4.06

Highlights – 2025 update

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport’s Sport Branch celebrated the many achievements of the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council (I·SPARC) in fiscal 2024-25. 

The Province provides $1.4 million in funding annually to I·SPARC.

Several highlights of I·SPARC’s 2024/25 programming are listed below.

In the first six months of fiscal 2024/25, I·SPARC hosted 120 community-based youth athlete, coach and official development initiatives and facilitated five programs, reaching 6,379 participants. 

I·SPARC supports Indigenous youth to pursue recreation and sport at all levels, not solely on a high-performance or competition pathway, with programs such as Aboriginal Youth FIRST. 

Twenty-seven youth participated in the Aboriginal Youth FIRST provincial camp August 25 to September 2, 2024. In total, 69 certifications were achieved at the camp in activities such as lifesaving, lifeguarding, first aid, scuba diving and dry suit diving.

In 2022, the ministry directed $3.6 million in one-time funding to I·SPARC for the RISE Grant Program, to support programming over five years. RISE (Resilient, Inspire, Strength and Engage) grants are truly transformational, providing youth in and from care with up to $1,000 annually to pursue physical activity, recreation, sport and cultural activities. 

Grants can be used towards registration fees, equipment, and travel costs, a unique feature of the RISE grant program. In the first six months of fiscal 2024/25, I·SPARC funded 714 individual RISE grant applications, totaling $350,150. This interim total surpasses the total number of grants funded in fiscal 2023/24 by 143 grants.

Highlights – Action completed in 2023/2024

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport (TACS) and the sport branch celebrate the many achievements of the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council (ISPARC) from 2023-24. TACS is proud to provide $1.4 million in annual funding to ISPARC, which has had a great impact on B.C.’s Indigenous sport landscape. The additional $3.6 million provided to ISPARC in 2022 for the RISE grant program continues to create opportunities for Indigenous youth in and from care to participate in sport, physical activity, recreation and cultural activities. Highlights of ISPARC’s 2023-24 programming include:

• 118 youth athletes, coaches and official development camps and five programs facilitated, reaching 5,581 participants (interim 2023-24 data).
• Over 500 athletes, coaches, Elders and mission staff sent to the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG). This is not only an opportunity for Indigenous youth to participate in their sport but also an opportunity to connect with their culture. The NAIG was recently hosted in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Dartmouth, Millbrook First Nation, and Sipekne’katik from July 15-23, 2023. Team BC secured an impressive 159 total medals (53 gold, 62 silver and 44 bronze) across 14 sports, earning second place in overall team standings. 
• 139 Indigenous youth participated in selection camps for the 2023 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC). ISPARC sent two teams to NAHC to represent Team BC, each comprised of 20 athletes, four alternates and five staff. The U18 female team placed fourth in the tournament and the U18 male team finished third. The 2024 NAHC will be hosted by Grand Prairie, Alberta from May 5-11, 2024.
• Secured hosting rights for the 2025 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (to be hosted by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc in partnership with the City of Kamloops). The Sport branch is supporting the execution of the event with $80,000 from the major sport event hosting program. 
• At the interim point of 2023-24, ISPARC has funded 268 individual RISE grant applications, amounting to $152,140, and 15 organizational RISE grant applications, amounting to $126,375.
• ISPARC delivered three pilot cultural safety training workshops with the BC Games Society, the sport branch from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, and viaSport, reaching over 60 participants. These pilots were an important step in finetuning the training prior to delivering training to provincial and disability sport organizations.
• 28 youth participated in the Aboriginal Youth FIRST provincial camp from August 28 to September 4, 2023. In total, 87 certifications were achieved at the camp in activities like lifesaving, first aid, scuba diving and dry suit diving.
• ISPARC received 126 applications across six regions for the Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport. The Premier’s Awards recognizes both excellence in performance sport and leadership qualities of Indigenous youth athletes throughout the province. From 126 applications, 33 individuals were selected as regional recipients of the award, and 10 of those individuals were selected as provincial recipients of the Premier’s Award.

Highlights

Provided $1.4 million to Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Council (ISPARC) to support delivery of the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Strategy, Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport program and to develop collaborative partnerships with provincial and disability sport organizations to enhance reconciliation in the sport sector.

ISPARC also completed curriculum development and the training modules for the Cultural Safety Workshop to increase awareness and education in the sport sector to further support the delivery and improved access to programs and initiatives for Indigenous people.

The BC Games Society, ISPARC and the BC Lacrosse Association partnered to support Indigenous athletes to compete in box lacrosse at the 2022 Canada Summer Games. This was a pilot initiative to include more Indigenous athletes in the Canada Games. The B.C. men’s team won the gold medal and the B.C. women’s team won the silver medal. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc has been selected by ISPARC as the B.C. candidate host community for the 2027 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG). In partnership with ISPARC, a final bid was submitted to NAIG Council in March 2023, which included a letter of support from the provincial government signed by Minister Lana Popham.

Indicators

• Number of engagement participants in programs and events: ISPARC delivered 206 programs and events to 7,643 participants, including 81 youth camps with 4,772 participants, 14 provincial championships and camps with 830 participants, 24 coaching courses with 247 coaches trained and 275 community healthy living leaders trained.

How are we working together?

The Sport Branch is in regular contact (bi-weekly) with ISPARC and the BC Games Society and provides assistance as required or requested.        

Are there challenges?

Action complete.