ABSTRACT
Indigenous histories have always existed. Indigenous notions of the past that connect people to places, events, peoples, and memories help Indigenous peoples define their place in the created world and explain its shapes, wonders, and human relations. Indigenous sport history sits at the intersection of Indigenous history and sport history. Indigenous sport history has grown significantly since then, with scholars mapping the varied and complex role of sport in Indigenous lives. Sport in Canada emerged in the mid-nineteenth-century, during the first industrial revolution, and is recognized by an emphasis on competition and winning, as well as a highly organized structure that is overseen by governing bodies that police what happens in sporting spaces. The literature on Indigenous sport is not only growing, it is also theoretically and conceptually robust, which makes it fertile ground for understanding the complex nature of sport in Canada, in both Indigenous and settler Canadian contexts.
