Amplifying Voices: McGill Redbirds Mikisiw Awashish

The OUA Amplifying Voices Series will share the stories, the efforts, and the impacts of the OUA's champions of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), from those who have earned conference awards within their respective sport to those who continue to make a difference within their team, their campus, and their community.   

Burlington, Ont. (David DiCenzo) - Many athletes sacrifice time and comfort to pursue elite sport. For, Mikisiw Awashish the cost was deeper – distance from his Indigenous culture and community in Mashteuiatsh, Quebec.

Awashish, a 25-year-old civil engineering graduate and fourth-year forward on the McGill Redbirds men’s hockey team, started playing at the age of three. Book smart with a high hockey IQ, he got better and progressed through different levels, up to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and eventually to McGill. But that meant Awashish wasn’t around to experience some of the culture deeply rooted in his family.

He had a desire to reconnect. His mom Anne Casavant is Innu, from Mashteuiatsh, and his late father Ernest Awashish was Atikamekw from Opticiwan. They had two daughters, Waseskon (which references the sun after a rainstorm) and Mikonis (a small feather). Their youngest child Mikisiw, whose name means “eagle” in Atikamekw, embarked on a path that took him away from the community. He bridged that distance in a powerful way, by bringing McGill hockey to Mashteuiatsh.

“I was always away in the city playing hockey,” says Awashish, a two-time recipient of the OUA’s Champion of EDI Award. “Whether it was at school or tournaments, I missed things, like most of the hunting seasons. Especially as I got older, I would spend my summers in Saguenay, Quebec City or Montreal.

“I didn’t always have much opportunity to practice my heritage and culture. Unfortunately, that was the trade-off.

“When I was a teenager, I was focused on myself and my identity,” he adds. “But my parents were good to remind me of my roots and where I, and the people before me, came from. I’m really grateful for that.”

Being away for hockey never diminished Awashish’s love and appreciation of his home and heritage. To reflect just how much they meant, he brought his team to Mashteuiatsh. In concert with national Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30, Awashish organized a two-day trip for the McGill Redbirds to face off against the UQTR Patriotes at the local rink in the small community on the shores of Lac Saint-Jean.

The inspiration to hold such a unique event in the town of about 2,000 people came to Awashish from the previous work of a Mashteuiatsh hero, Francis Verreault-Paul, who was named Tournament MVP when McGill won the national championship in 2012. A McGill Sports Hall of Famer and Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, he started a hockey school in the community that Awashish attended. That impacted the young hockey player.

“We had that idol,” Awashish says of Verreault-Paul, who became a close friend. “I was a kid skating on the ice as a student at his hockey school, with him as my coach. As I got further in hockey, I wanted to do something similar to give back to the kids, just like he did.

“My first year at McGill, it was all so big and new to me. The school was dedicated to land acknowledgements for any event that took place on campus. I thought, ‘that’s cool.’ But then I started to think it wasn’t enough – there could be more.”

McGill hosted the annual field lacrosse Legacy Game on Truth and Reconciliation Day. Awashish loved this event. Realizing that orange tape and laces wasn’t enough of a statement for the hockey team, he envisioned doing something similar to the Legacy Game, but in his hometown.

It required advanced planning with September 30th falling so early in the OUA season. In his second year, the Mashteuiatsh game was set. But a fire at the local rink delayed the plan and renovations took over a year to complete.

By Awashish’s fourth and final year, the game became a reality. The McGill and UQTR players spent an entire day in the community with the people of Mashteuiatsh. Awashish credits the locals and the staff at McGill Athletics for the precise planning and execution.

The pre-game meal itself was a cultural experience.

“It was four years in the making,” he says. “We got there the day before and ran practices with the kids. The next day, we had an early-morning walk and ceremony. The meal before the game was pretty interesting. We had moose, goose, and even some beaver. That was all new for the guys.

“There was a rule for the meal – you couldn’t stick together. You had to pick a table, ask nicely to sit, and have conversations with the people there. I got word that the people back home really appreciated that, to see how human the guys on the team were and how interested they were in Mashteuiatsh.”

UQTR won the game 5-2, but the score didn’t matter much. It was about representation and respect of culture – and it was better than Awashish could have imagined.

“As the game got closer, I was getting stressed about people’s response,” he says. “There was a lot of social media hype. But I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen. The goal was to do it for the kids, but we invited everyone. We didn’t sell tickets. It was open for anyone to enjoy.

“Both my team and the UQTR team, everyone was very involved. I really felt that the players were curious. The impact that we had on the kids and elders was big. It’s still talked about to this day.”

Awashish says he tried to prep his teammates on what they might see and how the interactions might unfold. He explained how the Mashteuiatsh residents had a unique vibe, both funny and resilient, while reassuring them they would leave feeling something special.

“They really felt a connection to our people,” says Awashish. “I was happy for that day.”

In addition to receiving the OUA Champion of EDI Award a second time, Awashish became the first ever undergraduate at McGill to win the Changemaker’s Prize, which recognizes a member of the university’s community whose initiatives have had a significant and tangible impact on society.

Awashish’s meaningful work is just beginning. A career as a civil engineer awaits, though he has dreams of playing pro hockey in France first.

With doors opening for his life after McGill, Awashish is equally focused on reclaiming those cultural experiences that had to be put aside.

“Since I’ve been at McGill, I’ve had a little more time with the season ending around March and the school year over in April,” says Awashish. “I get to go goose hunting and fishing back home.

“I always missed that because of hockey.”