The Challenge

Storm Selects Lacrosse formed in 2017 with a goal to work with a team of Indigenous female athletes to grow the game of lacrosse in British Columbia and to develop future leaders and role models. After the completion of the North American Indigenous Games in Six Nations in July 2017,  managers, trainers, parents and families realized lacrosse is a great way for young people to connect to Indigenous culture, history and traditions. Lacrosse has deep significance for First Nations communities in North America, who have played a version of the game for more than 500 years. But today, many young girls have lost that connection.  It was felt more needed to be  done to increase the participation of Indigenous girls, who made up less than eight per cent of participants in box lacrosse in BC.   “Especially after the North American Indigenous Games, we realized, we didn’t have a lot of females to draw upon when it came to the sport,” says Cherlyn Billy who served as Team Manager for the BC Aboriginal Team under 19 at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games. 

The WISE Fund Solution 

The team members approached Billy after the North American Indigenous Games to see if there was a way to remain connected, to showcase what they are doing and to encourage other Indigenous girls to get involved in lacrosse.  Billy became the organizer of Storm Selects.

“When we applied to the WISE fund, it was to get the marketing tools to start showcasing and sharing and developing a website.  Basically, the WISE fund helped us implement and get started on that communication piece that didn’t exist before,” Billy says.

https://www.stormselects.com/

The Results 

“We actually sat them down with the athletes and asked them what they wanted to see and what they wanted to have included,” Billy says.  She adds, “They wanted pictures especially showcasing who is playing and highlighting different camps because if you don’t see it, you don’t know it exists.  That’s what they felt was really missing was we didn’t have anything identifying female Indigenous athletes in this sport.”

They found there are many girls who want to play throughout BC.   At one recent camp they held, 15 of the 20 participants were Indigenous girls.

“The last camp we held we had so much support from the local lacrosse associations who do want to see more girls and Indigenous girls playing so we’re kind of opening those doors to not just Indigenous athletes now.  It’s just trying to open it up to girls in general.”  

In the Interior of BC, Billy says there aren’t enough players to have all-girls lacrosse teams so many of them play on mixed teams.  Some of them are the only girls on their teams.

“We’ve seen how when you bring like-minded people together especially in this case, we’re talking Indigenous girls or even girls, it helps them build that confidence that they need when they are around their peers,” Billy says.  She adds, “We had one girl who came who could barely look at people.  She was so shy.   And then after participating with us, she’s now actively involved in everything – has confidence and I think that’s what a large part of what we’ve seen as success.”

Billy says the initiative has had another positive result she wasn’t expecting.  “The one thing that stands out to me is how many girls are actually saying they are Indigenous now.  These are some of the same athletes that you see playing but now they’re proudly saying they’re Indigenous.  So, we found more athletes who’ve actually been playing but now they’re identifying because they’re seeing yeah, it’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s something they can share and showcase.  And that’s the big part for me, the cultural aspect and the pride.”

The Lessons 

Billy says organizations don’t need to try to do everything on their own. In her case, she found there were passionate people looking to bring about change.  She simply helped empower them.

“They (the athletes) are the ones that started it – I was just in the background trying to help them move it forward,” Billy says.  

She adds, “The athletes were so excited to finally see the sport highlighted for them because when you don’t have the (large) numbers it’s really hard to get people interested.  I think that’s the great thing about the WISE fund is that it provides a real opportunity for those sports (under the radar).”

The Stories 

Callison Foreman

• Captain of the BC Aboriginal Team at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games
• Member of the Storm Selects
• Rediscovering her roots through lacrosse

When Cherlyn Billy was looking for athletes from the Storm Selects to help promote the sport to young Indigenous girls and to start the website, she had to look no further than Callison Foreman.

Foreman, the team captain for the BC Aboriginal Team at the North American Indigenous Games, helped rally the players to stay involved.

“NAIG (the North American Indigenous Games) is the only opportunity for all of the female Indigenous players to get together.  There’s not really another experience like that anywhere in BC or in Canada,” Foreman says.

Foreman says the team was so close that everyone was looking for ways to remain connected and to showcase how much fun they had together.

