Jordin Tootoo

Who is he?

Jordin John Kudluk (Thunder) Tootoo was born in 1983 and grew up in Rankin Inlet (Kangiqliniq or "deep inlet"), Nunavut. Of Inuit and Ukrainian descent, he is both the first Inuk player and the first player to grow up in Nunavut to play in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was also the first Inuk athlete to play for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Throughout his 13-season NHL career, Tootoo played 723 games, and racking up 65 goals. Following his retirement in 2018, Jordin now travels to First Nation communities across Canada to share his life story as a former professional hockey player and to advocate for mental health awareness, at-risk youth supports and suicide prevention. He dedicates this effort to his older brother Terrence, who died by suicide at age 22.

“I feel that it’s my calling to share my story with our indigenous communities. To help our kids, the future of our people.”

Early Life & Cultural ties

  • From an early age, Jordin spent time on the land with his family hunting, fishing and camping. He often credits the mental and physical toughness he learned on the land as the source of his strength to persevere in hockey and life.

  • At age 13, in order to achieve his dream of playing competitive hockey, Jordin left home to attend school and play hockey in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories and later, Spruce Grove, Alberta. Not only was he an outsider at these schools, but he was also bullied for being Indigenous.

  • The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) Blizzards of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League signed Jordin for the 1998-99 season. He joined his older brother, Terence, who started with the team in 1997. The brothers played on the same line and lived in The Pas, Manitoba.

  • In 1999, Jordin played with the newly formed Under-20 Canadian Team Indigenous at the Universal Players Hockey and went on to captain Canada’s Under-18 team in the Four Nations Tournament

  • In August 2002, Jordin experienced the suicide epidemic in remote Indigenous communities firsthand. Just as Jordin was drafted by the Nashville Predators, his older brother Terence, also set to be drafted to the NHL, died by suicide at the age of 22.

  • Alcoholism was also issue in his family, and it stayed with him into his time in the NHL until he voluntarily entered the league’s substance abuse program in 2010.

  • These would become major reasons why, 16 years later, Tootoo stepped away from professional hockey to try and provide a solution to the crisis.

Jordin Tootoo at age 15, left, with his brother Terence Tootoo, 18, in Portage La Prairie, Man., in 1998. The two were playing for the Opaskwayak Cree Nation Blizzard. (Fred Greenslade/Winnipeg Free Press/Canadian Press)

RECOGNITION

  • Meritorious Service Medal (2017) for his work in Nunavut promoting healthy living and encouraging conversations about difficult topics like addiction and suicide

  • Bestselling author of the memoir All The Way: My Life on Ice (READ MORE HERE!)

  • National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards (2002)

Significance & IMPACT

In 2011, Tootoo established the Team Tootoo Foundation during his career to help raise awareness for suicide prevention. He spends time in many remote Indigenous communities, holding hockey camps and trying to change the culture.

Jordin Tootoo's life is the story of how an Indigenous Inuk in a remote Arctic community beat the odds to play 13 seasons in the NHL, become a role model for youth and others, and give back to his community while keeping strong ties to his family, homeland and culture.

In addition to sharing his own personal struggle towards the NHL, Tootoo also uses his platform as a professional athlete to educate people on Indigenous history and highlight the current issues that plague Indigenous communities in order to bring about meaningful change. Bringing a message of inspired inclusivity, he speaks to the need for real teamwork—at work and in our social communities— in order to fight against discrimination and the stigma around suicide and addiction.

Further Reading/info


Citations

Bergman, Karen. "Jordin Tootoo". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 10 June 2019, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jordin-tootoo. Accessed 06 December 2020.

“Jordin Tootoo on His Triumph over Addiction and Growing up in the North.” Sportsnet.ca, Rogers Media, www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jordin-tootoo-triumph-addiction-growing-north/.

Caumell, Christian. “Jordin Tootoo, First Inuk NHLer, Retires to Spend Time Giving Back to Indigenous Communities.” CJOB, Global News, 20 Oct. 2018, globalnews.ca/news/4576392/jordin-tootoo-first-inuk-nhler-retires-to-spend-time-giving-back-to-indigenous-communities/.

Tootoo, Jordin. Jordin Tootoo Official Website, 2020, www.jordintootoo.com/.