Football: Eskimos refuse to confirm that they will change their name

Photo: Mack Male, Creative Commons
Critics say that the name of the team of Edmonton is a pejorative term from the colonial era to the Inuit.

The Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL refusing to confirm two media reports according to which the team would change its name.

TSN and Postmedia report that the club of Edmonton will change, after the decision of the team of Washington in the NFL to do the same earlier this week.

A spokesman for the club of Edmonton revealed Friday morning that the team had no update to do about it.

The pressure mounted in recent weeks for the sports teams to eliminate names that are racist or stereotypical.

Critics say that the name of the team of Edmonton is a pejorative term from the colonial era to the Inuit.

Aaron Paquette, a city councillor in Edmonton, has stated in a tweet that he had had a meeting with the club of the CFL on Thursday and, although he has not confirmed that the name will be changed, it has been ” very impressed by the potential that could arise as a result of our conversation.”

“I had a meeting extremely productive with the football team (Edmonton) today after they have accepted my invitation to share ideas and perspectives,” writes Paquette.

“I can’t say more, but we will see what happens. “

In February, the club of Edmonton has announced that it kept its name after looking for a year involving inuit leaders and community members across Canada. The team said not to be arrived at “no consensus” at the time of this review.

On July 8, the club of Edmonton has promised to proceed quickly with a further review of its name and to provide an update by the end of the month. In this statement, the club noted that “a lot of things had happened” since its decision in February.

One of the sponsors of the team, the company’s automobile and home insurance Belairdirect, had announced the previous day that he was doing a reassessment of his relationship with the team because of his name.

Other sponsors have also stated that they would welcome a revision of the name.

Boston Pizza has announced that ” in the event of a change most important part of our overall marketing strategy, Boston Pizza has recently put an end to its sponsorship of the CFL team Edmonton. “It was a response to a person asking if it was planned to follow the example of Belairdirect.

All of this comes at a time when the team of Washington of the NFL has said that it would undertake a change of its name. A similar announcement was made by the Indians of Cleveland in major league Baseball.

It is unclear when Edmonton will play its first game with a new name, if the change materializes. In June, the CFL has postponed the start of season 2020 due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, and there is no guarantee that the league will play this year.

There have been repeated calls in the past for the team of Edmonton is changing name.

In 2015, the national organization of inuit of Canada stated that it was time to change.

“It is not fair that one team has the name of an ethnic group,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents 60 000 Inuit of Canada. Obed said that the Inuit are not mascots.

Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, citing the declaration of Obed, was mentioned in 2027 that the team should take measures in view of a change of name.

Founded in 1949, the team from Edmonton won the Grey cup 14 times, just behind the Toronto Argonauts who have a total of 17 victories. The impressive list of winners of the club has a record of five straight Grey cup from 1978 to 1982.

There is nothing to indicate that Edmonton has proposed new possible names.

The team requested the trade mark “Empire of Edmonton” in 2018 for use on gift items.

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