IMPACT REPORT 2025–26
Deepening
Connections
Spirit North respectfully acknowledges that our organization’s work and programs take place on the traditional territories of modern and historic treaty territories and unceded lands of many diverse First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures and communities. We are continuously learning ways to honour these lands and the rich and complex stories of Indigenous peoples whose territory we reside on or are visiting. We are thankful for the many generations who have lived on and continue to care for these lands.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
the vision
All Indigenous youth experience the joy of sport and play
Spirit North imagines a future where all Indigenous youth live active, healthy lives, celebrate their culture and identities, strengthen their communities, and pursue their dreams.
THE MISSION
We co-create sport and play opportunities for Indigenous youth centered on the land and in community
Programs are co‑created with communities and schools, emphasizing cultural context, outdoor and land-based activities, and opportunities for leadership development within their communities.
INTRODUCTION
Following a period of rapid growth at Spirit North, 2025-26 was a time to listen, think long-term, and deepen our roots for the path ahead. One of the outcomes of this work is our new Strategic Framework [link] which is shaped by the perspectives gathered through many interviews and conversations throughout the year with youth, community leaders, Elders, educators, team members, funders, donors, and board members. The wisdom and ideas they shared are like nutrients in the soil that we will draw on to stand strong, and keep growing, for years to come.
What came through clearly is the transformative impact land-based sport and play programs can have when created together with young people and their communities. Research has long shown the benefits of sport and play for physical and mental health, education, and social connection. What we heard this year affirmed this, and pointed to something more: the value and importance of building our programs and doing this work collaboratively, in close partnership with communities, schools, and cultural leaders.
Last year, Spirit North partnered with 95 communities, and our waitlist is dozens of communities long, with new requests coming in regularly. This is both affirming and a clear picture of the work ahead of us: creating meaningful opportunities for Indigenous youth to move, play, learn, lead, and belong. Whether skiing, paddling, biking, or playing traditional games, youth are doing more than taking part in an activity, they are strengthening relationships in their communities, deepening confidence, and connecting with culture and the land.
Thank you to everyone who generously shared their perspectives and ideas, and helped clarify the purpose and the approach we take to this work. We remain committed to relationships built on respect, reciprocity, and responsibility.
Next year, Spirit North celebrates its tenth anniversary. If you've been part of this journey, we want to celebrate what we've built together and invite you to keep walking this path with us, toward a future where every Indigenous youth, no matter where they live, can experience the joy of sport and play.
Gary St Amand
CEO
Spirit North is becoming more focused, in both reach and relationships. What began as a small network of community partnerships has expanded into a national movement connecting thousands of Indigenous youth to the joy of sport, play, and the land. Guided by co-creation with communities, our programs now reflect deeper relationships built on respect, reciprocity, and shared purpose.
DEEPENING OUR ROOTS
“The best part about Spirit North is the people. They’re all nice, they don’t judge anybody, and they make me so welcome.”
Spirit North’s whole team turned our attention toward listening in 2025-26; gathering input from community members, partners, Elders, and staff to help shape where we go next.
We're grateful for every conversation that shaped this work. The plans that came out of this year reflect voices from across the communities we're privileged to work alongside, and they are grounded in the priorities named in our new Strategic Framework: Youth, Communities, The Land, Our Team, and Partners and Allies. Together, these priorities hold relationships at the centre of everything we plan.
Get to know the Spirit North team (board and staff)
COMMUNITY LEADER PROFILES
Relationships built on respect, reciprocity, and responsibility are at the heart of our work at Spirit North. Click on the images for highlights of just a few of the many educators, knowledge holders, youth, and changemakers with whom we have the privilege of collaborating to create safe, land-based spaces where thousands of youth experience the joy of sport and play.
A Day in the Life on Skis
with Community Program Leader
Annika Olesen
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GEAR UP
8:00AM
I’m bundled up and out the door. Inside, the morning's real work starts before a single student arrives: mittens that dried overnight need sorting and pairing, there are snowpants that need to be folded, skis organized by size, water bottles filled, backpacks restocked with warm layers. O Canada and the morning prayer play over the loudspeaker.
LUNCH & REGROUP
BETWEEN CLASSES
Time is constantly on our minds as we calculate how to get the most out of the snow without cutting it too close for the next group. Back at the school, it's time for a loud, frosty group changeover — one class delayering, the next suiting up — with barely a moment for a sip of tea from the thermos before it starts again.
