Alouettes’ visit cancelled

Monday was supposed to be the third annual visit of the Canadian Football League (CFL)’s Montreal Alouettes to Kahnawake for a flag football and meet and greet event with players.

But, despite the event’s popularity the last two years, it was cancelled on September 11 due to a lack of signups.

“They wanted to know how many people were registered as of late last week, and unfortunately, we didn’t have many,” said Roiatate Horn, director of the Sports and Recreation Unit at the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.

Horn said that in the past few years, there have been many walk-ons for the events with the Alouettes, but even still, it was surprising to see a low number of signups.

It was surprising for the Alouettes, too.

“The Alouettes organization is disappointed to have had to cancel last Monday’s flag football event. Unfortunately, there was not enough youth registered, which surprised us considering the number of participants in the last two events,” said Francis Dupont, communications manager for the Montreal Alouettes.

Due to the small amount of time Alouettes players have to do community events during the season, rescheduling was not feasible.

“So, we decided that perhaps we’ll just cancel this year, and it will give us some more time to plan something for next year,” said Horn.

Both he and the Montreal Alouettes said that this would not be the endpoint of their partnership. In fact, Horn said that he and some team representatives would be discussing how Kahnawake could be present for their Orange Shirt Day game, September 26 at home against the Calgary Stampeders.

That game will once again feature the special logo designed by local artist Finnley Montour, this time on the game balls.

The details of what is in store for Kahnawake for that game should be announced in the coming days.

“They want our events to get bigger and give more opportunities for the youth to be exposed to football and work with professional athletes through a skills camp and flag football game, so we’re continuing to work with them, and we’re excited with this partnership. It’s full steam ahead,” said Horn.

“We intend to continue our work in communities throughout Quebec, including in Kahnawake and in other Indigenous communities,” said Dupont.

Horn said that the short turnaround time may have been a factor in the low number of signups - although the last two years had a similar turnaround time.

“Once the season starts, it’s really hectic for their communications team and their logistics teams, and that’s the people that we work with. It’s just the reality of working with a professional sports organization. There’s a lot of traveling and a lot of logistics involved,” said Horn.

Planning for the event started prior to the season in the spring, with final details like seeing which players would be available and making sure the activity would fit their regular season schedule making adding the finishing touches on the event come in closer to the date.

Horn also said that there are, quite simply, a lot of things happening in Kahnawake right now, which might make having an evening of free time difficult for people in the community.

“We’re obviously not putting the blame on anybody. It’s a busy time. It’s back to school, it’s hockey starting. There’s lacrosse and baseball fall ball. It’s not a bad thing that people are active with other things,” said Horn.

While it was a disappointing turn of events, Horn said that it was just a bump in the road, not the end of it.

“We’re excited to continue working together,” said Horn.

“Kudos to the Alouettes for speaking with us and continuing to push forward with us. I have nothing bad to say.”

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