Recently, with the support of Nanaimo city councillor, Bill Yoachim, a new lacrosse box was built on the Snuneymuxw reserve next to the community Big House. This was the first lacrosse box built for the community in many years. The current Snuneymuxw First Nation's Administration office, built in 2000, is located on the site of the old lacrosse box.

The Nanaimo Civic Arena was the place for organized lacrosse in Nanaimo in the last century and up to its closing in 2006. A Big House once stood in the vicinity of this arena. The ancestors of the Snuneymuxw First Nation probably chose the prime location for the Big House and small village for its proximity to the Millstone River. The river was known for its excellent supply of Coho Salmon. Perhaps the spirit of that place lived on in the rafters of the Civic Arena as Snuneymuxw athletes competed with and against some of the best box lacrosse players in North America.

As the leagues and professional teams from Nanaimo Civic Arena came to Victoria during 1939, young athletes from the Snuneymuxw First Nation joined the ranks of some of the best players and teams across the country. During the 1950s, lacrosse became incredibly popular on Vancouver Island. The Men's Senior A box lacrosse teams the Victoria Shamrocks, Duncan Cowboys and the Nanaimo Timbermen (first the Native Sons) had a fiery rivalry that generated huge audiences in the stands and a loyal following of fans. In the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, their great rivals were the North Shore Indians.

Robert White recalls:

"Being in the dressing room with Snuneymuxw community members really added to the atmosphere, gave a sense of family and really provided a lot of heart and charisma to our team, and you know, sort of really gave a sense of camaraderie in the dressing room." (From an interview with Garnet White)

A Story About Sticks

In central Canada and the United States where lacrosse originated, hickory was the tree of choice for making lacrosse sticks. On Vancouver Island, if you wanted to make your own stick you might use a hard wood like the native Bigleaf maple.

On the west coast in the late 1960s, a fire destroyed the factory that was responsible for producing almost all of the lacrosse sticks in North America. If you could not make your own stick, you were simply out of luck because there were no sticks to be had. The few that were available went to the most skilled players, which at that time meant the Senior A Men's players.

At this time a Nanaimo man, Earl Stevens, began manufacturing fibreglass sticks with the help of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. Stevens, a former lacrosse player and coach of the Nanaimo Timbermen Senior B team produced three different models of lacrosse sticks:

a Tykes model

the "Steven's special"

and the "Thunderbird Special"

The Thunderbird Special was named by former chief of Snuneymuxw, Mr. Doug White Sr. Stevens hired women from the Snuneymuxw community to cut the leather and lace the end of the lacrosse sticks. The sticks were approved by the British Columbia Lacrosse Association. In the end, Earl Steven's business could not compete with the large synthetic stick manufacturing companies that emerged in the 1970s.

Although many players believed the quality of the synthetic sticks could never equal the careful craftsmanship of the First Nations entrepreneurs, in a short time the synthetic stick drastically improved access to the game. Now there were sticks for everyone and more people could play.