Denver games set to propel vision of world indigenous competition

By Jodi Rave
The Missoulian

DENVER - Willie Littlechild arrived in the Mile High City on Saturday from Switzerland, where he shared his global vision of sports for indigenous people around the world.

Littlechild, a co-founder of the North American Indigenous Games, is at the forefront of creating the foundation for a World Indigenous Nations Games, which would use sports to bring attention to the issues of 300 million indigenous people from all corners of the planet.

His vision: “It's a celebration of life through sport and culture for indigenous peoples, tribes and nations.”

Other sports enthusiasts joined Littlechild on Saturday on Denver's Auraria Campus for an educational symposium, as some 7,000 indigenous athletes gathered in Denver to participate in the North American Indigenous Games opening ceremonies on Sunday.

Littlechild - an honorary chief of the Ermineskin Cree Nation and former member of the Canadian Parliament - and others at the symposium continually spoke of the “movement” many of them feel swept up in.

“You remind us of the importance of the North American Indigenous Games to the well-being and quality of life of indigenous people and how these games contribute to the pride in our culture,” Bruce Miller, a student adviser at the University of Manitoba, told the chief.

Presenters at the symposium repeatedly spoke of using sports to strengthen the pride and spirituality of tribal youths.

For only the second time since its 1990 inception, the indigenous games are being played in the United States. Athletes will compete in 16 sporting events, with 13- to 18-year-olds making up the core of competitors.

The youths are arriving as teams from nearly every state in the country and all Canadian provinces for the games, which run through Friday.

Montana's team includes 14 athletes from across the state.

“We must cleanse the spirit and soul of native youth,” said Mike Bruised Head, a research associate at the Kainai High School on Canada's Blood Reserve. “We must teach the young people to respect their minds. We must teach history as we coach the youth in the event we call sports.”

For nearly three decades, Littlechild, also an attorney, has been at the forefront of an international effort to ensure the rights of indigenous people are recognized by the United Nations.

In a monumental 30-2 vote on June 29, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a long-awaited declaration to protect the rights of Native peoples around the world. The declaration included 44 articles, including an assertion that indigenous peoples have “the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.

Littlechild, who helped draft the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, also included among the rights the recognition of “sports and traditional games.”

Canada and Russia were the only two countries to vote against the measure. The United States was not a member of the 47-nation Human Rights Council.

Wearing a headdress, Littlechild said he was the first on his feet to applaud passage of the declaration. The rest of the assembly jumped to their feet also and applauded, he said.

Now, he and a cadre of sports advocates are working together to bring life to a shared vision for a World Indigenous Nations Games.

“How will we create a national sports structure for ourselves?” asked Cara Curie-Hall, vice president of WIN Sport International. Indigenous athletes and their coaches are also looking for official representation in world sporting events. She quoted a colleague who said, “We're only invited to sing and dance in opening ceremonies. We don't want to sing and dance anymore.”

Many expect the games in Denver to propel their vision forward. “What happens here will impact future activities,” said Curie-Hall, who is one the country's leading voices for Native women in sports.

Keynote speaker Billy Mills, an Oglala Lakota and 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the 10,000 meters - the only American to ever win the event - embraces the indigenous games as a way to build the hearts and minds of youth. At the same time, they can allow a world exchange of ideas on what's important to indigenous people.

Running helped Mills overcome hardships in his life, including being an orphan on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation.

“It kept him alive,” said Gene Keluche, chairman of the Native American Sports Council. “He shouldn't be here.”