Shayla Oulette Stonechild and Joel Oulette on The Amazing Race Canada. (Photo Courtesy CTV)

By Chris Brown

Oulette siblings say The Amazing Race Canada was a blast, hope they inspired Indigenous youth

Jul 26, 2023 | 4:53 PM

Their time on The Amazing Race Canada is over but Joel Oulette and Shayla Oulette Stonechild gained a lifetime of memories and hope they’ve illuminated a path for and inspired Indigenous youth and shown the power of resilience.

The siblings from Medicine Hat were eliminated in Tuesday’s fourth episode of the season saying missing a turn early in the leg set them back and everything trickled down from there.

Speaking the day after their elimination episode aired, both are still excited about their time on the show.

“The overall experience was, it was a blast,” says Joel. “It’s crazy like you get thrown into some of these challenges that you just had no idea you were going to do and you like ‘Oh we’re going bungee jumping, oh look at this three-storey building yea go climb that.’

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Dec. 13-15

3h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat's Mustard Seed adding new shelter spaces at Alberta government's request

Dec 12, 2024

HOLIDAYS

Medicine Hat Kiwanis hosting Christmas dinner, applications due Friday

Dec 12, 2024

“It’s so random but like so much fun because you get to experience these places that you’re so used to like Calgary or, I don’t know, Vancouver in such a different way. So I think it was just, it was a blast. It was stressful but it was a blast.”

They say elimination was bittersweet but they’d talked earlier that day and say they knew it just wasn’t their day.

Shayla adds they’d become close and had formed an alliance with the team they were competing with to stay in the race. They would have felt guilty if they knocked their friends out, she says.

Joel says they are the first Indigenous youth on The Amazing Race Canada and hopes they paved a road for more to come.

Shayla says the opportunity to represent her community is transformative in itself.

“At one point we were not supposed to be here. So the fact that we’re still here and the fact that we’re now existing within every industry and existing within these spaces is healing in itself,” she says. “And I hope that we have shown to other Indigenous people and youth that their story and their voice needs to be heard and that if we continue challenging ourselves we have no idea what’s waiting for us on the other side.”

They say the experience gave them a new appreciation for Canada and its people. Joel says he won’t take the “jaw-dropping scenery” and landscapes of the country for granted anymore.

Shayla says the strangers that helped them along showed her there’s a lot of humanity and love within people.

Joel and Shayla’s episodes are streaming online if you want to see their experience.