Osoyoos chief OKs hockey team’s name

A minor hockey team out of Rossland got some relief after receiving a letter from Osoyoos Indian

Band Chief Clarence Louie supporting the continued use of the Blackhawks logo for their organization.

The Rossland Senior Warriors amateur hockey team uses the well-known Chicago Blackhawks logo, depicting a Indigenous man wearing a feathered headdress. Concerns were raised over cultural appropriation of the image through an online petition asking the team to remove the logo from their organization.

Louie, the current chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and Syilx/Okanagan Nation whose traditional territory overlaps the town of Rossland, said in a written letter to the organization that he and the rest of the OIB endorse the team keeping the logo.

“To me the Blackhawks logo is one of the best and proudest logos in all of sports,” Louie wrote. “I have seen hundreds of Native youth and adults proudly wear the Blackhawks Indian head logo. Come to my office and I proudly display the exact same logo in the Osoyoos Indian Band office.”

At an OIB meeting, last month, the council all agreed to fully support the team to continue sporting the logo.

“Remember Rossland is in the traditional territory of the Osoyoos Indian Band (Okanagan/Syilx Nation) and I am very proud that your hockey team has chosen to wear a Native logo,” said Louie.

Louie's letter contradicts the movement of many other professional sports teams.

But Louie believes teams sporting a logo like the Blackhawks is a point of pride for Indigenous communities. He claims those who truly understand sports see logos and names as one of the highest honours and a sign of respect.

Louie and band council would rather see those who started the petition to change the Rossland Senior Hockey team’s logo invest their time in “much more serious Native-non-Native issues,” like systemic racism in the R.C.M.P. and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The petition, started by Alexandria Moon on the online petition platform, Change.org, has garnered 374 signatures to date.

The Rossland Senior Warriors responded to the petition by reaching out to two local First Nations communities, including the OIB, according to a statement on their Facebook page.

“Based on recommendations from Chief Clarence Louie, Rossland Warriors will continue to use the Blackhawks logo,” read the post. “The Rossland Warriors will continue to work with Chief Louie to raise awareness of other Indigenous issues.”