Carey Price is as known for his advocacy and charitable work as he is for his performances on the ice. The 33-year-old Montreal Canadiens netminder has always been proud of his own heritage, which includes Nuxalk and Southern Carrier (Dakelh) Indigenous heritage. His mother, Lynda, was the chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation and the first woman elected to the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs board of directors. While Price is currently preoccupied by a second-round NHL playoff series with the Winnipeg Jet, he took time while on the road to meet with the local Indigenous community and to show his support in their fight for justice. He also acknowledged that his grandmother is a residential school survivor.
Price stopped Friday at St. Mary's Cathedral in Winnipeg to meet with local survivors of Canada's Indian Residential Schools. They were gathered there to meet with a representative of the Catholic Church following the recent horrific discovery of a mass grave at what was once the home of a residential school in Tk'emlúps, near Kamloops, BC. 215 bodies were found, all of them children and some as young as three.
"Here at St. MARYS CATHEDRAL, WPG waiting for Archbishop Gagnon. SURVIVORS are seeking Justice. Then Carey Price, Montreal Canadians stops to talk with me, Gramma Shingoose. He was gifted a Tobacco Tie and Orange ribbon," wrote Geraldine Lee Shingoose on Twitter, a survivor of the residential school system.
Price, who is from BC, talked about how moved he was following a moment of silence held by the NHL during game one of the Habs-Jets series and also urged people to learn more about residential schools across Canada, which have left a terrible legacy of cruelty that thousands of Indigenous people continue to live with.
