Reconciliation and rebuilding: UWindsor hockey team travels to B.C.

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

The University of Windsor Lancers men's hockey team is on a trip to B.C. with a goal of making a difference off the ice.

The players and staff are visiting First Nations communities in the Nicola Valley, along with members of Unifor Local 444, to help out with restoration of homes following flooding and fires last year.

As part of the trip, they are also learning about those communities and about reconciliation.

They heard from a residential school survivor and had a chance to walk through the grounds of the former residential school in Kamloops, where about 200 potential unmarked graves were detected by ground-penetrating radar last year.

Mason Kohn, the captain of the team, acknowledged it was a difficult day but an opportunity the team was grateful for.

"We all heard about everything that had happened, but just being there and seeing first hand,and seeing how adversely,  it affected the Indigenous communities across Canada and around the world too, it was really powerful and we learned a lot there," he said.

Now, the team can use that experience to educate others in their lives, he said.

"We will do things differently as a team and we'll try and do our best to everyday impact society and Canada to the best we can to help the Indigenous cultures and rebuild the community and rebuild the relationship of trust," he said.

LISTEN: Bev Jacobs joins Afternoon Drive

Bev Jacobs, the senior advisor to the president on Indigenous relations and outreach at the University of Windsor, is with the team.

She said the students' experience and knowledge will have ripple effects in their communities.

They were welcomed by the Kamloops First Nation, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc, and a ceremony