Lunch. Ski pants stay on. A seat opens up at a table full of questions: “What is that in the lunch bag, and could a person maybe try the chocolate chips?” (Trail mix rarely survives lunch intact.)
RISE & PLAN
6:45AM
The alarm goes off in an ATCO trailer, a spare room in the teacher's housing, or a modular home that's more empty than furnished. My home base changes with every school, and this week it's on-reserve housing a short walk from where the day will happen. Now coffee, a few lines in a journal, a check of the weather. Then a quick chat with the co-leader about the day's plan for where the ski trails will run, what the snow's doing, which classes are up first.
ALONE SKI & WIND DOWN
4:45pm
The formal day winds down, but I head out for one more ski, alone this time: a chance for quiet before dinner gets cooked out of a cardboard box of groceries in the back of the car. Some yoga, some guitar, a bit of writing. By nine, it's lights out, ready to do it again tomorrow.
FIRST TRACKS
9:00AM
The first class arrives in a shuffle of small boots and snowpants. I run a quick circle-up (what's happening, what's expected, how to stay safe) before the joyous noise and action begins: snowpants on before boots, mittens located, toques found. "Do we use our skis like walking sticks?" "No!" "How do we carry them?" "Like firewood!" When everyone's geared up, it's a short walk to the ski area, where we ease boot after boot into bindings. I demonstrate the basics (falling and getting back up, turning in a circle, keeping skis parallel) before the group spreads out onto the trail with one Spirit North or school leader up front, and one at the back, ferrying encouragement to whoever needs it.
“The best part about Spirit North is the people. They’re all nice, they don’t judge anybody, and they make me so welcome.”
BACK OUT
AFTERNOON
Two more groups head out before the school day ends, and when there's a ride available, an after-school session also takes place for the students who want more time on snow.
Programs like this one run across the North with support from partners including Canada Post Foundation, Cross Country NWT, and the Daniel Family Foundation — funders who understand that showing up for these communities means showing up all season, in every kind of weather.
2025-26
AT A GLANCE
This year, we chose depth over distance.
Rather than measure 2025–26 by how far our programs reached, we're measuring it by how deeply they took root. This was a year for centering the work we already do well, returning to communities we've walked alongside for years, deepening those relationships and our own understanding of what long-term, consistent programming actually requires.
16,643 Students
18,875 participants
51.7% Female
2,389 program days
As a charity, Spirit North relies primarily on donations from partners and individuals who support these programs. Thank you all for your contributions!
Add graph here showing our financial breakdown. (coming soon from Sharon and Marta)
How our funds are put to good use
Use of funds graph here (coming soon from Sharon and Marta)
Spirit North has often heard the same story from educators across the country: attendance goes up the week Spirit North is in the building. It's the kind of feedback that comes up again and again, but until now, it had never been tested against real attendance records.
That gap is what led Spirit North to design the Lynn Lake Attendance Study: a pilot project built to find out whether the pattern educators kept describing was actually showing up in the numbers, and why.
2,232 community members
29%
increase in total attendance during Spirit North week
ATTENDANCE STATS
37%
of students improved their individual attendance
87
grade 7–12 students included in the study
100%
of students surveyed said they want to be at school on Spirit North days
95 COMMUNITIES
40 COMMUNITIES WAITING TO JOIN
11 COMMUNITIES PAUSED DUE TO FUNDING
That choice shows up in this year's numbers, reflecting a season of consistency rather than expansion, in keeping with the Strategic Framework's commitment to sustainable, long-term relationships over rapid growth. Fewer new communities this year meant more time and attention for the ones already walking this path with us.
“What I value most about Spirit North is the evolution and enduring spirit of their partnership. In the early years, the act of skiing served as a simple yet profound way to unite people through movement. However, as the programming has expanded into mountain biking, double ball, and other land-based activities, that sense of unity has only deepened. It is rare to see a program grow so thoughtfully over time, consistently finding new ways to excite our youth while staying true to that core special element: the ability to bring an entire community together on the land. Watching this growth has been as rewarding for the staff as it has been for the students. ”
138 SCHOOLS WITH PROGRAMS
FEEDBACK
What we heard about the impact of Spirit North programs from schools and educators across all five regions last year.
