Arthur Quoquochi

The first Indigenous person to play professional hockey

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Born in 1949 in the Atikamekw community of Wemotaci, Arthur Quoquochi attended the St-Marc de Figuery residential school near Amos and the Pointe-Bleue residential school in Lac-St-Jean, where he earned a reputation as an outstanding hockey player. He went on to have an impressive career with various junior hockey teams, including the Montreal Junior Canadiens, with whom he won the Memorial Cup in 1970. Drafted that same year by the Boston Bruins, he became the first Indigenous person to play professional hockey. (Ottawa 2010, 92-95)

A shared passion for hockey. young players from the Indian residential school in St-Marc-de-Figuery, near Amos, are photographed with their idol, the great Jean Béliveau. Testifying to the difficult years he spent at the residential school, dominique Rankin confessed that hockey was his favourite means of escape (Rankin and Tardif 2011, 11). In his book on Indian residential schools in Québec, Gilles Ottawa says that the schools caused serious harm, but there were also positive aspects to them, such as encouraging students to play sports, in particular hockey, at which the young Indigenous students excelled. Ottawa tells the story of an outstanding young hockey player named Arthur Quoquochi, from the Atikamekw community of Wemotaci, who went to the Amos (St-Marc) and Pointe-Bleue Indian residential schools in the early 1960s. Following a stellar career with teams such as the dolbeau Castors and the Montréal Canadien Junior team, with whom he won the Memorial Cup in 1970, he was drafted by the Boston Bruins, becoming the first Indigenous person to play professional hockey (Ottawa 2010, 92-95).

Photo credit:  BAnQ Rouyn-Noranda, Fonds de l’Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

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