“It’s kind of a family.   It helped me see more of what’s possible within the Indigenous community which I wasn’t super involved with before.   So, I think for me it was just important that everyone could see there’s people that are there for you and there’s opportunities that you could have.”

Foreman grew up knowing little about her own Indigenous roots.  Her involvement in lacrosse and with Cherlyn Billy has changed that.

“I just think what Cherlyn has done is she’s built a community around lacrosse and she really brought me into that community,” Foreman says.  She adds, “She’s really built a safe and secure space for me and so many other girls.  I think that’s why it’s so important that everyone knows about it.”

After NAIG, Foreman was selected to play for the Haudenosaunee Nationals at the World U19 Women’s Lacrosse Championships in 2019.  She says that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t gone to the North American Indigenous Games and learned about the importance of lacrosse and its place in First Nations culture.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing something more than just playing lacrosse especially when I play with my community team.  I feel like I’m bringing light to the Indigenous culture in a way,” Foreman says.

Foreman has travelled the country as a result of the sport and was recently offered a lacrosse scholarship at Embry Riddle University in Florida.  She’s planning to go in August to begin her studies in aerospace physiology.

Foreman is a member of BC’s senior women’s lacrosse team and in 2019 was a provincial recipient of the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Sport for field and box lacrosse and rugby.  In the future she is hoping to represent Team Canada in lacrosse.

“It (lacrosse) has pretty much taken me everywhere that I wanted to go, and I think it can still take me to farther places,” Foreman says.

She adds her life has changed thanks to her involvement with the Storm Selects.

“I learned a lot about the Indigenous community which to me has been the biggest thing.  Like now, I’m very proud to be able to say that I’m Indigenous.”

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The Need:

While progress has been made towards greater 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in sport, there is still much work to be done.  According to the Out on the Fields study, 81% of Canadian participants witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport.  Everybody in sport has a role to help make sport safe and inclusive for those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.

The Solution:

This workshop provides sport leaders, including coaches, athletes and officials, with the opportunity to understand what LGBTQphobia is and how it can hurt their organization.

Designed to allow for an open and honest conversation about LGBTQphobia and how sport leaders can play a role in making sport more accepting of sexual and gender diversity, participants will build an understanding of:

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and two spirit (2SLGBTQ+) language;
• How to deal with sensitive issues such as same-sex relationships amongst teammates; and,
• How to review policies and practices to ensure they are equitable.

The Impact:

“I’ve learned how to create a Brave Space and how to acknowledge and navigate blind spots in my own LGBTQI2S inclusion knowledge to help support athletes and participants so that our programming can be more inclusive of people’s lived experience.”

Program Participant

In a recent survey of program participants, 100% of respondents said the information and skills they gained through this workshop were valuable to their work and they would share lessons learned with their network.

Leading the Way: 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion in Sport workshops and presentations are delivered by the Canadian Women & Sport Program Lead for 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion in Sport, Christine Hsu. Known for their subject-matter expertise in 2SLGBTQ+ sport inclusion, Christine will tailor the session to meet each organization’s needs.

The post Leading the Way: 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion in Sport appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

Canadian Women & Sport has advocated passionately for an equitable and inclusive sport system that empowers women and girls for the past forty years. We believe that inclusion for women and girls must include inclusion of trans women and girls. This position is rooted in Canada’s human rights legislation and in our core value of inclusion. It is also significantly informed by our ongoing reviews of the research and dialogue with stakeholders. We have articulated this view in our position statement on trans inclusion, which you can find on this page, and more recently in our statement on the World Rugby ruling, which you can find here. 

There is still much to be learned about how to create truly inclusive environments where people of all genders can all achieve their fullest potential through sport. We will continue to be informed by research and to engage in respectful dialogue that recognizes the human rights of trans people within sport and seeks to advance solutions for inclusion.  We look forward to engaging with the sport system further on this topic in 2021 in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

The post Position Statement: Trans Inclusion in Sport appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

In keeping with its mandate to increase the participation of women and girls in sport and physical activity, Canadian Women & Sport has prepared a position paper on homophobia in sport. Homophobia — or the fear and hatred of people who are homosexual— is often an obstacle to participation in sport among all groups: women and men, young and old, of any sexual orientation. In particular, many girls and women shy away from sport out of fear they will be perceived as lesbians. Canadian Women & Sport feels that addressing the issue of homophobia in sport is very timely given Canada’s inclusive stance on minority rights as well as the Canadian sport system’s overall strategy of making the sport environment, and the sport experience, safe and welcoming.

