Tisdale, Sask., no longer ‘Land of Rape and Honey’
TISDALE, Sask. — The town of Tisdale in Saskatchewan is no longer using the slogan “Land of Rape and Honey.”
The community has revealed a new logo with the catchphrase “Opportunity Grows Here.”
Town council voted last fall in favour of a rebrand after a survey found a majority of Tisdale’s 3,200 residents wanted to drop the town’s nearly 60-year-old motto.
Rape refers to the brightyellow rapeseed plant that was a precursor to modern canola and was a key crop in the area.
But some were concerned the word offended people who thought it referred to sexual assault.
Sean Wallace, Tisdale’s economic development director, said the new logo looks to the town’s future while recognizing its agricultural traditions.
“Having a brand that is modern, unique and conveys an easily understood message is paramount in today’s competitive environment,” Wallace said in a statement Monday.
The town is hoping it can attract foreign and Canadian investment because of a variety of crops grown in the area, its location as a transportation hub for rail and highways, low land prices and a modern infrastructure.
“We have the capacity and expertise to support large-scale agrivalue industry from crushing plants to value-added processing,” Mayor Al Jellicoe said.
When talk of a different slogan first came up last year, it was noted that rapeseed now accounts for less than one per cent of crops in the region and honey production has also dropped.
Jellicoe said at the time that one or two complaints were received by his office every year from people in Canada and the United States who were incensed by the old slogan.
He said the slogan was also a distraction during business discussions.
The town, about 210 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, coined the former slogan in 1958, records indicate.