Are there any NHL players with known Sami descent?

[Albatros]

I’ve never heard of Forest Sami being controversial before, or any of these claims. Not necessarily saying it’s all wrong, but where did you learn this from?

In Finland it currently has to do with the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention and other related matters. The Sámi have their own parliament (Sámediggi) that is potentially gaining in influence and so some non-Sámi living in the region supported by certain political parties want a piece of that cake too.

The Sámi parliament has determined that anyone who speaks or at least whose one grandparent spoke the Sámi language in any of its dialects counts as Sámi, as does anyone whose one ancestor appears as Sámi in public records after 1875. These so-called "Forest Sámi" consist almost exclusively of people that do not meet any of these criteria, yet still want to be a part of the Sámi autonomy. Besides fairly nefarious political motives there are those that have or want to believe they have more distant Sámi roots and find it appealing as a lifestyle choice. Some Sámi are quite irritated also by these attempts to emulate their customs given that even the most sincere "Forest Sámi" generally do not have many surviving family traditions of their own.

 

[JianYang]

Sami salo

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

You miss the joke?

The joke was so dumb and was repeated so many times, kinda impossible to miss. Yes, there are players named Sami. Holy shit, on the 15th iteration you broke through. Really produced the best version, good job Dane Cook. Hilarious, I’m f***ing dying over here.

 

[CanadienShark]

The joke was so dumb and was repeated so many times, kinda impossible to miss. Yes, there are players named Sami. Holy shit, on the 15th iteration you broke through. Really produced the best version, good job Dane Cook. Hilarious, I’m f***ing dying over here.

Thanks.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

In Finland it currently has to do with the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention and other related matters. The Sámi have their own parliament (Sámediggi) that is potentially gaining in influence and so some non-Sámi living in the region supported by certain political parties want a piece of that cake too.

The Sámi parliament has determined that anyone who speaks or at least whose one grandparent spoke the Sámi language in any of its dialects counts as Sámi, as does anyone whose one ancestor appears as Sámi in public records after 1875. These so-called "Forest Sámi" consist almost exclusively of people that do not meet any of these criteria, yet still want to be a part of the Sámi autonomy. Besides fairly nefarious political motives there are those that have or want to believe they have more distant Sámi roots and find it appealing as a lifestyle choice. Some Sámi are quite irritated also by these attempts to emulate their customs given that even the most sincere "Forest Sámi" generally do not have many surviving family traditions of their own.

Interesting, thanks. I’m not sure the same controversy applies everywhere there’s Forest Sami people however. That there are Forest Sami living in Sweden with distinct culture I don’t think is controversial. I reckon that historically they’ve been considered “hybrid Samis” by racist Swedish institutions, with less colorful traditional clothing, not being nomads, and doing some farming.

 

[DFWGrapher]

Good to know on the Forest Sami distinction; I've never heard any of that in the Sami-related groups I'm in on Facebook and such, but they also concentrate more on ancestry and genealogical research than on present-day issues. I make no claim of "being" Sami, just that it is in my ancestry. I'm not going out and getting my own gakti anytime soon.

All I know is that I have a direct ancestor mentioned in the "Nesseby- og Polmakslekter" and other sources as being Sami, and my great-grandmother's mtDNA haplogroup is U5b1b1a, which is found heavily among Sami populations. The U5 branches are found often among Finns and Estonians, but the U5b1b1a group specifically (and even more often U5b1b1a1) has been found heaviest among the Sami. If anything it's gotten me more interested in their culture and arts specifically.

And it made me start collecting Salming's cards and such as well. From tracing through church records, he and are are 12th cousins, so practically brothers, right? I'd certainly collect any other Sami players I could find but so far, no luck (my second cousin once-removed only got to the II-divisioona, and I don't think cards get made at that level).

 

[Howie Hodge]

I read Oscar Pistorius and got really confused lol.

Oscar could argue that he is Sami too; but he wouldn't have a leg to stand on....

 

[joelef]

As someone with Swedish ancestry I was always fascinated with the Sami people!

I was fortunate enough to travel to Lapland and meet some of them a few years ago, toured the village and pet some Reindeer, ate a Reindeer taco too. Definitely commercialized for the tourists but the fact that people actually live up there is crazy.

There's also not very many White Indigenous tribes in the world (they might be the only one), which makes their continued existence more interesting!

Basque are considered indigenous and maybe the welsh.

 

[sr edler]

How many people know he is of Sami descent though? Most of my Swedish friends thought he's just a pure Swede.

Older Swedes into hockey there's a big chance they know Salming's background, yes. Younger Swedes into hockey might know it as well, but probably not everyone. As for everyone else, they're probably more interested in who won the latest ESC or where you can buy cheap Adidas clothes. Not everyone knows everything about everything.