Siblings from Ross River, Yukon, making waves in competitive swimming

Kassua Dreyer couldn't be more proud of her younger brother, Tuja Dreyer, who's following in her footsteps as a young competitive swimmer to watch.

"It's an incredible feeling," she said.

"To watch him grow into a young, you know, successful swimmer is incredible because ... everyone else sees the success that he has in the pool, but what they don't see is like, the work that he puts behind it."

The siblings are originally from the small, remote community of Ross River, Yukon, and are members of the Ross River Dena Council. And both of them are now more often found swimming elsewhere — Kassua, 18, at the University of Calgary, and Tuja, 16, in his current hometown of Victoria, with Island Swimming.

Kassua has been swimming competitively from a young age. At 12, she made waves at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games by winning six medals.

In 2019, she moved to B.C. and swam with the Kelowna Aquajets, before enrolling at the University of Calgary in 2022 and joining the university's Dinos swim team. And last year, she was Team Yukon's flag-bearer at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games.

Kassua was Team Yukon's flag bearer at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games. (George Maratos/CBC)

Meantime, Tuja has lately been catching up to his sister with his own accomplishments in the pool.

Last week he was named to Swimming Canada's team for the upcoming Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Canberra, Australia, in August. It follows the Canadian Olympic Trials held earlier this month in Toronto, where Tuja won two gold medals.

"Yeah, it's crazy. I've never been to Australia, and I've never been to an international meet before. So I'm just excited for this new experience," he said this week.

The siblings' mom, Doris Dreyer, is also "endlessly proud" of how far Tuja has lately come as a swimmer, and how quickly. She described how even just a few years ago, he was being underestimated by coaches who feared Tuja, who's been diagnosed with ADHD, might lack the drive and focus needed to win.

"He never got any award, he was always talked about [as] being too playful, 'he's not listening enough,'" Doris recalled.

Meantime, Kassua was pursuing her own swimming career, regularly competing in meets in B.C. and Alberta. That may have helped spur Tuja, according to Doris.

"He wanted to be as good as his sister," she said.

"He really is a competitor, and you see it in the water when you see his races. Like, he wants to win. And I think this is what's carrying him, what has been carrying him so far now."

Last summer, both Tuja and Kassua together collected a dozens medals at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games in Halifax. Tuja won six gold, and Kassua won five gold and a silver.

Tuja and Kassua pose with the swimming medals they won at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games in Halifax. (Doris Dreyer)

Now, Tuja says he spends about 18 hours every week swimming, along with another three hours on strength training, as he prepares for the meet in Australia this summer.

"I guess it is pretty straining, but I wouldn't want to do anything else," he said.