The Famous 5 Foundation Sarnia Lambton is set to welcome home author and professor Dr. Alexandra Giancarlo as the keynote speaker for their upcoming Speaker Series event on Thursday, October 16, 2025. The afternoon of learning and reflection will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. In her talk, Giancarlo, now an assistant professor at […]
The Famous 5 Foundation Sarnia Lambton is set to welcome home author and professor Dr. Alexandra Giancarlo as the keynote speaker for their upcoming Speaker Series event on Thursday, October 16, 2025.
The afternoon of learning and reflection will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. In her talk, Giancarlo, now an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, will share lessons from her life across Canada and abroad. She will also reflect on her cross-cultural work with Indigenous Elders, offering insights from projects advancing decolonization in universities and across Canadian society. Tickets for the event are now available.
Giancarlo is the co-author of Beyond the Rink: Behind the Images of Residential School Hockey, which examines the history of the Sioux Lookout Black Hawks, a team from Pelican Lake Indian Residential School. In 1951, after winning a district championship, the players were sent on tour, framed at the time as a showcase of the "success" of the residential school system.
Beyond the Rink brings forward the voices of three Survivors of Pelican Lake Indian Residential School—Kelly Bull, Chris Cromarty, and David Wesley—who reflected on their experiences beyond the public photographs taken during the 1951 hockey tour. Through their perspectives, the book shows how hockey carried different meanings: for some, a lifelong passion; for others, a moment of reprieve within a system marked by assimilation and abuse.
By centering these truths, Beyond the Rink invites readers to reflect on the role of sport within Canada’s colonial history and on the importance of ensuring that Survivors’ voices are heard and remembered.
Join Dr. Alexandra Giancarlo at the Famous 5 Speaker Series to hear more about her journey, her research on the connections between culture and identity in sport, and her work on gender, sexuality, non-Western sport traditions, reconciliation, and newcomer experiences.
