Skate park set to open in northern Manitoba First Nation this summer

Youth in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation will have another reason to get outside this summer. Construction of an approximately 7,000-square-foot skate park is expected to be finished by the beginning of August. 

Heston Parisien, 16, travelled just over an hour to Thompson's skate park to try tricks on his skateboard and bike. Now that his community is getting one of its own, he said he's excited to have a skate park where he lives.

"Now that I found out a new one's coming, it made me feel better," he said.

Assistant director of education Nicholas Campbell said he and his colleagues wanted to give youth an alternative form of recreation and came up with the idea last August. He said funding to build the outdoor skate park was approved last week — through Indigenous Services Canada and Jordan's Principle — and the northern First Nation is in the process of finalizing where in the community it will be built. 

"There's a lot of youth who want to be engaged in something. We kind of thought ... a skate park speaks to a lot of different youth," Campbell said.

Nisichawayasihk already has a hockey arena and 3 gymnasiums, but Campbell said not everyone was interested in using them. He said a skate park would cover many other interests in the community of around 3,400 — along with skateboards, people can use their rollerblades, bicycles and scooters. 

"We started showing kids the blueprints ... everyone was really receptive," Campbell said. 

Samantha Pike, principal of Nisichawayasihk Neyo Ohtinwak Collegiate, said there's a project at the school where students build and paint their own skateboards. With the news of the skate park opening, she said they're excited to be able to put them to use. 

"Having those skateboards as projects