Halfway River First Nation celebrates taekwondo champions

WONOWON, B.C. — A northeast B.C. First Nation is celebrating the accomplishments of its small but mighty taekwondo program.

Illona Wiebe is a martial arts instructor at Halfway River First Nation (HRFN) and teaches classes with students each Tuesday.

Wiebe says she began the program approximately a year ago, after she was encouraged to start a self-defence class at HRFN by her friend, Chris Souvie.

Souvie is a resident of HRFN. Having married into the community, he lives on the reserve with his family.

“I’d been given private kickboxing lessons,” recalls Wiebe. “Chris asked if I’d do it out there.

“We decided that doing taekwondo would be better, because I can actually advance the kids and test them for belts.”

Wiebe, a fourth-degree black belt in taekwondo and learned at Fort St. John’s Red Dragon Martial Arts, is assisted in the class by instructors Brooklyn Jodoin and Megan Ross.

“My instructors really embrace it,” said Wiebe. “[They] frequently spar for the kids, which is their favourite thing ever.”

She says the class provided the First Nations youngsters something “fun and new” and an “outlet you can kick people without getting in trouble.”

Wiebe was even able to get the children tested for a yellow stripe in late April as master Jenny Min from Edmonton’s Grand Master K.H. Min Taekwondo came to give a self-defence demonstration.

From there, the small yet mighty team travelled to Edmonton, Alberta on May 3rd for the 2025 Alberta Open at the Kinsmen Sports Centre.

The event was sanctioned by the Alberta Taekwondo Association.

“I feel like they were more excited than they’ve ever been,” said Wiebe. “There’s a real infectious feeling about going to these tournaments. The energy is really crazy.”

The kids, ranging from five to 11 years old didn’t just survive in the big tournament, they thrived.

Zachary Souvie received a gold medal, while Jerome Field, Kaitlyn Gladue, and Dalton Souvie received silver medals, and Sienna Fox got a bronze.

In addition, the eldest student – the 44-year-old Souvie himself – picked up a gold as well.

“They have never trained in a big class,” said Wiebe. “We took them to K.H. Min’s class, where they got to train with 30-odd students. They loved it.

“They were shy at first, but they just embraced it immediately. Now they’re asking me when they can go back to Edmonton.”

Ultimately, Wiebe feels with more training and becoming comfortable within their skillset, the martial arts community around HRFN can continue to grow.

“I’m hoping if we can get these kids to their black belt, which [will] probably take conservatively about four or five years, it would really take off,” said Wiebe. “I could get some kids from the nation to instruct. 

“I think these kids need to see other kids like them succeeding. I’m hoping that as [kids] see others from their own community succeed, that they will want a piece of that for themselves.”

The weekly taekwondo program is run on Tuesdays for youth residents of the First Nation.  

For more information, contact community care worker Sherry Welch at (403) 510-4408 or by s.welch@hrfn.ca.