An Alberta-based charitable organization, that offers cross-country ski programs for Indigenous youth, has expanded to northern Saskatchewan.
Spirit North is now offering programs at Chief Mistawasis School in the Mistawasis First Nation, Senator Allen Bird Memorial School in Montreal Lake Cree Nation and Sally Ross School in Hall Lake.
The expansion is the result of a grant from Indigenous Services Canada.
“We applied for a grant back in March and those three schools had reached out to us about the program,” Spirit North Program Director Laura Filipow says. “Those schools now have their own ski equipment.”
Spirit North has also used the $1.7 million federal grant to expand into B.C. and Manitoba.
The organization, which began in 2009, also helps communities with ski coaching certification, mentorship and trail development.
“We now work in more than 50 Indigenous communities across Alberta, British Colombia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and reach about 8,000 youth every year,” Filipow says. “We get requests from communities across the country. We would love to continue to expand, but it’s a matter of funding.”
(PHOTO: Courtesy of Spirit North)