Sport Development Centre opens up opportunities for Aboriginal athletes

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More than 100 guests were invited to mark the opening of Canada's first Aboriginal Sport Development Centre on May 2.

The guests - Aboriginal leaders, provincial sports figures, government officials and media representatives - assembled just north of Victoria at the newly-built structure on the Tsartlip First Nation to witness the traditional ceremony as two Coast Salish Elders blessed and opened the building.

The completion and official opening of the sports development centre is the realization of a goal set by Vancouver Island Aboriginal leaders in 1989. When the 1996 Commonwealth Games were hosted in Victoria last summer, leaders and Elders of three Vancouver Island First Nations - Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwaka'wakw - were asked to become involved. Members of the nations that eventually accepted the offer formed what became known as the Native Participation Committee

From the beginning, the committee members decided they would leave a legacy to future generations of young Aboriginal people as a result of their involvement in the project. That was part of the deal and the centre is the result.

"Back in 1989, even before the bid was in, we were discussing how First Nations could be involved," said Tom Sampson, a former tribal chairman and Native Participation Committee member who now chairs the management board for the centre. "Our purpose was to involve our people in a major way. We decided early on that we didn't want to participate in the presentation of medals or the selling of tickets; we wanted to tell our peoples' story and that is something we certainly did."

Staff members at the new centre say that the Maori contribution to the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand was so impressive that it was only natural that neighboring First Nations be invited to participate in the Victoria games. As is often the case after the completion of a major international competition, the community enjoys a lingering benefit in terms of improved athletic facilities, and the Native Participation Committee was determined that the Aboriginal community would share in that benefit.

Sampson said successful involvement of Indigenous peoples in the two games persuaded the Commonwealth Games committee to change the way all future games will be organized.

"They had to change their constitution to accommodate a First Nations person on the board. At the Victoria games it was the very first time there had been an Aboriginal person on the board," he added, proudly.

The building is a two-storey, 18 m by 25 m [60 ft. by 90 ft.] structure, designed to resemble a post-contact Salish house. The main floor features training space and sports medicine facilities. Offices and meeting rooms fill the upper floor. The land was leased to the centre by the Tsartlip First Nations for 25 years at what the centre's board members call a very modest price.

The job's not quite done

There's still a bit of work for the centre's management board to do so that Aboriginal athletes can get on with the huge job of preparing themselves to compete with the best in the world.

"The building's finished," Sampson said. "The Team BC boxers are using the centre for their workouts right now. Some of the athletes involved in the canoeing events had their time trials there."

But some equipment is still not in place. Sampson said he's involved in negotiations with the federal and provincial governments and with a corporate sponsor to get the money that's needed to add the finishing touches. He's confident the negotiations will be successful.

"The government's spent $1 million to help build it; they're not going to leave it with nothing around it. And I've been negotiating with the Ben Weider Corporation to see if they will donate all the exercise equipment. They would be the first company to get involved with the first Aboriginal Sport Development Centre," he said.

The centre is committed to providing access to recreational athletes as well as elite level copetitors. Sampson said the centre will create more and more success stories and role models for Aboriginal youth.

"That's what we're looking for," he said. "Before, First Nations people had no platform to train and prepare athletes to compete at a very high level. With the new centre we're now linked. We've got an organization now."

Big plans for new centre

Gordon Hanson, the chairman of the centre's building committee has stayed on as a volunteer member of the management board and has high hopes for the future of Aboriginal athletics now that the facility is up and running.

"Aboriginal people all across the country should know about this centre because it's their centre," Hanson said. "Ideally, we want Mi'kmaq coaches, Inuit coaches, coaches from all over to use the facility. We want to develop a large number of credited, certified coaches in all sports from all regions."

"This can be a beacon for all Aboriginal sports," he added. "The centre will tie in with the Commonwealth Centre for Sports Development."

The Commonwealth centre was established near Victoria and, with a $10 million dollar fund set aside to allow it to become a national centre for the training of elite level coaches and athletes, will provide a handy supply of top level expertise to the new Aboriginal centre.