The First Nation Elites Bantam AAA hockey team played in the spring Challenge Cup in Quebec City from May 25-27, a tournament they say turned ugly almost right away.

Over the course of three days, the Elites say opposing players, coaches and fans taunted them with mock war cries, tomahawk chops and racist slurs, on and off the ice.

“It was awful. It hurt me inside. When it was happening, it felt like I didn’t belong there, especially when they were doing the war cries and calling us dirty Indians,” said Elites defenceman Carson Shawana.

The Elites are a touring team composed of First Nations youths, ages 13 to 15, from northern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Manager and coach Tommy Neeposh said the team has had negative experiences at tournaments before, but what his players and coaches faced at the Challenge Cup was unexpected.

“The parents, the players, the coaches, even the refs were against us every game. There’s been racism in my normal hockey league, but this was like another level. It was like two extra,” said Elites defenceman Julien Marshall.

Emotions ran high on the ice and the Elites were tagged with a lopsided number of penalties by referees, who declined to address or stop the barrage of racism after the bilingual Marshall asked, in French, for action to be taken during the Elites’ first game of the tournament.

Quebec Bulldogs co-owner Jonathan Lachance, one of the tournament organizers, said referees are authorized to eject players who are acting in a racist manner, based on Hockey Quebec policy.

No such action was taken by on-ice officials, but after the game, Lachance met with the opposing coach and Neeposh. The coach reportedly apologized on behalf of one player who admitted his actions, but Neeposh said the rest of the team didn’t own their behaviour.

Despite the apology, Neeposh said racist taunts continued through the weekend. He requested an apology and a refund of the Elites’ tournament entry fees from organizer Richard Sevigny via email, but reportedly was denied.

Lachance says teams and their entourages who attend the Challenge Cup are expected to not engage in racist behaviour. The tournament standard is based on Hockey Quebec’s zero-tolerance policy regarding racism, but Lachance admits that in future years those expectations will have to be communicated and enforced more stringently. For example, games could be halted and offending fans and parents will be asked to leave the rink.

Although the Elites showed frustration throughout the weekend, Neeposh said his players didn’t reciprocate the slurs and taunts.

“That’s one thing I keep telling my team: ‘If you’re racist you’re off the team because we don’t want to be at that level,’” said Neeposh, “They accomplished something more mature than certain adults that did the racial slurs on us. These boys just stepped on another level of maturity to get through that and not overreacting and going crazy or throwing anything to injure anybody. They took it like adults and handled themselves like men.”

The incident was widely shared on social media and caught the attention of Winnipeg Jets assistant coach Todd Woodcroft, who reached out to Neeposh on June 4.

“I read the article, and I was upset by it and just talking with a couple guys I know, I said, ‘What can we do to maybe lend back a little bit and just show that this is a great game?’” said Woodcroft.

Less than a week later Woodcroft travelled to the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre in Ottawa with Murray Cobb, director of the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy, and Fred Perowne, a Montreal resident who used to coach the Midget AA Cree Nation Bears.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the three men shared three hours of their time with the Elites players and coaches, conducting a NHL-inspired video session followed by a two-hour practice.

Jets assistant coach Todd Woodcroft travelled to Ottawa with Murray Cobb, director of the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy, and Fred Perowne, who used to coach the Midget AA Cree Nation Bears and conducted an NHL-inspired video session followed by a two-hour practice (Photo credit: Tommy Neeposh).

The emphasis was not just learning hockey principles, but embracing the love of the game as a way to lift the spirits of the youth who had endured the ugly incident two weeks prior.

“I think it was important for these young men to realize that when you walk out into an ice arena, this is a positive place. It should be a positive place,” said Woodcroft.

Mission accomplished, based on the players’ engagement and Neeposh’s observations.

“For the boys to actually experience it, especially an NHL-style practice, everybody was jumping in and you could see the kids, all smiles, and they were all happy,” said Neeposh. “I’m really touched what Todd did. It’s amazing because this is gonna’ go far. This is something these kids can keep in them forever as they grow up playing hockey.”

Cobb said he’s familiar with how racism affects kids and youth through his work with the Jets Hockey Academy. His desire to accompany Woodcroft came from an empathetic place.

“You wish [racism] didn’t exist but we’re not blind to the fact that it does exist,” Cobb said. “It exists more than people realize, so just to have an opportunity to try to make a little bit of a positive out of a real negative situation. I just wanted to jump on board and support [Woodcroft] and his idea and hopefully today we did a little bit of building the bridge.”

Trying to find a positive after the Quebec City incident, Neeposh and associates through the Cree Nation are initiating a movement on social media called #ItsNotOK. Its purpose is to raise awareness and change attitudes toward racism that Indigenous youth face not only in hockey rinks, but in everyday life.

“This is something that we need to do and to put a message out there for the future generation First Nation kids, because it does matter. It does affect any child that wants to quit on hockey, and not just hockey, but life,” said Neeposh.

Although Woodcroft just learned about the #ItsNotOK project from Neeposh, he believes it can gain traction beyond a grassroots level.

“The hockey world is such a small community, even globally, that I think there’s enough people that have warmth and enough people that care about the next people coming up, that we can help out and listen and try to give them a voice and try to say it’s not okay to treat anybody like this in any capacity,” said Woodcroft.