The Creation of The Legacy Game: Honouring the Indigenous Roots of Lacrosse
The Legacy Game was created with representatives from McGill Athletics and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, including the First Peoples' House. These groups wanted to combine platforms to promote a discussion on Truth and Reconciliation outside of a purely academic narrative. With the history of the origins of lacrosse and how an Indigenous player on the lacrosse team, Isaiah Cree, went above and beyond describing how important the sport is to his Indigenous heritage and many other Indigenous cultures in several news articles, lacrosse was the perfect sport to start a yearly event where we can start a meaningful discussion about Truth and Reconciliation.
The Naming of the Game
Though in general in Indigenous cultures "The Medicine Game" is the name given for lacrosse, with feedback we had received we felt that our event may be confused with a traditional lacrosse game, which is still played today in various communities. Using "The Legacy Game" connects to the legacy stick that is awarded to the winning team, without confusing the varsity game for a traditional game.
The First Game
The first game was played on September 30, 2022, against Queen's Gaels in front of over 500 fans. Players of both teams wore custom orange shirts designed by Isabelle Zwicker, an Anishinaabeg student in the faculty of law, and warmed up to music that consisted of only Indigenous artists. The opening ceremony started with a drumming performance and honour song from Mi'kmaq artist Allex Allard-Gray. After a land acknowledgment, Geoffery Phillips, the Executive Director of McGill Athetics and Recreation, welcomed everyone to the game, and was followed by a moment of silence. At halftime, smoke and pow-wow style dances were performed, by Nashtyn Mayo, Owen Mayo, Kaiewate Jacobs, Lakorennaientatie Alfred, Lakorihwiióstha Two-Axe, Kwena Bellemare-Boivin and Teioronhiáthe Phillips from Kahnawake. After a victorious 12-5 win by McGill, and a hat trick by Isaiah Cree, both teams put their orange shirts back on and joined together at the center of the field for a moment of quiet discussion in a large circle. McGill, being the winning team, was then presented the Legacy Game Trophy, a traditional Lacrosse stick, and a miniature version given for the winning team to keep .Proceeds from the game were given to the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal with a small portion given to McGill lacrosse's Indigenous Athletic Financial Award.
