The organization now known as the Fort Albany Falcons began in 2015 when the coaching staff and Midget A Falcons players delivered donated hockey equipment and food to the youth of Attawapiskat via the winter ice road and provided a free, weekend hockey clinic. Led by a group of dedicated volunteers, the goal was to share a passion for fitness and sport and to help Indigenous children learn and play hockey. The group aims to eliminate any financial barriers by procuring equipment, providing healthy snacks during training and sharing skills and knowledge with local families to create a sustainable and enduring organization at the local level.

Fort Albany is a James Bay community without an indoor arena. Young players either play pond hockey or on outside rinks, which are often homemade.  From August 2016 to February 2017, the volunteer group attended Fort Albany once each month to hold dryland sessions and 3-on-3 hockey tourneys in the school gym, coordinating flights, planning and cooking food, and managing the required fundraising events.

Since February 2016, the group has outfitted approximately 50 children with new and used equipment plus sticks and skates and has hosted about 80 children for their dryland sessions in Fort Albany. Some of the young players had no equipment, so the Falcons outfitted over 50 children from helmets to blades, including specialized goalie equipment. In February 2017, Fort Albany was proudly represented by one atom team, one peewee team, one female peewee team and one midget team at the Mushkegowuk Cup in Timmins. To save on the cost of accommodations, some of the young players were welcomed and hosted by Timmins families, turning an act of support into long-term friendships.

Marie Leonard is the real estate clerk at Evans, Bragagnolo and Sullivan LLP. While she works primarily from the Timmins office, she also does the real estate closings for the Cochrane office.  

Marie has been involved in both male and female hockey for approximately 25 years.  A tireless promoter of girls’ hockey in Timmins and Northern Ontario, she started the first girls’ hockey teams in Kapuskasing, was a member of the Kapuskasing Minor Hockey Association board, and filled the inaugural Presidency of the Timmins and District Girls’ Hockey Association where she grew the league from three to eight Timmins teams during her four-year term. Marie was also Manager of the Timmins Falcons for five years and has spent the last three years managing the Midget A Falcons—the highest level of female hockey in Northern Ontario—a team that earned rankings in the Top 3 for the last two seasons. 

Marie’s daughter, Lindsay, and son-in-law, Marc Deschamps, coach the teams with assistance from Leonard (born in Fort Albany) and Judy Gillies.

Evans, Bragagnolo and Sullivan LLP is proud to help support the teams’ monthly travel costs, which include flights from August to January while the seasonal winter ice road is closed. The firm also provides Fort Albany jerseys for the Peewee and Midget teams, helps with the cost of fun social outings like Laser Tag, swimming at the pool, or bowling, and provides snacks like fruit, bagels, homemade pizza, and soup during or after practice. We were delighted to help put on a turkey supper over the holidays and to sponsor ice time for the teams to practice their skills. We also provide time and support to staff volunteers during work hours to help plan and organize key events for the teams and sponsor the midget appreciation supper held at Wacky Wings.