(The Canadian Press)

By Ian Gustafson

Rise Against

Sask. Indigenous hockey player Ethan Bear speaks out on racism in new documentary

Feb 26, 2022 | 8:00 AM

Indigenous hockey player Ethan Bear, who hails from the Ochapowace First Nation in Saskatchewan, is speaking out about racism in hockey.

The Carolina Hurricanes defenceman talks about his experiences in a mini documentary by Uninterrupted Canada in an episode of Breaking Ice.

Bear shares his story on growing up on the First Nation and talks about the racism he’s faced in the game of hockey, even at the highest level in the National Hockey League.

Bear referenced a time when he was a young boy and heard another child talk about a golf course saying these “dirty Indians” were on it.

“We’re just sitting there and I’m like ‘oh my god’ and the kid was almost in tears because he knew I heard him,” Bear said in the episode. “At the end of the day it’s like I can’t get mad at the kid because what he hears at home is how he’s going to react and when he’s out and about and so that’s what I’ve learned and what my parents have taught me. And that’s the way I’ve gone about my business to deal with it is rather to educate and correct instead of trying to point fingers and get mad at somebody because at the end of the day it doesn’t get us anywhere.”

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He also talks about his time with the Edmonton Oilers, more specifically in the 2021 NHL playoffs when they were eliminated by the Winnipeg Jets. He faced racist comments after he made a turnover which led to the Jets scoring the game tying goal.

“It just felt like I lost us the whole series the way people were treating me and trying to make me the scapegoat like the reason why we lost,” Bear said.

Seeing everything on social media and direct messages after the game he said was shocking and wondering why people would stoop so low. His parents even made an appearance saying when the negative comments came out their first thoughts were how Ethan was doing.

“I didn’t want to go to our team party at the end of the year, I didn’t want to do a lot of things. I just kind of want to stay by myself. It was terrible,” Bear said.

His parents packed up and went straight to see him and once they got there he broke down and cried and so did they.

At first, he was scared to leave his comfort zone and correct people and have those tough conversations. He was going to ignore it until Bear’s fiancée stepped up to make a Facebook post highlighting what their people are going through.

It went viral on social media and led to Bear making a statement video, which he said to this day was one of the hardest things he’s had to do.

“I have to be vulnerable; I have to honestly put myself out there to try and make change and I never grew up thinking I was going to have to do that,” Bear said. “I thought I lived in a safe environment, and you know it turns out reality hits you hard when you’re at your lowest point and I’m very happy I had my fiancée there to help me go through it and point me in the direction of you know what’s best for myself and First Nation’s people and you know pretty much the world.”

The response from the public after his video statement motivated him to continue to make change.

“Sometimes speaking up is the best thing for you.”

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12