This new season is about how sport helps newcomers find community and the role immigrants have played in shaping Canadian sports. From NHL tough guy Georges Laraque, to Manitoba’s All-Nations Cup soccer tournament, to a Montreal-based intro to skiing program for newcomers, Countless Journeys looks at how sports can be a gamechanger. Listen now
SANDY WOLOFSKY
The volunteers are going to help you find your ski boots, then you're going to go downstairs, you're going to get your equipment, and then we're throwing you outside and the instructors are gonna take you skiing and you're have the best day of your whole lives. (Enthusiastic cheering and applause)
TINA PITTAWAY
This season, Countless Journeys is all about sports.
From newcomers learning how to ski...
VERONICA
Okay, I'm basically in heaven. Everything is white. I see lots of snow, lots of people skiing, skating. Snowy mountain with a lot of snowy, snowy pines. I just feel like I'm in some Christmas movie.
TINA PITTAWAY
…to former NHL star Georges Laraque.
GEORGES LARAQUE
For me, the way that I was when I was a kid, if somebody told me that I couldn't do something, that's what I wanted to do. I never wanted to stop something because of criticism or because of racism or anything.
I loved the hockey. And even though people would call me anything, my goal was to prove them wrong and make it to the NHL. So I didn't care.
So I told my parents that I didn't want to quit, and that I was going to play in the NHL regardless of all the insults that I was getting.
TINA PITTAWAY
We’ll visit skating rinks, ski hills, and the soccer field... meeting new and second-generation Canadians with a passion for sports... and with great stories to share.
ELIZABETH KNEBLI
There is a story that dad made Brian Orser a pair of boots, and put two gold coins in the boots. He never told me where he put them, but I assume that they were in the heels. And my father said, you know, no, no matter what you do in this competition, you'll always be skating on gold.
TINA PITTAWAY
From the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
This season of Countless Journeys is presented by Air Canada, Canada’s airline for welcoming newcomers home.
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