by Maria Collins and Gabrielle Hill-Desjardins

It was the summer of 1999 when 15-year-old John Denny Sylliboy started playing basketball with his friends in Eskasoni, the largest Mi’kmaw First Nation, which is located in Nova Scotia.

For Sylliboy, it was more than a game. He says he was determined to succeed early on.

“I remember watching March Madness basketball during that time and I said, ‘Jeez, I don’t see any Indigenous athletes. I’m going to be the first Mi’kmaw to play college basketball,’” Sylliboy says. “And that’s what started everything.”

By age 19, Sylliboy became the first Mi’kmaw to play at a university level on Cape Breton University’s team, the Capers, from 2003 to 2007.

Since then, Sylliboy has influenced hundreds of young basketball players and says his story illustrates the importance of sport in community.

Sylliboy found inspiration close to home. His father was the first Mi’kmaw black belt in taekwondo.

“He was so dedicated to karate, I was like ‘I want to be like my dad,’” he says. “For him to have a high degree of black belt, he has earned respect. I always wanted that too.”

And the inspiration didn’t stop there. Rita Joe, the famous Mi’kmaw poet best known for her poem I Lost My Talk, was Sylliboy’s grandmother.

“She would tell me, you know, ‘I love poetry but you love sports, and you have to remember to do it for your people.”

The 39-year-old father of three recognizes the positive ...