Sports

NHL's Carey Price is just one of Canada's notable Aboriginal athletes

Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day in Canada and CBCsports.ca is recognizing the country's notable indigenous athletes. Not only have they excelled in their sport, but also at building up their community.

Runner Tom Longboat won Boston Marathon in 1907

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is one of Canada's most distinguished Aboriginal athletes. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day in Canada and CBCsports.ca celebrates the heritage, diverse cultures and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. 

Indigenous cultures have greatly impacted sport in Canada, such as our national summer sport of lacrosse which was derived from the Aboriginal game of baggataway. 

In the CBC News segment I am Indigenous, lacrosse player Cody Jamieson, who is Mohawk from the Turtle Clan at the Six Nations of the Grand River, said, "Our culture is so deeply rooted in lacrosse that it's in our Creation story".

Jamieson plays pro lacrosse for the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse and the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, where he was named MVP in 2014. 


Carey Price

Carey Price Interview (Excerpt)

10 years ago
Duration 1:49
A preview of Peter Mansbridge's interview with Canadiens goalie Carey Price.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price had some bad luck this past season, but he's still one of the best and highest paid goalies in the NHL. His mother is the former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation and his father taught him to skate on the frozen creek outside his home in the remote northern British Columbia town of Anahim Lake. 

This past year Price donated thousands of dollars in equipment to his old hockey club and to First Nations communities in his home province. 


Jordin Tootoo

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New Jersey Devils right winger Jordin Tootoo is the first NHL player of Inuk descent. He grew up in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where his father taught him and brother Terence to play hockey. 

Like Price, Tootoo is giving back to his community by being a champion of suicide prevention, and speaks of the loss of his brother in his book, All the way: My Life on ice. 


George Armstrong 

Part Ojibway Hockey Hall of Famer George Armstrong played 21 seasons in the NHL and was Toronto Maple Leafs captain for 13 of those. He's best known for scoring the game-winning goal in the 1967 Stanley Cup final, the last time the Leafs won the championship. 


Waneek Horn-Miller

Water polo star Waneek Horn-Miller co-captained Canada's women's water polo team that won gold at the 1999 Pan Am Games. ((Jeff De Booy/Winnipeg Free Press/Canadian Press))

Horn-Miller was co-captain of Canada's first women's water-polo team, which finished fifth at the Sydney Olympics. A Mohawk from Kahnawake, as a teenager Horn-Miller had been behind the lines during the 1990 Oka Crisis and was stabbed by a bayonet. According to Team Canada, the near-death experience was a turning point in her life, as she used the incident to fuel her dreams of competing at the Olympic Games.


Tom Longboat 

Legendary Onondaga runner Tom Longboat. (Charles A. Aylett, Library and Archives Canad)

June 4th is officially Tom Longboat Day in Canada, and for good reason. He was an Onondaga distance runner from the Six Nations Indian reserve near Brantford, Ont., and won the 1907 Boston Marathon and competed for Canada at the 1908 Olympic Games. He was known around the world as "Wildfire" and is considered one of Canada's greatest long-distance runners. 


How are you marking #NationalAboriginalDay? Let us know via @cbcsports