Nickel Belt News
Volume 58 Number 11
Friday, March 16, 2018
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Volume 64 • Issue 11
Local Taekwondo students win big at the Victory Cup Championship in Winnipeg
Book a way to preserve and pass on memories of growing up in Churchill
a person. Her emphasis on self-defense and empowering the weak has been inspiring, Four students from Thomp- and I’m grateful to have her son, Manitoba traveled to as my instructor.” Winnipeg to compete in the The student winners at the third annual Victory Cup Victory Cup Championship Taekwondo Championship on were equally grateful for March 16th, 2024. The stu- Nicolas’ guidance and support. dents, who range in age from Six-year-old Ryder Stevens, a 6 to adult, competed in various yellow belt who competed in categories and brought home two categories, took home 2 an impressive total of 6 gold gold medals for Poomsae and and 2 silver medals. board breaking. The SIKAD Taekwondo Another young winner was team, led by founder and in- blue stripe Peyton Holmes, structor Mitch Nicolas, has who took home a gold medal been training together for on her first Taekwondo comseveral years at their sta- petition. Speaking about her tioned dojo on 20 Hayes Rd win, Holmes stated, “I was in Thompson. With a focus so nervous going into the on self-defense training and competition, but Mitch and physical and mental wellness, my fellow students helped me Nicolas has grown her dojo to feel confident and prepared. a group of 20 students, teach- Winning a gold medal on my ing kids as young as 4 years first competition was a dream old. come true.” Nicolas, a 3-time black And even one of SIKAD belt champion, started her Taekwondo’s newest recruit; own dojo in 2019 after transi- White belt Zander Linklater, tioning from a fitness instruct- also competed in Poomsae and or to self-defense training. placed 1st and 2nd in sparring. Speaking about her love for Looking ahead, Nicolas is Taekwondo, Nicolas stated, focused on preparing her stu“I started loving Taekwondo dents for the next championwhen I moved to Thompson ship, which is scheduled for with my partner in 2009, and June. She expressed gratitude at first I thought it was not for to the Taekwondo parents and me, but when I did a class I grandparents who drove all the found I enjoyed it. It’s good way to Winnipeg to show their not just physically, but it helps love and support for the team, me mentally. It helps me re- stating, “We couldn’t have move stress in my life.” done it without their support.” One of Nicolas’ main focusThe SIKAD Taekwondo es is on her Impact Women’s team’s success at the Victory Class, where she teaches Cup Championship serves as women how to protect them- a reminder that small towns selves if ever confronted with can produce big champions. unexpected rape or abuse. With dedicated instructors like Sean Umacam, a higher Mitch Nicolas and passionbelt student who took home 2 ate students like those on her gold and 1 silver medal, spoke team, the future of Taekwondo Nickel Belt News photo by Ian Graham about the impact Nicolas has in Thompson looks bright. Addictions Foundation of Manitoba northern director Gisele deMeulles has written a book about her experiences growing up, mostly in Churchill. had on him and his fellow stu~Matthias J. Johnson is a dents. “I’ve been training with to write Localthings Journalism Initiative BY IAN GRAHAM For all the harsh weather that you have ‘Oh, I’m just as bad, right?’ was not a very safe thing swallow when people say Mitch for a few years now and reporter who works out of the EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET I have all these stories and to do but I jumped at it. I that Churchill residents and the dangers of polar to figure out. It’s pretty clear I can honestly that she has when Thompson Citizen. The Local Though she’ssay now written I get through.” I need to capture them for thought that was exciting should just find somewhere bears, deMeulles said if it helped me grow not only as DeMeulles Journalismsaid Initiative is funded a book about her experienshe wrote my grandchildren really until the plane landed and easier to live. had been viable she would acesTaekwondo athlete but as herbybook, the Government of Canada. growing up in Churchill, right: Linklater, Holmes, Stevens, Umacam titled Whispers in becauseFrom theyleft willtobe lost Zander if they startedPeyton throwing the Coach “ToMitch, say, Ryder ‘Those peopleSean have moved back to ChurchBY MATTHIAS J. JOHNSON LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER, THOMPSON CITIZEN
Addictions Foundation of Manitoba northern director Gisele deMeulles said writing wasn’t something she always thought she would do. “In my youth I never felt good at writing,” she said. “But when I moved to Thompson to get into the school of social work, at that point I had to write for university and realized, ‘Holy, I’m not bad at this, right?’ I certainly developed a lot of skill in university and came out of there with a very strong skill in my writing and confidence in my writing. I write very clear and that’s it. It’s there. Some people say it’s kind of blunt or direct. I don’t tend
the Wind: Stories from the North - Life in Churchill for a couple of reasons. “I just sort of thought, you know what, this history, this stuff that’s in my head, it’s going to be gone if I don’t write it down,” she said. “My kids are not going to get it if I don’t do it and it’s something I’ve always wanted my mom to do. My mom’s an elder and she’s an artist, she’s got so many wonderful stories because she always tells her stories at Parks Canada in Churchill and I’ve always hounded her, ‘Please, just put it on tape, I will write it for you because your story is going to be lost,’ and she’s never done it and I thought,
I don’t.” fuel off and I realized, ‘Holy She also has a reputation cats, I was probably sitting as a storyteller herself. on a bomb.’” “I had such a varied hisAnother thing that tory and I would tell people spurred her on was the stories and they would go, hard times facing Churchill ‘That’s not true, is it?’ I’d go, since the Hudson Bay Rail‘Yeah it’s true.’ They’d go, way suspended operations ‘You didn’t do all that, did north of Gillam last spring. you? You’ve got to be really “It used to be a really old.’ I was like, ‘No, actually thriving large community 240346m0 I did all that before I was and it’s just dwindled down 27,’ and they went ‘What?’” to such a small population Looking back, some of now,” deMeulles says. those experiences are things Though she’s not there she might not do again. any longer, her parents and “I did some pretty bizarre her sister and other family stuff like fuel hauls into the members still are. high Arctic at -35,” said “My cousin owns the deMeulles. “It didn’t dawn hardware store there,” she on me until after. That was a says. very dangerous thing to do. Because of that, Being on a plane full of fuel deMeulles finds it hard to
choose to live there. They should just leave,’ is quite simplistic. It’s quite disrespectful. If we were in the same boat in another area I think we would scream about that so why don’t they have the option to do that? I think right now they’re feeling like they’re pawns in a political game and that’s really sad for them because I think the people of Churchill really want to thrive. They’ve built their worlds there. How would we feel if someone came to you and said, ‘I’m sorry, you have to leave your home community and we’re going to displace you somewhere else and all your loved ones and your history is gone?’”
ill in a heartbeat. “I miss the shoreline, I miss the rock, I miss the polar bears even though they’re very dangerous and I really miss the Hudson Bay,” she says. “When I go back home, standing on the Hudson Bay looking out on the bay, it just gives you an incredible sense. You feel so small and you feel great.” Now that she’s got one book under her belt, deMeulles says she may try to produce another. “I have another book in me,” she says. “It’s a darker story, more about personal growth and struggles. Maybe in the next five years it’s something I’ll focus on doing.”