By Jordan Parker
The L’nu Kamakn Ski and Snowboard Program has seen a revitalization thanks to the efforts of Austin Hepworth and the staff at The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin was tasked with getting the program running again in 2022 and he’s seen great success.
“The program has been going for more than a decade. My uncle was running it prior and I was actually a participant in the first year. When things opened back up after COVID, the Confederacy hired myself and another employee to bring the program back,” says Austin, the program officer for the Community Health Program at the Confederacy.
L’nu Kamakn is a ski and snowboard program for Mi’kmaw youth ages 12-18. It’s an opportunity for youth from across the Mainland Mi’kmaw communities to improve their skills and engage with others on a weekly basis.
The program runs out of Ski Martock in Hants County and Ski Wentworth in Cumberland County and has seen up to 140 participants a year. The program wrapped up the weekend of March 12.
“A lot of youth aren’t involved in hockey, so another avenue we can give them to stay physically active in the winter is ski and snowboard,” Austin says.
They separate the program into three streams, including youth lessons and youth recreation. Austin says it is important for youth to have the option of taking lessons or just hitting the hills. Then there’s a leaders and chaperones subset.
“The leaders and chaperones also love to get out with the youth. If I include all three streams, there were 110 participants at Wentworth alone this year.”
With rental passes for the year and lift tickets, there were six weeks of lessons, but youth could also go on non-lesson days to enjoy the slopes. The program also received funding from Sport Nova Scotia’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) Fund to help offset costs this year, and Austin put it toward lessons for the youth.
“It felt fair as when the program began, recreation and chaperone streams weren’t a part of things. This was a lesson-based program, and I really wanted to honour that. Having things low-cost is so important, and allowing our communities to be able to afford the program is huge,” says Austin.
And with the program also focusing on connection, the youth from all eight communities served are given a chance to get to know each other better.
“Some communities are just further away from each other. They might see each other at the annual Mi’kmaw Summer Games but there aren’t as many opportunities. With this program, they can now see each other at the hills and foster community,” says Austin.
“Having the EDIA funding to do this and getting everyone together was really important, and it’s nice to be able to help maintain such a long-standing program for the youth in these communities.”
