Indigenous sports heroes honoured by Canada Post

Seven-time Stanley Cup champion Bryan Trottier is among the latest Indigenous leaders to be honoured by Canada Post.

Trottier, who has Métis, Cree and Chippewa ancestry, is one of the individuals recognized in a new three-stamp series that was unveiled on June 17 during a ceremony at the Calgary Public Library.

Trottier is from the small Saskatchewan town of Val Marie but now lives in a Pennsylvania city named Washington about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh.

The other two Indigenous leaders recognized in this stamp series are Chief Wilton Littlechild and Edward Lennie.

Littlechild (Cree) was born in Hobbema (now Maskwacis), Alta. in 1944. He is a lawyer, former member of Parliament and former grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations. He was instrumental in the development of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and was a commissioner for the ​​Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which spent years documenting the dark history and legacy of damage that resulted from the Indian residential school system.

Littlechild was also an accomplished athlete, winning 10 Athlete of the Year awards. He was a founder of the North American Indigenous Games and the World Indigenous Games. In 2018 he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in the Builder category.

Charles Edward​​ Inglangasak Lennie (1934-2020) was born near Imaryuk (Husky Lakes), Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Western Arctic. He is regarded as the Father of the Northern Games, featuring traditional Arctic sports and Indigenous games. Lennie successfully advocated for​​ Arctic sports to be showcased at the inaugural Arctic Winter Games and coached athletes in eight traditional events, including the kneel jump, the two-foot high kick and the arm pull.

The community leader and respected Inuvialuk Elder was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 in the Builder category. Lennie was represented at the stamp unveiling by his son Hans. 

Trottier was unavailable to attend the Calgary ceremony but provided a video message played at the event.

In a phone interview with Windspeaker.com on June 16, Trottier joked about his “ugly mug” being chosen to appear on a Canada Post stamp.

But make no mistake about it. He is thrilled by the recognition.

“It's such a high honour and it's such a humbling thing,” he said. “There’s an appreciation that comes out of your pores when your home country hits you with that kind of an honour, recognizing your Indigenous roots. And there’s a swell of pride that's going to be felt by, hopefully, a lot of young kids and an older generation of hockey fans. For my family, it's a wonderful tribute.”

Trottier said he has known about the honour for more than six months.

“They've been working on the artwork for quite a while,” he said. “And the artwork came out spectacular. Wow. It's like artwork times 1,000. They did such a great job on the artwork and we were picking and choosing and trying to build a story around the stamp. Canada Post has done a wonderful job and the team was just very patient.”

Trottier’s stamp includes a background pic of him hoisting the Stanley Cup when he was a forward with the New York Islanders. The background of that pic is a prairie landscape, signifying his Saskatchewan roots. The stamp also features a more prominent pic of Trottier wearing a generic hockey jersey and helmet.

“We went through a lot of photos.” He said they wanted to find something that did not really identify him as an Islander but as a “recognizable hockey guy.”

Trottier was a member of the Islanders when they captured the Stanley Cup over four consecutive years from 1980 to 1983. He also won the Cup in back-to-back years playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and ’92.

Trottier’s seventh Cup triumph was in 2001 when he served as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche.

“You can dream about playing in the NHL, scoring a goal, winning Stanley Cup,” Trottier said. “But you don’t dare dream about being in a hall of fame or being on a national stamp for the country of your birth. It's such an incredible recognition and so humbling. It’s beyond humbling. It's one of those things that you hear about and say ‘Why me?’ 

“But at the same time, you say, look at what this is hopefully going to do for our Indigenous people.”

Trottier believes Canada Post’s latest Indigenous stamp series will accomplish something important.

“I think these kinds of things bring not just the pride, but a little bit of reconciliation for our country,” he said. 

Trottier was also pleased he was being recognized at the same time as Littlechild.

“I've known Chief Willy Littlechild for 35 years,” Trottier said. “He's been a wonderful mentor for a lot of us. He's a great orator and he's kind of a Pied Piper for a lot of us. We just kind of follow him around and we love his stories. We love his humour. We love just everything that he exudes from the standpoint of his athletic career to his education to how he talks to the next generation.”

Littlechild, a survivor of the Indian residential school system, went on to obtain a physical education degree and then his master’s degree from the University of Alberta. While at the school he was a member of the football and swimming teams.

“These stamps hopefully will tell another story about us that maybe people don't know,” Trottier said. “But at the same time, it just kind of keeps swelling the pride.”

He said Indigenous sports heroes already have a great deal of pride.

“We want to be wonderful ambassadors,” he said. “And we want to share some of the experiences with the next generation. Hopefully it will inspire the next generation.”

Canada Post’s Indigenous stamp series was launched in 2022. The series, now in its fifth year, highlights the contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders who have helped preserve their culture and improve the quality of life for Indigenous people in the country.

The three-stamp series will be available at canadapost.ca and at some postal outlets across Canada beginning on June 19.