Reclaiming Tom Longboat: Indigenous Self-Determination in Canadian Sport, Paperback

Analyzes sport in Canada as a tool for both colonization and Indigenous self-determination.

Reclaiming Tom Longboat recounts the history of Indigenous sport in Canada through the lens of the prestigious Tom Longboat Awards, shedding light on a significant yet overlooked aspect of Canadian policy and Crown-Indigenous relations. Drawing on a rich and varied set of oral and textual sources, including interviews with award recipients and Jan Eisenhardt, the creator of the Awards himself, Janice Forsyth critically assesses the state's role in policing Indigenous bodies and identities through sport, from the assimilationist sporting regulations of residential schools to the present-day exclusion of Indigenous activities from mainstream sports. This work recognizes the role of sport as a tool for colonization in Canada, while also acknowledging its potential to become a tool for decolonization and self-determination.

Janice Forsyth is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of First Nations Studies at Western University in London, Ontario, and a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation. She is co-editor of Aboriginal Peoples and Sport in Canada.