Whitehorse Daily Star

Kwanlin Dün awarded ‘Field of Dreams’ from Jays Care

Heading into the summer sport season, the Kwanlin Dün First Nation will be getting their ‘Field of Dreams’ through the Jays Care Foundation grant program.

By Dustin Cook on April 18, 2018

Heading into the summer sport season, the Kwanlin Dün First Nation will be getting their ‘Field of Dreams’ through the Jays Care Foundation grant program.

The announcement was made nationwide Tuesday evening during the Toronto Blue Jays game on Sportsnet with 16 fields across the country awarded significant infrastructure investments.

Kwanlin Dün First Nation was selected as one of the communities after a three-round application process that spanned over a year, Chief Doris Bill said in an interview with the Star this morning.

The Kwanlin Dün application requested $99,000 for the field upgrades and Bill said as far as they know right now, they will be receiving that full amount.

Many community members were gathered at the First Nation’s Potlatch House to watch the game and the announcement, Bill said, and they were not disappointed when the winners were announced.

The current Kwanlin Dün diamond is tough to play on and requires maintenance, as well as the necessary equipment to complete that.

“It’s really difficult to play on that field the way it is now,” Bill said. “It’s just gravel and rocks and lots of weeds. We’d love to be able to fix it up and have our community use it.”

And now with the grant they will be able to do just that. It has not been decided when the renovation project will start, Bill said, but they aim to quickly turn it around and have the field ready for use in June and the rest of the summer season.

The refreshed field will include a new surface up to Softball Yukon guidelines and standards, LED lighting, new dugouts, an electronic scoreboard as well as field maintenance equipment.

“Eventually we hope to have tournaments and invite people to the community and play ball with our citizens,” Bill said.

“We’re hoping for it to be a place for our community to gather and have fun.”

In total, 16 communities will be receiving more than $1.4 million from the Jays Care Foundation for the Field of Dreams program.

The selected locations are spread out across the country in every province except Prince Edward Island and the Yukon is the only territory represented.

“We are very pleased with the broad geographic impact our grants will make this year,” Jays Care Foundation executive director Robert Witchel said in a media release Tuesday afternoon. “Jays Care is committed to providing children and youth across Canada with safe and accessible spaces to play and these investments will give youth the opportunity to learn valuable life-skills such as resiliency, teamwork and leadership through sport.”

Bill said youth were at the forefront of the application discussion to ensure it included what they hoped to see in the new field.

“It was really a nice process that brought people together,” she said. “That’s what we’re hoping the ball diamond will do is to bring people together in the spirit of reconciliation. Communities are struggling across the country about reconciliation and struggling with what they can do.

“This is one way to fulfil the action and I think there’s nothing better than sports to bring people together.”

Putting in an application for the grant was a very youth-focused initiative, Bill said, and they hope the young players will love their new park and get the most out of it.

“It’s something they had input into and I think that’s really important,” she said. “Let the youth drive these initiatives and hoping in the end it helps to break down barriers not only with the larger community, but with youth as well.”

Whitehorse youth are also currently working on another initiative through the Jays Care Foundation in the form of the Yukon Rookie League.

Organized through the Yukon Child & Youth Advocate Office, youth leaders are currently running organized practices for eight teams they formed in their communities, including a team from Kwanlin Dün First Nation, that will be meeting up to compete in a mini-tournament on June 23.

The partnership with the Blue Jays will also be furthered with a Blue Jays Honda Super Camp making its first trip up to the territory on June 25-26. The camp run by major league alumni will be for youth between the ages of 9-16 and focus on basic ball skills as the young athletes get ready for the season ahead.

Be the first to comment

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.