How women affected by oppression within hockey are fostering change
CBC
This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
A few years ago, I was on Twitter and saw a tweet from the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) that showed them wearing helmet decals with land acknowledgements on them for the showcase locations and for where they train.
I had never seen it before in hockey. The decals were designed by Indigenous artists. I knew that the players from the PWHPA were engaging in anti-racism learning with Dr. Courtney Szto. Szto is a close friend and someone I have dubbed "the most brilliant hockey mind in Canada."
Her work as the managing editor of Hockey in Society has been instrumental in providing critical analysis of the happenings in the hockey ecosystem.
I asked her about the origins of the decals and she gave me some information about how and when they came to be. I found out that the decals were the suggestion of U.S. hockey superstar Kendall Coyne Schofield. It struck me as poignant considering a few years earlier Coyne Schofield criticized Colin Kaepernick for kneeling.
Shortly after George Floyd's murder, Coyne Schofield — who is part of the PWHPA — tweeted that she was wrong for taking that position and that she was committed to learning. This was of her own accord. No team or league told her to say it.
I first met Dr. Szto years ago and have followed her work closely, and collaborated with her for various events in sports. She is a hockey player, an avid WNBA supporter and a tennis fan.
As much as I could write a glowing profile of this academic, it's her work with hockey players that I find incredibly powerful. For over three years, Dr. Szto has been meeting with players via Zoom and in person when possible to talk about anti-oppression and how it can be implemented in hockey and in life.
She explains how systems of racism, homophobia and other forms of oppression thrive in hockey and she discusses what these players can do about it.
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Dr. Szto was given "carte blanche" from the PWHPA board and she talks to the players about colonization, white supremacy, and cultural appropriation, but in ways that are creative, engaging and interesting. This learning program is not mandatory — the players attend out of interest.
This season the PWHPA is 97 players strong and of those, eight identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour). Dr. Szto, a racialized female academic, is essentially talking to a mostly white group of players about race and privilege. Something that is rarely discussed in locker rooms and not considered part of the normal culture of hockey. It should be.
In 2020, Dr. Szto co-authored a Policy Paper for Anti-Racism in Canadian Hockey and a few of the players signed up for the Q&A Zoom session opened to the public. She and former PWHPA goalie, now hockey podcaster, Liz Knox were discussing how this work could reach the players.
"I did a quick overview primer in the summer of 2020 with some of the players and staff," Dr. Szto recalls. "A month or so later, Jayna [Hefford] asked me [on behalf of the board] to run some sessions over the season for the [PWHPA] and we've been doing it ever since."