Oak Park Raiders #34 Dawson Andrews along with his team is wearing the Oak Park High School Truth & Reconciliation football jersey he designed at their game against the Vincent Massey Trojans in Winnipeg on Sept. 29.David Lipnowski/The Globe and Mail
In the quiet moments before a football game on Friday against the Vincent Massey Trojans, Winnipeg high-school student Dawson Andrews paused to reflect on two thoughts.
One: He wanted to win.
Two: He wanted to remember.
On Friday, Mr. Andrews’s team, the Oak Park Raiders, walked onto their high-school field sporting jerseys that he helped design in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Mr. Andrews, one of six players who are Indigenous out of about 40, recently approached his coach about commemorating the statutory holiday, which honours the children, families and communities affected by Canada’s residential school system. Among the four major high schools of the Pembina Trails School Division, Oak Park has the highest number of students who identify as Indigenous – 13 per cent. Perhaps a sticker on players’ helmets would be a way to honour their history, Mr. Andrews thought. But soon the idea ballooned into designing a jersey to represent Indigenous teachings and the values of the team.
“I’m going to soak up every moment of it,” the 17-year-old said in an interview the day before the game.
The royal blue jersey of the Raiders was transformed to include a star blanket pattern along the collar, number and sleeves, representing honour, protection and celebration. Images of the Northern Lights radiated off the front and back, and Raiders was spelled in the Cree dialect. An image of a turtle on one shoulder represented health and longevity, and the buffalo skull on the other was chosen for power and strength. (A teammate and a school staff member helped with the design.)
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is Sept. 30. Here’s what to know
Two handprints rested on the upper back: a red one to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, and an orange one for the children who went to residential schools.
“I like to think of it as that we put them on our shoulders to show that we’re carrying them on our back and that we’re here,” said Mr. Andrews, who is a defensive end on the team.
A crest on the chest, showing a buffalo and an eagle, is that of the Dakota Tipi First Nation. Mr. Andrews said that the crest is the first image he spots – “a beautiful sight” – when he visits his Indigenous community about an hour outside Winnipeg, where his father is Chief.
His father and his First Nation were inspirations for the jersey. His father attended the Birtle Indian Residential School in Manitoba. He was taken from his home. They cut his hair. He wore a uniform. He worked in the fields.
Mr. Andrews knows it is painful for his father to speak about his time there. “He tries to keep it to himself. … He’s been an amazing dad for what he’s been through. I know he’s been through a lot, even though he doesn’t tell me.”
Mr. Andrews’s father helped secure funding for the jerseys. And on Friday, the teenager felt like he was carrying a piece of his dad and his community onto the football field.
The jersey sparked discussions among team members about truth and reconciliation, but also about Indigenous symbols and teachings, said Chris Ollson, the football coach and a physical education teacher at Oak Park High School.
“It’s making them really be aware that it’s representing something that’s bigger than the game of football, bigger than themselves. It’s representing something that is a tough topic in Canada right now,” he said.
“They’re happy to represent their brothers who are Indigenous on the team.”
Henry Navarro Delgado, an associate professor in fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the symbols on the garment are a “vehicle for cultural celebration.”
In sports, people, events and even jerseys can become symbols to educate and give currency to topics that are often uncomfortable but necessary to address, he said.
“Objects, dress garments, fashion objects, they don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist in a larger social context. And who creates this artifact – and for what purpose, what agenda – that is as important as the artifact itself. I will say, even more than the artifact itself,” professor Navarro Delgado said.
Another fan of Mr. Andrews’s jersey design is Andrew Harris, a running back for the Toronto Argonauts. The Oak Park alumni, who played on its football team in Grade 12, was in Winnipeg on Friday as his team was playing the Blue Bombers.
“It’s definitely inspirational to see the creativity and the confidence to make something not only inspiring, but acknowledging heritage and the history,” Mr. Harris said.
“It’s a powerful gesture.”