Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 137

“It’s an exciting group,”
Fisher said proudly.
“The potential for all
of them to succeed in
our game and in life is
very, very high. We’re all
excited to get started
on this journey.”
Taylor Tom from Team Manitoba,
the 2017 National Aboriginal Hockey
Championship gold medalists
“And don’t forget, education is
extremely important for this program.
The young women will be able to work
from home in Manitoba on the Online
Manitoba Educational Curriculum and
have both Video Feed and in-person
tutorial support. The young women’s
report cards are just as important to our
organization as their ability to excel at
hockey.”
What makes this program especially
interesting is that in order to make it
work with 10 Manitoba, the Shamrocks
invoked the Jay Treaty. According to
Samuel Flagg Bemis’s, Jay’s Treaty: A
Study in Commerce and Diplomacy
(1923), “The Treaty of Amity, Commerce,
and Navigation, between His Britannic
Majesty and the United States of America,
commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and
also as Jay’s Treaty, was a 1795 treaty
between the United States and Great
Britain.”
While it certainly, more than anything
else, was a trade deal between the United
States and Upper and Lower Canada,
John Jay’s treaty also allowed the free
movement of the native people of North
America across the Europeans’ political
borders.
As a result of the Jay Treaty, “Native
Indians born in Canada are therefore
entitled to enter the United States
for the purpose of employment,
study, retirement, investing, and/or
immigration.” In this case, it allows
the Shamrocks to void the four-import
only rule of the JWHL. Although two
players from Manitoba are non-Treaty
and are considered imports (Hodge
and Jorgenson), the eight First Nation
players are not. Thanks to the Jay Treaty
Umpherville, Moore, McKay, Bunn, the
Lea twins, Albert and Tom will all be
considered natural born U.S. players.
“It took a lot of work for us to invoke
the Jay Treaty,” said Fisher. “It’s not
something that everyone looked at and
said, ‘OK.’ There was a lot of red tape
in regards to Hockey Canada and USA
Hockey, but in the end, we were able to
prevail and provide these young athletes
to benefit from what we have to offer here
in Boston.
“I’m really thrilled to be able to get on
the ice and start skating with them this
season.”
Because he gained so much experience
working with Coach Rempel at the U of
M, Fisher already knows nearly every
player from Manitoba heading to Boston
this season. ❍
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