Page 53 - Chippewas of Rama First Nation

Recreation

First Nations’ philosophy advises that exercising the mind, body,
and spirit should be part of every day for health and well-being.
Historically, people have spent a great deal of time outdoors in
nature. This helped them to enjoy and appreciate the beauty in
the Creator’s gifts. It taught them about the plants and animals
and encouraged them to protect these gifts.

Our Recreation Department works hard to get everyone in the
community involved and reintroduce our favourite activities
from the past. We run a summer camp that is very popular with
families in Rama. The camp includes time in canoes teaching
our youth about the travel roots of our ancestors and the rich
history of fish weirs.

Our recent programs include:
• Little Native Hockey League Tournament (LNHL)

• Annual Community and Department Volleyball and Baseball
• Youth Baseball and Lacrosse Clinics

First Nations developed the game of lacrosse. Today, this sport is
played throughout Canada. In our community, lacrosse is gaining
more players, and one of our members is self-taught in the art
of stick-making.

Our regular youth programming has seen great improvement
by taking it back to our First Nation roots and making outdoor-
based learning more of a focus. Our clubs include Tiny Tykes
(JK–Grade 1), Girls Club (Grades 2–4), Boys Club (Grades 2–4),
and Youth Club (Grades 5–10). The children in these clubs have
gotten their hands dirty and become more comfortable in the
outdoors by learning how to make a fire, make shelters, fish, and
harvest. PD Day programming has also taken a more outdoor-
based approach, introducing the youth to adventures such as
hiking and rock climbing.

We also have recreation programs for adults. Our adult
programmer leads daily Seniors Fitness and helps community
members by setting up fitness goals and programs such as
Hockey, which was developed
volleyball, floor hockey, and the golf league.
partially based on the rules of
lacrosse, is now as popular in our
community as anywhere in Canada.

Chippewas of Rama First Nation 51

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