Browse "Indigenous Athletes"

Article

Alex DeCoteau

Alexander (Alex) Wuttunee DeCoteau (also Decouteau), athlete, police officer, soldier (born 19 November 1887 on the Red Pheasant First Nation, near North Battleford, SK; died 30 October 1917 near Passchendaele, Belgium). DeCoteau was a long-distance runner (see Notable Indigenous Long-Distance Runners in Canada) and became Canada’s first Indigenous police officer. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and served on the Western Front. DeCoteau was killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele.

Article

Alwyn Morris

Alwyn Morris, CM, canoeist, kayaker (born 22 November 1957 in Kahnawake, QC). Alwyn Morris won the K-1 1,000 m and K-1 500 m junior national championships in 1977. With Hugh Fisher, he won a gold medal in the K-2 1,000 m and a bronze medal in the K-2 500 m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Morris has won the Tom Longboat Award twice and was named to the Order of Canada.

Article

Angela Chalmers

Angela Frances Chalmers, world-class distance runner from Birdtail Sioux First Nation (born 6 September 1963 in Brandon, MB). Chalmers is one of the most accomplished Indigenous athletes in Canada. She won three gold medals in total at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 and 1994. An advocate for Indigenous issues, Chalmers has made efforts to connect with and inspire Indigenous youth from across Canada. Among many honours and awards, Chalmers was inducted into Athletics Canada Hall of Fame in 2019.

Article

Bryan Trottier

Bryan John Trottier, hockey player (born 17 July 1956 in Val Marie, SK). A National Hockey League (NHL) player and coach, Bryan Trottier played centre for 18 seasons with the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He then became an assistant coach with the Penguins, Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. After this, he became head coach of the New York Rangers. Throughout his career, Trottier won the Stanley Cup six times as a player as well as one time an assistant coach. Trottier has received numerous awards and recognitions for his career on and off the ice, including induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Article

Canadian Gold Medal Winners at Olympic Summer Games

Article

Darren Zack

Darren Zack (nicknamed Z-Man), pitcher in fastpitch softball (born 9 August 1960 in Garden River First Nation, ON). Compared in his skill to Babe Ruth, Zack dominated fastpitch softball in the 1990s. In addition to many other athletic accomplishments, Zack helped Team Canada win the Pan American Games fastpitch medal in 1991, 1995 and 1999. Though a fearsome competitor, Zack is known for his modest and humble demeanor off the field. He is actively involved in his Garden River First Nation community and in encouraging youth involvement in sports. (See also Baseball.)

Article

Fred Sasakamoose

Frederick (Fred) George Sasakamoose, CM, hockey player, Elder of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation (born 25 December 1933 at Whitefish Lake, now Big River First Nation, SK; died 24 November 2020 in Prince Albert, SK). Fred Sasakamoose was one of the first Indigenous hockey players from Canada in the National Hockey League (NHL). A former student of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, he played 11 games for the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1953–54 NHL season. After his retirement from competitive hockey in 1961, he dedicated himself to encouraging youth through sports involvement. A Member of the Order of Canada, he was inducted into the Saskatchewan First Nations Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame, the Prince Albert Hall of Fame and the Canadian Native Hockey Hall of Fame.

Article

Gaylord Powless

Gaylord Powless, lacrosse player (born 1 December 1946 in Six Nations of the Grand River, ON; died 28 July 2001 in Ohsweken, ON). Gaylord Powless was a Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk) box lacrosse player who transcended the game to become one of Canada’s most famous athletes. Powless lived most of his life in Six Nations of the Grand River, near Brantford, Ontario. He became the signature player on the Oshawa Green Gaels’ junior lacrosse dynasty of the 1960s and shattered the Ontario junior league scoring record in his sophomore year with the team. The Gaels won the Minto Cup, Canada’s national junior lacrosse championship, in all four years that he played at the junior level. Powless also won the 1971 Mann Cup, which is emblematic of the Canadian senior lacrosse champions, and was a marquee player in three different professional leagues. Powless and his father, Ross, are both members of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In 2017, Powless was elected to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 2024, Powless was inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.

