A new Education Guide will accompany 3,000 copies of the book to be distributed to schools, furthering Scotiabank's investment in making hockey more diverse and inclusive

TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Scotiabank is proud to announce that it will be donating 3,000 copies of The Hockey Jersey to school libraries across Canada. Teachers and educators can submit a request for their copy at scotiabank.com/thehockeyjersey.

In January 2023, Scotiabank released The Hockey Jersey – a fictional children's book written to help inspire more kids to see themselves represented in the game – as part of Scotiabank's hockey for all platform. The hockey for all platform launched in 2021 and is Scotiabank's commitment to making impactful, positive changes in the game by breaking cultural and financial barriers to the sport and making hockey more diverse, inclusive, and accessible.

Since the book's launch, The Hockey Jersey has had overwhelmingly positive support, with teachers, librarians, children, and families recognizing the book's important message around diversity both on and off the ice. 

Scotiabank has also created an accompanying Educator's Guide to help teachers create a lesson plan around The Hockey Jersey, including question prompts to encourage open discussions among students from Kindergarten through to Grade 12.

Donna Indrakumaran, an Experiential Learning Consultant with the Dufferin-Peel School board, who helped prepare the guide, says: "Educators can easily use this text with learners of all ages, asking big questions such as, 'What does it mean to belong?' and listening to the responses students have to offer."

"This book contributes to the inclusive space that I strive to create as an educator," says Dina Kakish, an elementary school teacher from Toronto, Ontario. "Being a passionate and devoted hockey fan, I love how Kareema's example makes hockey more relatable to female students."

"When we set out to create The Hockey Jersey, our hope was that the story would help make hockey more inclusive and accessible by inspiring more children to see themselves in the game," said Laura Curtis Ferrera, Scotiabank's Chief Marketing Officer. "Seeing the outpouring of positive support for the book from teachers and parents shows the meaningful impact this book has on educators, children, and communities across Canada."

Written by Jael Richardson with Eva Perron, and illustrated by Chelsea Charles, The Hockey Jersey is inspired by classic children's hockey books. The story follows Kareema, a young player on the day of her first hockey game. The story includes a diverse cast, in a modern setting, with a contemporary storyline as the team collectively discovers something special about hockey while seeing their new uniforms for the first time.

The book is available to purchase at Indigo with all net proceeds going to Hockey 4 Youth, a grassroots organization that fosters social inclusion for newcomers and high-priority youth through free on and off-ice life skills programs, with over $30,000 fundraised to date.

To increase accessibility for all to read The Hockey Jersey, a free, digital eBook is also available to download at scotiabank.com/thehockeyjersey. A braille version is also available on the book's microsite.

Since its launch, Scotiabank has donated an additional 8,500 copies of the book to public libraries, school boards and Little Free Libraries, and over 15,500 more to partners across the country, bringing the total number of donated copies to over 27,000. The book has sold over 4,000 copies, with nearly 6,000 downloads.

Book lovers and hockey fans are invited to join Scotiabank at Indigo's new location in The Well for a live reading of The Hockey Jersey with author Jael Richardson on October 29, followed by a Q&A session and book signings.

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.4 trillion (as at July 31, 2023), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on X @Scotiabank.

SOURCE Scotiabank