Stefane Friday has turned his passion for hockey into a vehicle to support Indigenous youth.
CHESTERMERE, Alb.-Stephane Friday, a young Cree man from Kashechewan First Nation in northeastern Ontario is one of seven people who was presented with the Herbert Carnegie Trailblazer Award at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto as part of The Carnegie Initiative's CI Summit, Jan. 20–22, 2023.
Friday can't remember a time when hockey was not part of his life. He grew up watching hockey on TV and playing street hockey in his Indigenous community. This led to Friday becoming involved in his community during his teen years, including being youth president at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre.
The passion continued and grew as Stephane helped start the Choose Life program in Kashechewan-a Nishnawbe Aski Nation initiative providing immediate funding relief for youth at risk of suicide by fast-tracking proposals for various child and youth mental health programs.
But no matter what else Friday became involved in, his love for hockey continued to grow. "I'm a very analytic person in hockey. I know every inch of this sport," he says.
Four years ago, Friday focused that passion to start a Facebook page, now known as Hockey Indigenous, with the intention of growing the game within the Indigenous community by sharing news about Indigenous teams, communities and players. The Facebook page now has more than 44,000 followers.
"The more I kept posting, the more range I would get, people started following and supporting the page," he said. Between the Facebook page and a blog he started a couple of years later, Friday shares information about all things hockey from words about pros to an article about a pee-wee team from a First Nations community.
In December 2020, while also working as a research assistant at the Omushkegowuk Nation Rebuilding Initiative department, Friday co-founded and became Chief Executive Officer of Hockey Indigenous. His goal with the organization is to promote indigenous hockey in North America and provide a whole new generational direction towards youth empowerment. He seeks to use this platform to motivate, boost self-esteem, and create a healthy and versatile lifestyle.
In his Theory of Change on his website, Friday notes, "If we provide low-income hockey athletes/students with sponsorship with assistance, then they will get into better education, boost self-esteem in their game, and have improved life options and opportunities."
The organization's objectives include:
• To develop and implement programs and initiatives that support the development of indigenous hockey players and teams.
• To promote inclusivity within the hockey community through cultural sensitivity training, campaigns, and education.
• To establish partnerships with other organizations and stakeholders to support indigenous hockey initiatives.
• To increase the participation and representation of indigenous players in hockey programs, capacity building, and tournaments.
• To advocate and establish Team Indigenous to participate in International, National, and Provincial hockey tournaments.
• To secure funding to build arenas in First Nation and Inuit communities.
It's no wonder Friday has been presented the Carnegie Award. The award and initiative are named for Toronto's Herb Carnegie, a hockey player who broke barriers as a member of the only "All Black Line" in semi-pro leagues in the 1940s. He also established the first registered hockey school in Canada called Future Aces.
According to the organization, the award is given to people who "use the sport as a vehicle to create positive social change, embodying the CI's mission of ensuring that hockey is inclusive, supportive, and welcoming to all,"
And Stephane Friday lines right up with that definition.
"I always want to strive to create a better system for our people," Friday says. "It's always a dream to help the people."
