The Best Seats
In The House

Here at Sport Systems, we pride ourselves on working with indigenous communities across both Canada and the United States. We’ve been working with First Nation communities for decades now and always enjoy the opportunity to learn more about both their history and their plans for the future. 

In one of our more recent projects, we were once again linked up with a Canadian First Nation who was in search of a new and reliable seating solution for the gymnasium in the community’s busy recreational centre.

Garden River First Nation, known as Ketegaunseebee, is an Ojibwa band located on the Garden River reserve near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, along the St. Marys and Garden Rivers. Established through the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty under Chief Shingwaukonse, the community has a rich history of advocating for treaty rights. With a population of over 3,500 (1,324 on-reserve), Garden River is a cultural hub for Anishinaabe traditions. Its Recreation Centre serves as a key facility for community activities, hosting youth programs like summer day camps and supports athletic programming in the community.

In our first meetings with Garden River, they expressed the need for a new bleacher solution for the gymnasium, as organizers were looking for another solution to bringing in and setting up chairs for each event the centre hosted. In addition to the human resources required to set up and take down the seating, the chairs were harming the valuable gym flooring beneath, something key stakeholders wanted to ensure could get some additional protections.

Our telescoping bleachers were already on the Garden River First Nation’s radar as they knew one of these solutions would both eliminate the risk to the floor below and provide comfortable and retractable seating for the growing number of spectators.

After assessing their needs, our team designed and installed a five-row, 26’ long retractable bleacher system that will now seat upwards of 73 spectators comfortably.

Made in Canada and designed to meet or exceed the Canadian building code requirements for telescopic bleachers, the community now has peace of mind knowing they had made the right purchase for their community gym.

We thank our friends at Garden River for their business and look forward to working with them and many other of our indigenous partners over the coming years.