Basketball jamboree to bring Cree and Inuit together

Nunavik basketball organization Grind Now Shine Later is bringing Inuit and Cree communities together for its third annual women’s basketball jamboree.

The event was initially planned for September, but has been pushed back to give participants more time to sign up. It is now set to take place in Kuujjuaraapik from Oct. 16 to 19.

Grind Now Shine Later partnered with Eeyou Istchee Sports & Recreation Association, an organization that promotes physical fitness and health among young people in the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee.

“We got a chance to build up one basketball community between Cree and Inuit territories,” Russ Johnson, director of Grind Now Shine Later, said in an interview.

The event is an opportunity for community building, he said.

“Bringing a large group of people together from all over Nunavik is a healthy thing for the kids who don’t always get to spend a lot of time outside of the villages and who don’t always get to meet as many people,” he said.

Johnson said his organization spoke with three representatives from the Eeyou Istchee association three weeks ago and they began working together toward a common goal.

The jamboree comes as the region celebrates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, Johnson said. This first modern Indigenous land claims agreement was signed on Nov. 11, 1975, bringing together Cree and Inuit to assert their rights in the face of a hydroelectric project being constructed near James Bay.

Another significant moment the jamboree seeks to honour this year is the Voyage of the Odeyak. April 22 marked the 35th anniversary of the voyage where, in 1990, Cree and Inuit from northern Quebec paddled from James Bay to New York City over five weeks to protest the damming of the Great Whale River.

Up to 10 young women from age 13 to 25 from every Nunavik village can sign up for the jamboree. Housing, food and airline tickets are provided.

Eeyou Istchee Sports & Recreation Association is doing outreach in the nine Cree communities but registration is limited to young women aged 13 to 18 due to funding, Johnson said.

The jamboree will also focus on building coaching and refereeing skills.

“We’re building up the near future of coaching, staff and referees within the region without so much help from the south,” Johnson said.

“Right now, part of our budget goes toward bringing in coaches and referees. We’d like to try to limit that in the future.”

Grind Now Shine Later, with funding from Makivvik Corp., will run the event and Eeyou Istchee Sports & Recreation Association is responsible for sending a delegation of up to 45 people on a charter plane, Johnson said.