The post Seeing the Invisible, Speaking About the Unspoken: A Position Paper on Homophobia in Sport appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

Within sport, COVID-19 has resulted in huge revenue losses and deep cuts to programming. Every individual involved in sport, from leaders to athletes to coaches, at all levels of sport, felt these changes. But, the impact of those changes were likely not be experienced equally by all. Reviewing sport participation statistics from before COVID-19, fewer girls participated in sport compared to boys and girls experienced unique barriers to sport.

The Pandemic Impact on Girls in Sport report, which collected data from over 5,000 Canadian families, shows that 1 in 4 girls are not committed to returning to sport. If we don’t act now to counter this trend, we might realize a new normal of over 350,000 girls sitting on the sidelines in the post-COVID-19 world.

The success of sport in Canada will depend on girls’ engagements and contributions; so now is the time to rethink how we can rebuild sport with and for them. As sport poises to return, there is an opportunity to change the minds of girls to commit to return. We must pay attention to what girls want. We must design with their needs at the centre. The time for action is now.

This report was produced in partnership with E-Alliance and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, and thanks to funding from the Government of Canada.

Read the report to learn more.

Related Resources:

• Learn how to create safe and respectful environments for girls to participate in sport and physical activity with the Keeping Girls in Sport e-module, for coaches and activity leaders.
• She Belongs offers practical recommendations to create social connection and better engage girls in the Learn to Train and Train to Train stages of the Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity Framework (LTD). 
• Actively Engaging Women and Girls: Addressing the Psycho-Social Factors is a supplement to the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) foundation documents. The purpose of this resource is to increase awareness about the experiences of women and girls and provide recommendations to address the psycho-social factors that influence their athletic development, leadership and life-long participation in sport and physical activity.
• Jumpstart State of Sport Report

The post The Pandemic Impact on Girls in Sport appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

The Rally Report, produced in partnership with Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and with research completed by IMI International, explores current Canadian trends in sport participation with a specific focus on the target groups of girls ages 6–18. 

Overall, The Rally Report shows that sport participation levels for Canadian girls are much lower than boys.  Among girls who have participated in sport, there is a dramatic dropout rate observed with 1 in 3 girls leaving sport by late adolescence. By comparison, the dropout rate for teenage boys (aged 16-18) is only 1 in 10. Sport participation rates for Canadian girls decline steadily from childhood to adolescence with as many as 62% of girls not playing sport at all.

This study is designed to inform, educate, and inspire action across Canada and to keep girls in sport. We invite you to rally with us—to drive change and build the momentum we need to achieve gender equity. Let’s use our collective voices to advocate for sport that is inclusive and reflects our values. 

It’s Rally Time!

The power of sport to empower girls is undeniable. It helps them push boundaries, build connections, and develop confidence. Sport is an important launching pad as we build the next generation of women leaders.

Watch some of Canada’s top sport figures to discuss why we need more Canadian girls In the Game.

Hosted in partnership with Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and Homestand Sports.

Related Resources:

• Learn how to create safe and respectful environments for girls to participate in sport and physical activity with the Keeping Girls in Sport e-module, for coaches and activity leaders.
• She Belongs offers practical recommendations to create social connection and better engage girls in the Learn to Train and Train to Train stages of the Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity Framework (LTD). 
• Canadian Women & Sport releases a yearly “Snapshot” of gender diversity in sport leadership, reflecting gender composition at the board and senior staff level. This Snapshot is based on a survey of Canadian National Sport Organizations (NSOs) and Multisport Service Organizations (MSOs).
• Canadian Women & Sport partnered with Canada’s dairy farmers for the Fuelling Women Champions initiative and published Women in Sport – Fuelling a Lifetime of Participation, the precursor to this report, in March 2016.

The post The Rally Report: Encouraging Action to Improve Sport for Women and Girls appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

While more research is needed on the experience of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) in sport, we know that they experience sport in unique ways. If we don’t acknowledge this, we risk building more barriers to equity.

