National Post (National Edition)
Logo fight set to reach the World Series
The Cleveland Indians will return to the World Series for the first time in 19 years Tuesday, and with that will come renewed protests over the team’s name and Chief Wahoo logo.
Opposition to the name and logo was renewed last week during the American League Championship Series in Toronto when Douglas Cardinal, an indigenous Canadian activist, sought a lastminute court injunction to prevent the team from using uniforms depicting the Indians’ name or the Chief Wahoo logo while in Toronto.
Judge Tom McEwan declined the petition, but a Native American advocacy group in Cleveland took note. Along with its planned protests outside all the World Series games in Cleveland, the group is thinking about Cardinal’s legal strategy.
“I really loved the way he went about bringing forth the case, that it is a human rights violation in opposition to Canadian laws on human rights,” said Philip Yenyo, executive director of the American Indian Movement of Ohio. “We never thought about that before. I believe it could be something we can pursue ourselves.”
Canada is not immune. Some of its sports teams have used nicknames and logos that refer to indigenous people. There are, for instance, the Edmonton Eskimos, whose name has drawn protests. In 2013, Ian Campeau, an Ojibwe man, turned to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to bring suit against the Nepean Redskins, an amateur football team near Ottawa. The team later changed its name to the Eagles.
Another case was brought by Brad Gallant in Mississauga, Ont., to prevent the use of public funds for teams using indigenous nicknames or mascots. “I just want my kids to be able to go play hockey without having to feel like they are inferior,” he said.
In Cleveland, the Chief Wahoo logo has been the target of critical commentary, and the Indians themselves have made efforts to reduce the prominence of the logo, giving more visibility to an alternate “C” as a block-letter insignia on Cleveland caps.
The Cleveland Indians said the organization was “sensitive to both sides of the conversation” about the logo and continued to examine the issue. The team, like MLB, declined to elaborate.
But the World Series will go on, with the Indians seeking their first championship since 1948 and Chief Wahoo front and centre on their new World Series caps. And on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, some people will be feeling discomfort.