Article

Gino Odjick

Wayne “Gino” Odjick, hockey player (born 7 September 1970 in Maniwaki, QC; died 15 January 2023 in Vancouver, BC). One of the most popular players in Vancouver Canucks franchise history, Gino Odjick inspired Indigenous youth across the country. He was a proponent of culturally relevant education for Indigenous children and youth. Odjick was a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, an Algonquin community. He was an enforcer whose willingness to engage in fights on the ice served to protect smaller, more skilled teammates. Odjick skated for four National Hockey League teams over 12 seasons. For most of those teams, he chose to wear hockey sweater no. 29, the same number as was assigned to his father at residential school.

List

Notable Indigenous Olympians in Canada

Drawing inspiration from the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, the modern Olympics began in 1896. Like the Olympics, the Paralympic Games take place every two years, alternating between summer and winter sports. Indigenous athletes from Canada have competed at these games and brought home medals. They have represented the country in various sports at the Olympics, from long-distance running to skiing to water sports and more. This article explores some of the most notable Indigenous Olympians from Canada.

Article

Jimmy Rattlesnake

Jimmy Rattlesnake, baseball player (born 1909 in Hobbema [now Maskwacis], Alberta; died 17 April 1972 in Hobbema). A crafty and durable left-handed pitcher, Jimmy Rattlesnake was one of Canada’s first Indigenous baseball stars. He dominated prize money tournaments in Alberta and Saskatchewan in the 1930s and 1940s. Some reports indicate that he also briefly pitched professionally in the United States. Often compared to African American pitcher Satchel Paige, Rattlesnake was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Article

Jordin Tootoo

Jordin John Kudluk (Thunder) Tootoo, hockey player (born 2 February, 1983 in Churchill, MB). Jordin Tootoo is the first Inuk hockey player to play in the National Hockey League (NHL). Jordin got the attention of the NHL as a tough, talented right-winger in his junior hockey days in Manitoba. In 2003, he received national attention when he played for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship. After playing 13 seasons in the NHL, he retired in 2018. He is known for speaking to youth and maintaining his Inuit culture.

Article

Mary Spencer

Mary Spencer, boxer, model, humanitarian (born 12 December 1984 in Wiarton, ON). Mary Spencer is one of Canada's premier boxing champions, holding eight national titles, five Pan-American titles, and three world titles. An Ojibwe of the Cape Croker First Nation, Spencer is involved in Motivate Canada’s GEN7 Aboriginal role model initiative, and in 2013 became a mentor with the CIBC Team Next program.

Article

Reggie Leach

Reginald Joseph Leach, hockey player (born 23 April 1950 in Winnipeg, MB). Known as the “Riverton Rifle,” Ojibwe winger Reggie Leach is considered one of the premier goal scorers of the 1970s and one of the best Indigenous players in National Hockey League (NHL) history. As a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, Leach won the Stanley Cup in 1975. In 1976, he won the league goal-scoring title with 61 goals, adding another 19 in the post-season en route to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Leach is the only non-goaltender to earn that distinction as a member of the Stanley Cup-losing team. Leach played 934 regular season NHL games, scoring 381 goals and 285 assists. He shares all-time league records for most goals scored in a single playoff game (5) and most goals scored in a single post-season (19). He is a member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame and the Order of Manitoba.

Article

Shirley and Sharon Firth

Shirley Firth, CM, cross-country skier (born 31 December 1953 in Aklavik, NWT; died 30 April 2013 in Yellowknife, NWT) and Sharon Anne Firth, CM, ONWT, cross-country skier (born 31 December 1953 in Aklavik, NWT). Twin sisters Shirley and Sharon Firth, members of the Gwich’in First Nation, were among the first Indigenous athletes to represent Canada at the Olympics. They were members of the first Canadian women’s Olympic cross-country skiteam and competed at four Olympic Winter Games. They were members of the national cross-country ski team for an unprecedented 17 consecutive years. Between them, they won 79 medals at the national championships, including 48 national titles. The first Indigenous women inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, they are Members of the Order of Canada and have been inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.