PARTICIPANT STORIES
We strive to share stories about our newcomer
&
high-priority youth with the media
'Fall and get back up': Girls in Montreal learn hockey basics in free, 10-week inclusion program (CBC News - Montreal)
CBC News - Montreal - February 3, 2023
28 elementary school students, all girls, get chance to learn and play hockey for free.
Nishika Venkatachalam has been ice skating for years but, up until recently, the 11-year-old had never played hockey…
She is one of nearly 30 students at Cedarcrest Elementary School in Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough — all of them girls — that are getting the chance to learn and play hockey, free of charge, as part of a Canada-wide initiative to remove barriers to the sport. READ MORE >
Montreal hockey program inspiring girls from diverse communities (City News - Montreal)
Inspiration glides on the Raymond Bourque Arena ice in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent as the Hockey 4 Youth Foundation and former NHL player and Hab, Georges Laraque, launched a hockey program for girls from diverse communities. MORE >
Girl power: Bringing hockey to diverse communities (CBC Radio - Montreal)
Nayyara Shabbir is coordinating a hockey program for girls of diverse backgrounds. All to help young girls feel included and give them access to sports. We speak with her and 10-year-old Laila Noor Khan who got to hit the ice with other girls!
How hockey can open doors and foster inclusivity for newcomers (Scotiabank)
Hockey 4 Youth founder Moezine Hasham, left, and Khaled Al Mouktaran, right, at the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic in Hamilton, Ont.
Khaled Al Mouktaran first heard about hockey when he and his family arrived in Canada as refugees from Syria. The then-14-year-old was checking into a shelter at a Toronto hotel in March 2016 with his parents and three siblings when the front desk receptionist mentioned the sport.
“I thought hockey was something to do with shoes you run around in,” Al Mouktaran recalls. “Like baseball or badminton or something like that. I never imagined hockey meant having to skate, on metal blades. That was out of my imagination.” READ MORE >
First Skate - Hamilton Girls Program (Instagram)
Video from our first skate with girls from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School this past week.
Edmonton Program Launch Announcement (Instagram)
We are so pleased to announce that we’re expanding our programming to Edmonton!! 🍁
This picture with Mayor Sohi is from the summer when we ran a ball hockey clinic for newcomer kids with our friends at Play On!. During our trip, we were connected to the great staff at Action for Healthy Communities
Jay Turnbull Interviews Thelma & Ursual (CBC Radio - Montreal)
Thelma and Ursula are part of our girls-only program in Montreal North!
"There's not a lot of representation in a lot of sports, especially hockey...looking around, where are all the black people?"