Adam khan
EDUCATOR
🌟 ROLE: Athletic Director and Educator
📍 NATION: Mosakahiken Cree Nation
📚 SCHOOLS: Mosakahiken Frontier School
🏛️ DIVISION: Frontier School Division
“Every time I’ve been in Moose Lake, it’s so apparent how the youth look up to him and it’s incredibly heartening to see. The kids have a stand-out role model.”
Creating equitable sport and land-based opportunities for Indigenous youth in Mosakahiken Cree Nation lies at the heart of Adam Khan’s work. As an educator of over 10 years, Adam actively seeks out and develops inclusive and accessible sport and recreation opportunities for his students, setting them up for life-long participation.
Living in Mosakahiken Cree Nation for ten months of the year, Adam says he has been fortunate to “learn firsthand about the culture and traditions of the people that have resided in Moose Lake for a very long time.” Moose Lake is a remote, close-knit community of 900 on-reserve band members, is 100km from the nearest town, and a seven-hour drive north of Winnipeg.
When he was a school-aged kid living outside of Toronto, “going on a field trip was just normal, something we felt entitled to,” he says. ”In Moose Lake, the nearest field trip we can go to is an hour-and-a-half drive. Opportunities are more meaningful here and hold a different weight for the youth.”
Adam has spent the past eight years devoting his evenings and weekends to coaching youth in numerous sports, ranging from basketball to badminton. In a K-12 school with less than 300 students, he has coached teams to compete and win several provincial championships.
“Educating feels more meaningful [in Moose Lake] and it feels like the things I’m able to do are of greater importance. On a personal level, it feels much more rewarding.”
Adam has additionally mentored multiple students through college applications and supported students to pursue post-secondary education with sports scholarships. His tenure in this position has shaped his view on education, citing “I always try to talk about gratitude when we have guests come in, talking about how fortunate we are to have those experiences.”
Upon reflecting on the relationship between Spirit North and Mosakahiken Cree Nation, he shared that Spirit North’s community program leaders are incredibly thoughtful and adaptable, often improvising to meet the needs of the students. He notes that “the benefits of the relationship aren’t easily measurable through metrics, but the outcomes are overwhelmingly positive.”