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Nunavik uses sticks, pucks to help kids shape up

“We believe hockey can be used as a tool to fight against crime and drugs”

JANE GEORGE

Sammy Koneak, left, is on a year’s leave of absence from his job as recreation director of Kuujjuaq to work with former NHL player Joé Juneau and the Kativik Regional Government’s director of recreation, Frankie Gordon, on jump-starting a new, hockey-based “Youth Development Plan” for Nunavik. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

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Joé Juneau, a 38-year-old university-educated engineer, Olympic gold medalist and former NHL player, is giving the region a hand with its new, hockey-based “Nunavik Youth Development Plan.”

Over the next few months, Juneau and the Kativik Regional Government’s recreation department will set up an ice hockey program for Nunavik that meets Quebec Ice Hockey Federation standards. They’ll qualify trainers and train local hockey players, five to 16, and then organize teams and tournaments.

At the same time, participants will be encouraged to improve their attendance and performance in school, eat good food and be active as volunteers in their communities.

As a hockey role model, Juneau has impressive qualifications: he played 828 games in the NHL, with Boston, Washington, Buffalo, Ottawa, Phoenix and Montreal, finishing his career in 2004 with 572 points.

Juneau became interested in Nunavik when visiting the Ungava Bay community of Kangiqsualujjuaq last March. To his surprise, he found no kids at the rink and the ice surface in poor condition.

“I thought it was weird,” he told last week’s KRG regional council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

Juneau later linked up with regional leaders and hockey enthusiasts in Quebec City, and together they hatched a plan to use hockey to improve Nunavik’s social conditions and educational levels.

“We believe hockey can be used as a tool to fight against crime and drugs and alcohol consumption. Hockey drives people to be strong in life,” Juneau said.

Juneau told the KRG council that it’s possible to achieve “major goals” in school and life by working with communities, schools and families.

“It’s not just about scoring [hockey] goals,” Juneau said.

However, the former NHL player said he’ll be ready to give talented players help to connect with up with teams in the South if they want to pursue the game professionally.

According to information tabled at the KRG meeting, each of Nunavik’s 14 communities will receive $10,000 for new hockey equipment for program participants.

The program’s organizers will first work with Kangiqsujuaq, Kuujjuaraapik, Salluit and Kuujjuaq, communities that already have good rinks and equipment for maintaining their ice.

To pay for the first year of the program, Makivik and the KRG want to draw money from the new $10 million-a-year in crime prevention money from Quebec, although all the members of this expert committee, who will fix priorities for how this money is to be spent, have not been named.

The resolution passed at the KRG council meeting says the KRG and Makivik agreed the program would be the “first measure to be financed under the new financial envelope.”

Last week, the KRG also approved $304,000 from various programs it administers under its Employment and Training Department to help pay for some parts of the “Nunavik Youth Development Program.”

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