When Sandy Ward was a young woman, she saved up all her money from her first job to buy a snowboard. Growing up close to Whistler on the Lil’wat Nation, snowboarding was something she saw her non-indigenous friends doing and wanted to try. But when Ward looked around, she saw no one who looked like her. “When you don’t see yourself represented, you start to feel like you don’t belong.” 

Despite feeling like the odd woman out – and breaking her wrist her first day of snowboarding, Ward persisted. She taught herself how to snowboard and went on to compete in halfpipe and become a certified instructor. When she started splitboarding on her traditional land, she started feeling more connection to the landscape. She now has over 20 years of riding experience and helps run a backcountry mentorship program for Indigenous Women Outdoors (IWO) an organization that helps empower and connect Indigenous women in outdoor settings. 

And on this journey Ward said there have been some tough barriers to overcome. Barriers like access to knowledge, resources, or a lack of allies.  Ward said there’s a feeling of constantly having to prove herself, prove she belongs in that space. Even after gaining skills and passing instructor exams, Ward saw herself get passed over for men. “Is still seems to me that as an Indigenous woman, I need to work five times harder than everyone else to get recognized.” 

Ward said that mentorship she received has been pivotal for her. To have someone to tell her she was good enough and push her to keep reaching, made a real difference. Mentorship, the cornerstone of IWO, is a way to learn in a safe environment, connect with others and receive support that reaches beyond the sport or activity itself. And Ward wants the kind of support she received for others.

Bringing Indigenous women together outside creates the opportunity to share stories, and usually this means stories about the land. Creating or reinforcing the connection with the landscape helps people understand where they are, who they are and cultivates appreciation and respect.  

“Our stories offer teachings about how to interact with the land, water, sky and all beings of the world. In our language we have a saying, ‘Pal7míntwal i ucwalmícwa múta7 ti tmicw,’ the land and people are one.”