from the New York Police Department booked hotel accommodations about three months ago, he said.