Photo: John Ulan, The canadian Press
The formation of the province of Alberta has been subject to a lot of pressure in recent years to change its name.
At least one of the sponsors of the Edmonton Eskimos plan to put an end to his association with the club of the canadian football League unless he changes his name, while other corporate partners will closely monitor the results of the “collaboration” of the team with the inuit communities.
The insurer, Belair Direct, one of the 13 major sponsors of the club, said that he questioned this association.
The formation of the province of Alberta has been subject to a lot of pressure in recent years to change its name and is now facing a new wave of criticism while the sports teams of Canada, United States and elsewhere are in a hurry to change their name to sounds like a phrase sometimes racist, or at the very least, another time.
In February, the club has announced to have the intention of retaining his name after intensive research and a programme of engagement with inuit communities. The Eskimos then had indicated that there was no consensus to rename the club.
After having published a press release last week in which he indicates that it will increase its consultations with the inuit communities and recognises the “growing attention” generated by their name recently, the club has again reacted on Wednesday.
“We appreciate the comments and feedback about our name. We take this matter very seriously, as we have demonstrated over the past three years with our research and our involvement with the communities in the far North. We also recognize that many things have changed since then. This is why we will accelerate our process of analysis is already in progress.
“We will try to get more feedback from inuit communities, our partners and all those interested in this issue so that we can make an informed decision. We will continue to listen with attention and open mind. We hope to have completed this consultation as quickly as possible and will update by the end of the month.”
The Washington Redskins of the NFL, whose name is an insult racially, and the Indians of Cleveland in the MLB, who have removed Chief Wahoo, racist caricature of native peoples, their uniforms in 2018, have both indicated Friday that they réviseraient their position on their name.
On Tuesday, the Chicago black hawks of the NHL have stated that they would retain their name since the team was named in honor of a leader of a First Nation who has been an inspiration to several generations.
