A remarkable four-year run on and off the field for kinesiology student

The end of winter break was bittersweet for Olivia Beausoleil.

The fourth-year honours kinesiology undergrad was in Midland getting ready to head back to Mac for her final term.

“I told my mom it was the start of the end.”

Olivia’s had a remarkable run in the classroom, on the field and with the community of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students at McMaster.

Four years ago, Olivia was waiting for Mac’s offer of admission to land in her inbox. She says McMaster was her first choice because of the kinesiology program’s reputation. It’s also a direct entry program – “I wanted to spend all four years taking kin courses.”

The program offers a mix of basic and applied courses, along with practical hands-on experience like clinical and research placements and strength and conditioning student coaching. Olivia’s done it all, plus a stint as the student field therapist with the women’s varsity fast pitch team. She was a fixture in the dugout during games and practices – mending athletes and working alongside some of Canada’s most experienced sport medicine clinicians.

Olivia also got to live out her gridiron dreams throughout her entire undergrad, playing running back with the McMaster women’s football team. It’s a competitive club team in the Ontario Women’s Intercollegiate Football Association that plays 5v5 flag football during the fall and spring and 11v11 contact flag football during the winter. That’s meant games and practices in freezing temperatures on snow-covered fields. “Wearing layers is the key,” says Olivia. “But you never really get totally used to the cold.”

Olivia’s biggest and most important plays have come with the Indigenous Student-Athlete Council and Indigenous Health Movement. It’s where she’s helping other Indigenous students see themselves in these spaces and know that they belong at McMaster.

Her involvement in the council and club have caught some people off guard. “Over the years, I’ve been told that I don’t look stereotypically ‘Indigenous’.” Olivia’s always followed up that tone-deaf comment by asking what an Indigenous person is supposed to look like. “I’ll challenge that stereotype by drawing on my own lived experience to as a Métis person.”

Being Métis means embodying a unique and distinct culture, history and identity, says Olivia. She’s proudly brought that identity to bear on the Indigenous Student-Athlete Council where Olivia and health sciences student Emma Robertson have served as the founding co-presidents. The council advocates for Indigenous student athletes – offering a safe community and helping to increase their representation and visibility on campus.

“We’re doing important work to enhance representation and want to keep the council’s momentum going,” says Olivia. “It’s been a real privilege to have been there since the beginning, helping to get the council up and running.”

For Olivia, the highlight of her work on the council was last September’s McMaster Marauders Orange Shirt Games with the women’s and men’s varsity ruby and soccer teams at Ron Joyce Stadium. The event included Indigenous vendors set up in the concourse along with involvement from the Iroquois Roots Rugby program. In the lead-up to that event, ISAC’s executive team – Olivia, Emma, Seth Cabezas and Luken Lawson – produced and posted a personal and powerful video on the impact of residential schools and the importance of reconciliation.

McMaster’s Indigenous Health Movement is an interdisciplinary, student-run club that educates students and community members on topics surrounding Indigenous health. It’s a topic that Olivia will stay focused on after Mac – she plans to build on her kinesiology degree with a healthcare career in medicine.

“Growing up within the Georgian Bay Métis community has heavily influenced by commitment to targeting health disparities,” says Olivia. “I want to do my part in making a positive impact on the health and wellness of Indigenous and rural communities.”