Hockey Night in Canada announcer leads Edmonton summit on racial discrimination in hockey

For more than a decade, Harnarayan Singh has been the voice of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi.

But in a virtual summit at Edmonton's MacEwan University on Thursday, Singh recounted how throughout his experience as a fan and broadcaster in the sport he loves, he's faced racial slurs, discrimination and people telling him he didn't belong.

"I was told so many times in my life that there wouldn't be a place for me in the hockey broadcasting world because of how I looked," Singh said Thursday.

The summit, titled For the Growth of the Game: Addressing Racism in Hockey, brought together people from different levels of the sport, and around 200 attendees hailing from all over Canada, as well as the United States and Europe. Speakers talked about first-hand experiences with racial discrimination in hockey and what needs to change about the sport.

Singh said he's heard similar stories from people all over Canada who can find parallels with his experience.

"This is the story of being a visible minority, a person of colour, in Canada where you're doing your best to fit in. And you're trying to participate in something so Canadian, and that is hockey, but you're constantly still having to justify your own Canadian-ness," Singh said in an interview on Thursday with CBC's Radio Active.

The summit brought together people from the NHL, the Oilers Entertainment Group, academics, researchers, and former players.

One of the event's goals was to develop resources to share with attendees. Irfan Chaudhry, director of MacEwan's office of human rights, diversity and equity, said all of the recordings from the summit and some additional resources will be made available online in the new year.

Chaudhry said he's often heard from people who feel like they're on an island when experiencing racism in hockey, with no one to talk to about what they face. Thursday's summit provided a space to talk about their experiences, Chaudhry said.

"By even starting to have these conversations, people are feeling empowered that they're not on their own," Chaudhry said.

"Unfortunately this is happening in a number of different areas, different spaces, and this goes to that systemic nature of racism and racial discrimination. But now that we have these conversations, people feel more confident that we know we need resources."

It's important to have the NHL involved to lead the way in addressing racial discrimination in the sport, Chaudhry said, because it influences regional leagues and lower levels of hockey to do the same.

Chaudhry said sometimes grassroots organizations aren't taking the problem seriously, or simply don't have the resources or knowledge they need. He hopes the summit on Thursday and the resources they can provide will play a part in providing more information to help organizations at different levels of the sport.

Racial inequality in hockey was widely discussed in the sport earlier this year when the Hockey Diversity Alliance was founded. Minnesota Wild defenceman Matt Dumba brought attention to the issue in a speech he gave during the pregame ceremony of a playoff game in Edmonton this summer.

Singh said he thought the Hockey Diversity Alliance's formation, and Dumba's comments, were tremendous and necessary development. A united front between players, management, staff and ownership is needed for change to occur, Singh said.

"It needs to be a mission everyone is on board with to eradicate racism and discrimination," Singh said.

"We need everyone to talk about this and be aware of this."

Singh praised Hockey Night in Canada's Punjabi-language broadcast for providing a show his two children can watch that shows them a diverse group of people talking about hockey in a different language.

He said he tells BIPOC players, fans and families involved in hockey not to be afraid to tell their coaches, teammates or anyone else in the sport when they experience racism and discrimination in hockey, and to persevere through those challenges.

"When you have other people come up to you later on and say they never would have imagined themselves in that role but now they can," Singh said. "I think it's important for people of colour to work hard and go for their goals and hopes and dreams to be able to open the doors for others down the road."