Webinar

The post The Sporting Experiences of BIPOC Women & Girls in Canada appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

BIPOC women and girls experience sport in unique ways.

Canadian Women & Sport has partnered with E-Alliance to seek existing evidence to understand the lived experiences of Canadian women and girls from Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities’ barriers to sport participation.

We know that COVID-19 had a major impact on sport participation to the entire Canadian sport system. However, the experiences faced by the BIPOC community in sport are unique. If we don’t acknowledge those barriers, then we risk leaving BIPOC women and girls behind when sport returns.

Attendees will learn of the findings of this project from lead researchers:

• Janelle Joseph, Assistant Professor, Critical Studies of Race & Indigeneity at the University of Toronto
• Lynn Lavallée, Strategic Lead, Indigenous Resurgence, Faculty of Community Services and Professor, School of Social Work at Ryerson University
• Brittnee Habbib,former Canadian National Gymnast, Co-Founder of Girl Power’d​
• Elisha King, Executive Director of Iakwa’shatste Youth Fitness

We would like to thank Sport Canada for funding this project.

The post The Sporting Experiences of BIPOC Women & Girls in Canada appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

Join Canadian Women & Sport and She’s4Sports for a conversation about how movements for equity in sport are changing what visionary leadership looks like.

Our panel of experts will share their thoughts and expertise on:

• Representation of BIPOC people in sport at the executive level;
• The importance of mentorship and building a pipeline of BIPOC leaders in sport;
• Diversity policies and how they can support recruitment activities;
• How sport organizations can build inclusive environments.

Our panelists are:

• Kim Davis, Executive VP, Social Impact, Growth Initiatives, & Legislative Affairs, NHL
• Shireen Ahmed, Writer, Sports Activist
• Renee Hess, Founder, Black Girl Hockey Club

This will be a Zoom webinar and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions using the chat box. Participants will not be expected to be on video. Please ensure you are logged into the Eventbrite account you used to register in order to access the webinar.

About The Series

Canadian Women & Sport and She’s4Sports are collaborating again on a new series, We Are Sport: Conversations with leaders from the BIPOC sport community. The initiative from Ainka Jess, founder of She’s4Sports, will address race, inclusion, LGBTQI2S+ advocacy, leadership, and mental health, highlighting the perspectives of sport leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of colour.

The We Are Sport series features interviews and panel discussions hosted on Wednesdays (July to September) on Instagram Live and Zoom. Learn more about the series here.

We are grateful for the support of Sport Canada in funding this project.

About She’s4Sports

She’s4Sports is a Toronto-based organization that mobilizes women through digital platforms and events to have a larger voice in sports. The network represents a community of over 4,500 passionate women and men who celebrate the contributions of women in sports and address issues including gender diversity, equity and inclusion in sport.

The post We Are Sport: Diversity & Leadership appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

Join Canadian Women & Sport and She’s4Sports for a conversation with athletes and leaders from the LGBTQI2S sports community on what inclusion and allyship in sport should look like to ensure that there is a place for everyone to participate.

Our panel of experts will offer their advice on what actions actions the sports industry can take to ensure that it becomes more inclusive for the LGBTQI2S sport community.

Panelists to be announced soon!

This will be a Zoom webinar and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions using the chat box. Participants will not be expected to be on video. Please ensure you are logged into the Eventbrite account you used to register in order to access the webinar.

About The Series

Canadian Women & Sport and She’s4Sports are collaborating again on a new series, We Are Sport: Conversations with leaders from the BIPOC sport community. The initiative from Ainka Jess, founder of She’s4Sports, will address race, inclusion, LGBTQI2S+ advocacy, leadership, and mental health, highlighting the perspectives of sport leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of colour.

The We Are Sport series features interviews and panel discussions hosted on Wednesdays (July to September) on Instagram Live and Zoom. Learn more about the series here.

We are grateful for the support of Sport Canada in funding this project.

About She’s4Sports

She’s4Sports is a Toronto-based organization that mobilizes women through digital platforms and events to have a larger voice in sports. The network represents a community of over 4,500 passionate women and men who celebrate the contributions of women in sports and address issues including gender diversity, equity and inclusion in sport.

The post We Are Sport: LGBTQI2S Inclusion appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.