Physical Activity
70% Students reach or exceed 60 min DPA because of Spirit North
90% Confidence to participate improved or significantly improved
88% Motivation to participate in physical activity improved or significantly improved
80% Participants have inspired other youth at school to be active
70% Participants have inspired school staff to be more active
Social-Emotional
86% Joy improved or significantly improved
82% Emotional regulation improved or significantly improved
82% Relationships with peers improved or significantly improved
90% Confidence improved or significantly improved
Education
50% Attendance improved or significantly improved
54% Focus on school activities improved or significantly improved
90% Willingness to try new things improved or significantly improved
86% Overall positive school environment improved or significantly improved
Inclusion & Belonging
94% Programs are inclusive of all ability and skill levels (Agree or Strongly Agree)
100% Programs promote a sense of belonging (agree or strongly agree)
100% SN Leaders are positive role models (agree or strongly agree)
98% SN Programs promote positive mental wellbeing
IN ACTION
From cross-country skiing to lacrosse, and from archery to paddling, Spirit North programs spark joy, confidence, and connection in every season.
This gallery is a showcase of over 40 different sports and land-based activities offered in partnership with communities. Each photo represents a pathway to health, confidence, and belonging for Indigenous youth.
Stories from the land
From bike fleets that spark new possibilities in Alberta, to braving the chill with a smile in the Northwest Territories, and finding meaning through Manitoba’s cultural programs, our stories show what’s possible when opportunity meets determination.
Click on the images below to read each story.
We wish to thank our partners at Jumpstart Foundation, Peter Cundill Foundation, Landmark Cinemas and Canada’s Great Kitchen Party for their generous support in bringing these stories to life.
WALKING TOGETHER
We remain focused on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, particularly those addressing the health legacy of residential schools and reconciliation through sport. This work is ongoing, and we're committed to staying accountable to it year over year.
So what does that mean in action at Spirit North? This year, that meant committing to grounding our work in the practices named in our new Strategic Framework [link to SF}: things like continued commitment to co-creation with communities, and balancing both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems while prioritizing listening and learning through community-led evaluation processes.
42%
Indigenous Staff (2025-26)
55%
Indigenous Board (6 of 11)
“For us, to reconcile is to make the relationship, to build the relationship
between one another… you can’t buy your relationship or friendship.”
FESTIVALs
Each year, Spirit North hosts winter Festival Days and Traditional Games Days across our regions, collaborating with Indigenous communities to gather and participate in traditional games, winter games, food and cultural activities. In alignment with each community’s availability and vision, these festival days take various forms, from large gatherings of many communities in one area, to smaller celebrations of being outdoors in the wintertime..
This year, we held 11 festivals from Smithers to Sudbury.
Spirit North’s annual festivals are about more than sport; they’re about being together on the land. Every festival is a collective effort, made possible by our team leaders, volunteers, sponsors, donors, community members, and Elders coming together to create joyful, inclusive spaces where connection can grow.
“The school visit programs are really good, but the Winter Festival day where we got to spend time outdoors, in community with other students from Thunder Bay and learning through Land-Based, experiential education was amazing. ”
Volunteers from Landmark Cinemas, Sun Life, TC Energy, TD Bank, SLB, Inter Pipeline, and Canmore Rotary Club at this year’s Canmore Festival.
““The highlight at the ski festival was the opportunity to interact with other schools and engage in a full day of various programming led by Spirit North instructors, the opening ceremony with support from Elder Art Petahtegoose was a beautiful way to begin and honour the land.”
Special thanks to the following partners for their generous support of our 2024-25 Festivals season!
COLLECTIVE PURPOSE
None of this work belongs to Spirit North alone. It's held up by our community allies, donors, and partners who believe in Indigenous youth leading active, healthy lives filled with pride in their culture and identity, inspired and led by their own communities.
This year, that shared commitment showed up in campaigns and partnerships across the country: the new U200 Campaign, Watch to Give Back, Landmark Cinemas, Canada's Great Kitchen Party, Rogers Birdies, and our Toque and Glove Campaigns, among others. Each one is a reminder that this work is carried forward by many hands, not one organization.
Thank you to everyone who walked alongside us this year.
Active campaigns this year:
(listed below paragraph text, left of logo grid)
Canada's Great Kitchen Party (CGKP)
Prime Watch to Give Back Landmark Cinemas
PREMIER PARTNERs
National Partners
Official Partners
Supporters of Spirit North
Friends of Spirit North
CAF America (Nike N7), Calgary Flames Foundation
Canada Post Community Foundation
CDE Engineering Ltd.
CN
The Daniel Family Foundation
Inter Pipeline Ltd.
National Winter Sport Development Association (NWSDA)
SLB
S. M. Blair Family Foundation
The Winnipeg Foundation