Power Of Pong

In the tiny northern town of Fort Providence, N.W.T, table tennis helps keep kids in shape and out of trouble.

- Elaine Anselmi

ON THE SIDE OF the highway to Fort Providence, N.W.T., bison with massive heads and dwarfed back legs sit in clusters, paintbrush tails swishing.

It’s October, and I’m riding along with Deh Gáh School principal Lois Philipp as she makes the three-hour drive south from Yellowknife. We left at 6 a.m. and we didn’t stop to see the bison, or even to grab a coffee.

We roll past a truck stop just outside Fort Providence. Pinned up around the door are newspaper articles, event posters and advertisements: boat for sale, truck drivers wanted, floor hockey starting up at the gym. There’s a missing person poster: a young man from Fort Providence hasn’t been seen since April 2015. Like many communities in the North, this town of nearly 800 along the shore of the Mackenzie River is grappling with how to keep young people out of trouble.

There’s been a spree of break-ins throughout the area in the last year. A community member launched a petition calling for the banishment of unruly youth, but the initiative thankfully lost steam. Fort Providence Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge has called the crimes a cry for help. He’d like to see an on-the-land camp established as an alternative to the justice system, with the aim of rehabilitating young people by connecting them to their traditional cultures—the vast majority of the community is Dene and Métis. But the main question remains: how do you steer kids away from crime and keep them out of the crowds that breed it? This is a challenge for everyone, and especially for Philipp.