Passing the family torch

Jenny Wagler Photo

Lakota Joe is pictured holding the Olympic torch and a picture of his late uncle Mike Sutherland who carried the torch in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Lakota will be one of the Sechelt Indian Government District torch barriers on Feb. 4 when the Torch Relay passes through the Sunshine Coast.

When 13-year-old Lakota Joe carries the Olympic torch Feb. 4 as a representative of the Sechelt First Nation, family history will repeat itself.

It’s been 34 years since Lakota’s late uncle, Mike Sutherland, then 17, carried the torch in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. And Lakota and his uncle share more than a bloodline and a one-in-a-lifetime chance to carry the Olympic symbol. They also share a name; Lakota was given the middle name Michael, after his uncle. And, as matching framed photos at Lakota’s family home in East Porpoise Bay attest, Lakota and Sutherland share a passion: hockey.

But while Lakota submitted an application for the torchbearer position, detailing his athletic pursuits — rep hockey, soccer, baseball — as well as the family’s Olympic connection, Sutherland’s selection as a torchbearer has always remained a family mystery.

“We never did find out,” Lakota’s mother, Barbara Joe, said of her brother’s selection. Joe surmised that somebody must have put her athlete brother’s name forward. “We just got a call one day and we kind of thought it was a joke at first,” she recalled.

And as Feb. 4 nears, Lakota, a Grade 8 student at Chatelech Secondary School, says he’s feeling a bit nervous about having all those eyes fixed on him. He said he remembers watching a torch relay on TV during the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.

“There was a big stadium, a lot of people, and [the torchbearer] looked really nervous,” he said with a half-grin.

Other Coast torchbearers will include: Pender Harbour: Amanda Birtig, Daphne Pay; Madeira Park: Jade Palm, Kenneth Tran, Cassandra Whelan; Sechelt: Gary Coblenz, Phillip Hamel, Douglas Kennedy, Bruce Daniel Lane, Julie Lingley, John MacLeod, Jessica Neilson, Kai Nestman, Mary Winn; SIGD: Jeannette Lucas, Jennifer Tester; Roberts Creek: Caroline Depatie, James Martin, Henry Metzler; Gibsons: Mackenzie Booth, Rachel Canning, Gwendolyn Edwards-Hooley, Cameron Fyles, Jane Ostashek, Hailey Perry, Carolyn Ann Wray; Hopkins Landing: Pat Brand.

Editor’s note: Coast Reporter, along with the District of Sechelt and the local Olympic committee, will present a four-page pull-out section in the Jan. 29th edition with all the details on the Feb. 4 Sunshine Coast Torch Relay and how you can get involved.

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