Meloche invited by Skate Canada to open nationals 

Kahnawa’kehró:non Konwatsitsawi M. Meloche said she was honoured that Skate Canada, the governing body for figure skating in Canada, invited her to open each day of the 2025 Canadian Championships in Laval, from January 14-19.

Meloche is the director and facilitator of Vista Seminars. She said that Skate Canada invited her as part of their efforts to be more inclusive in the sport of figure skating, and that she did something similar last March when the Kahnawake Figure Skating Club was invited to the Bell Centre to watch the International Skating Union World Championships.

"They're working extremely hard to create Indigenous inclusion, and other inclusion, and work on diversity, equity, and accessibility. So, they wanted to honor the First Peoples of the land,” said Meloche.

“A key component of Skate Canada’s efforts to make skating for everyone is to work in good ways with Indigenous communities,” said Skate Canada's senior communications manager Julia Michalopoulos. 

As such, prior to each day’s events, a video of Meloche played on the big screen of Place Bell.

“It was saying, ‘Welcome to our land. This is where our ancestors had their homes and their areas where they lived.’ It was quite a beautiful description. And then I did the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen,” said Meloche.

The entire video was in Kanien’kéha, with subtitles in English and in French. This was done at Meloche’s request.

“When they asked me initially to do it, they asked me if I could I do it in both English and French. And I said, no, I don't want to do it in either language. I want to do it in my original language,” said Meloche.

Skate Canada accepted, and Meloche provided the English version of the text for the subtitles.

She said that she felt honoured and touched that Skate Canada accepted the request to have the video be in Kanien’kéha.

“To be acknowledged and respected like that is a rare thing in Canada. That really places them at the top of the list of organizations that I have worked with,” said Meloche.

“I've been traveling Indian Country for decades now, and it's very rare to have someone or an organization like that just be willing, open, and listen to me in this way. They just accepted when I told them, no, you do it this way. I want it this way. They were very willing, which is a rare quality in organizations in Canada.”

Though she was proud of the video, at first she was reticent to accept, as she said she does not feel comfortable in front of a camera.

“I was trying to get someone else to do it because they wanted me to do it in front of a camera, and I knew that was not something I could do,” said Meloche.

Skate Canada asked her if an elder could do it instead of her, so she turned to her language coach, Kaia'titáhkhe Annette Jacobs. 

“I had asked her to do it, and she said, ‘no, you deserve to do it. You've been doing a lot of studying all your life with the language and you deserve the accolades at this time,’” said Meloche.

So Meloche asked Jacobs for her help, and she gladly accepted.

Doing the video and watching it play on the screen in-person was a big of a stressful experience for Meloche, at first. “Well, it's always a little scary, to see that image on the Jumbotron. And of course, I'm watching and listening for my pronunciation,” said Meloche.

But, once she saw it, she was very pleased with the end result.

“It was really done quite well,” said Meloche.

Skate Canada, for their part, said they very much appreciated the partnership they have formed with her.

“We deeply value the profound relationship we have cultivated and the continuous guidance and knowledge that Konwatsitsawi shares with Skate Canada,” said Michalopoulos. 

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