Hockey gear arrives in time for spring season

ODILE NELSON

Many young Nunavimmiut hockey players will hit the ice this spring decked out in new jerseys, skates and helmets — thanks to a fresh development in the almost four-year-old exchange program between Nunavik and Montreal Inuit.

Every year since 1999, Nunavik communities have sent country food to the Montreal Inuit Association for use in the organization’s monthly community feasts. In return, the association has sent sealift containers to Nunavik, filled with used furniture, appliances, toys and clothes donated by Montrealers.

But last October Victor Mesher, president of the Montreal Inuit Association, met Elizabeth Cundill, the founder of Game On, a small Montreal-based charity that has been collecting used hockey equipment for Northern communities since 1999.

In an interview last week, Mesher said he and Cundill immediately hit it off and decided to combine their mutual goals. So this year, for the first time, the Montreal Inuit Association will be sending sports equipment North in exchange for southern-bound muktuk, ptarmigan, caribou and seal.

“So I told her, ‘Let’s join forces and make it a real effort instead of doing it on a small scale. We have this new building that Makivik has contributed to our association. We can store all this hockey equipment there and still have room for much more.’ We basically kicked it up a notch,” Mesher said.

Five MIA volunteers joined three from Game On and began canvassing local arenas and sports stores to persuade them to donate equipment. Three major Montreal stores, Frasers Sports, Play It Again Sports and The Hockey Company, contributed helmets and skates.

Three weeks ago, the first batch of 74 equipment packages arrived in Nunavik, Mesher said.

Each package contains an assortment of chest protectors, jerseys, jock straps, pads, pucks, sticks, skates, socks and helmets. They have now been distributed between Nunavik’s 14 communities.

Korn Pinguapik, recreation coordinator for Kangirsuk’s municipal council, said his village received its share of the equipment about a week ago, just in time for the Ungava Bay Hockey Tournament, which begins Feb. 21.

But it didn’t take long for word to get around the community that free hockey equipment was available at Kangirsuk’s municipal office, Pinguapik said.

“Kids came running to my office, running and smiling and I just watched them as they got their equipment,” Pinguapik said.

Johnny Akpahatak, the mayor of Aupaluk, said the equipment complements his village’s efforts to improve its sport activities for youth.

“The equipment arrived right on time because recreation in our community is being updated and improved so the equipment arriving at this time is handy,” Akpahatak said. “As recreation improves, so should the hockey season.”