Sask. Huskie student athletes on truth and reconciliation

Huskies hockey player Roddy Ross and volleyball player Rosetta Cyr. (John Flatters/CTV News)

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is next week, and the University of Saskatchewan says it’s recognizing five of the TRC’s calls to action by advancing Indigenous representation in sports.

While Sept. 30 is a day for the country to pause and reflect on truth and reconciliation, seemingly small initiatives on campus are having a meaningful, year-round effect for Huskie student athletes.

“You’re starting to see a lot more schools really buy into the day,” said Roddy Ross, fourth-year goaltender for the men’s hockey team and former 6th round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers.

“All these schools and all these businesses doing their part and making sure they’re showing support. It means a lot, coming from where I come from. When you have stuff like that going on, it’s pretty huge and it just makes you proud of who you are.”

In 2022, Huskie Athletics teamed up with a group of Indigenous student athletes and alumni to advance reconciliation. It also created opportunities for increased exposure of elite Indigenous athletes and community outreach programs.

“Our team specifically is going to Thunderchild First Nation tomorrow, so we are going to play on their home reserve,” said Rosetta Cyr, a third-year outside hitter on the women’s volleyball team.

She says the opportunity to be a role model to young kids is what Indigenous representation is all about.

“You don’t see a lot of Indigenous volleyball players, right?” she said. “I do everything for my community, for other communities, for the youth. That is one of the biggest things that I focus on and just represent myself the way that I can.”

A new Indigenous-inspired Huskies logo was created in 2023 by Chris Chipak, and land acknowledgements as well as the Treaty Six song are now played before each home game.

Cyr and Ross say it has a huge effect on them, showing that community, representation, and reconciliation matter to the Huskies.

“That has been very empowering to me,” said Cyr. “When we’re listening to it and watching the screen and listening to everybody in the stands, it feels like everyone is coming together as one. Because we’re a whole Huskie family, our own fans included, everyone is all together, and I think that is just a very great change.”

Ross says it gives him an extra edge before the start of the game to know his culture is intertwined with his team.

“It just makes you happy and makes you proud,” Ross told CTV News. “And it gives you that warrior mentality that you’re going to do anything you can to win this game, or just play as hard as you can.”

As student athletes, there’s pressure to perform in the classroom, on the court, or on the ice.

But Cyr and Ross say that pressure reminds them of their values, where they come from, and where they want to go.

“I feel pressure, but it’s good pressure,” said Ross. “It’s pressure that, I’m in this place, I have the opportunity to use my platform in a good way. I know I’ve got some people looking up to me, and I’ve got a full community, whether it's Meadow Lake or Canoe Lake [Cree First Nation] looking up to me.”

Cyr says any stress or pressure seems to melt away when she returns home for a visit.

“Everyone is like, how is your season?” said Cyr, who comes from George Gordon First Nation about 230 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon. “I see a lot of younger kids looking up and it’s like you’re a superstar back home. But I don’t think I feel as much of the pressure as it may seem.”

For Ross, chasing his hockey dream meant needing to move around a lot. With stops in Lloydminster, Onion Lake, Tisdale, Camrose, Seattle, and Regina, playing close to home on the Huskies means as much to his family as it does to him.

“Them having a three-hour drive makes a difference,” he said. “It means a lot and it gets me excited that they get to watch me before I go wherever I go in the next year or two.”

While he says there have been some bumps along the way in terms of racism, Ross sees a shift in the right direction.

“Everyone's trying to grow up in their own way and they're just trying to understand, I guess, the impact of what they're saying or what they're doing to people,” he said. “It’s great to see that it's all improving. But I think in the end, everyone’s learning.”

For Cyr, chasing her volleyball dream meant losing touch with some of her childhood friends as her game developed.

“I kind of picked and chose where it was going to take me, because I couldn’t let that hold me back.”

But it also meant reconnecting with teammates when she joined the Huskies.

“I was a little shy at first, but coming to the Huskies has made me find my family,” said Cyr, who recently recovered from a shoulder injury. “A lot of my friends that I played with club play Huskies, so we just developed a friendship and grew.”

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is Sept. 30.