OCNews

Okanagan College Indigenous Services and the ‘Sticks Up’ fundraising committee would like to encourage people to participate in Indigenous Jersey Day on May 28. On that day, they call upon people to wear their favourite Indigenous athlete’s jersey, wear any jersey in spirit of your favourite Indigenous player, and/or post a photo on social media of their favourite Indigenous athlete, adding the hashtag #IndigenousJerseyDay.

Okanagan College’s Manager of Indigenous Services, Anthony Isaac, says, “One of the things I've always loved about sports is that folks from various backgrounds can come together as a team and fight for a common cause. Similarly, the origin of our 'Sticks Up' fundraiser came together with the vision and value of unity and promoting a sense of belonging.  To know we work in a place that embraces inclusivity is great; however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I or anyone is free from facing racism. When you are on the ice you know who has your back by the colour of their jersey. In our day-to-day lives, it's not that easy, and so we ask everyone within our sports community who are on our team of equity, diversity, and inclusion to don your jersey on the 28th, and stand with us on this important social justice issue.”

Indigenous Jersey Day was started last year by UBC Okanagan Educational Facilitator Naim Cardinal in support of then-Edmonton Oilers defenceman Ethan Bear, in response to lateral violence against him online following the team’s defeat in the playoffs. Bear, who is from Ochapowace First Nation in Saskatchewan, received support across Canada and North America thanks to the campaign, and continues his NHL career with the Carolina Hurricanes.

“There was such a massive feeling of being uplifted by all of the participation and smiles on the face of so many last May 28th. I’m extremely grateful for all of the support seen through the photos and videos that were shared last year,” says Naim on his Instagram page. Follow him and his impressive card collection of Indigenous NHL’ers at @indigenousrookiecards.

If you would like to make a donation to the OC ‘Sticks Up’ for Indigenous Students Award, please click here or call (250) 762-5445 Ext 4772. All donations over $20 will receive a charitable donation receipt.

Learn more about the incident that started the campaign here.