When Chelsie McCutcheon saw the get-up she was supposed to wear to carry the Olympic torch, she knew it didn't capture the spirit of why she was running.

A competitor and instructor with the First Nations Snowboard Team, Ms. McCutcheon wants to be an ambassador for her hometown of Moricetown, B.C., for her Wet'suwet'en First Nation, for aboriginal youth and for indigenous people everywhere.

Somehow, the white jacket and red HBC mittens didn't convey that.

Sealed and hidden in a drawer at home, she keeps a gift from her late grandmother, Janet George. The traditional hide gloves, with hand-beaded blue poppy flowers, are one of a kind.

"She aspired for me to compete in the Olympics. She gave them to me in 2004 in inspiration of me to receive my medals," said Ms. McCutcheon. Her grandmother died a year later, and McCutcheon didn't make it onto Canada's Olympic snowboard team this year.

But when she and her First Nations teammates were asked to carry the torch out of Lillooet on Saturday, she knew it was time to pull out her grandmother's present.

"What a wonderful time to use those gloves," she said. "It is an honour and pays respect to my family, my community, and my people."

The torch bearers' uniform can only be varied with the approval of the relay organizers, but she pressed for approval. "What we are doing, we're showing you can be very successful by embracing your nation."

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games has proven to be divisive amongst aboriginal groups in B.C. While the Four Host First Nations have been deeply involved in hosting the games, a group representing the "no Olympics on stolen native land" faction protested while Ms. McCutcheon ran.

Across the street from the demonstrators, her cousins, who had travelled from northern B.C. to cheer her on, were noisier still. "I didn't expect to cry but when I saw my family lined up, my cousins drumming for me, it was very powerful and emotional."

Growing up as she did in a small northern town, Ms. McCutcheon didn't see many aboriginal role models on the slopes. "There was a certain barrier," she noted, mostly stemming from grinding poverty on native reserves.

Her family did encourage her. She grew up in Moricetown, about 22 km north of Smithers, B.C., and she started skiing at the age of four with the Nancy Greene Ski League. (The former Olympian, now a B.C. senator, launched the program in the 1960s to help train young competitors.)

Ms. McCutcheon competed with the Smithers Alpine Ski team until her knees gave out - at the age of 15.

So she switched to snowboarding, and moved to Whistler in 2004. There, she read about the First Nations Snowboard Team in a local news article. She's now a competitor and assistant coach with the team's High Performance squad and is an instructor for the junior elites.

The First Nations Snowboard Team aims to help aboriginal youth overcome some of the obstacles that keep them from competing. They are growing that next generation of role models.

The team helps finance coaching and competition fees, travel and training costs. It reaches out to high-risk aboriginal youth, and allows members to earn equipment by selling team merchandise - jackets and snowboards decorated with dramatic aboriginal designs.

At 25 years old, she figures she is just at the beginning of her career. "There is still a lot of time and dedication to my passion, before I can look back in my footprints. The objective is to impact the aboriginal community, through the youth, which will branch off to helping the community as a whole."

Her immediate goal is to expand the team's reach. "The team isn't established in Northern B.C. yet. We're trying to get a first nations program in my area to give a chance to my community."

As for the red mittens that came with her torch bearer's uniform? She plans to wear them with pride too - while she's snowboarding.