First Nation helping to create new Warriors logo
Members of the Tsuut’ina First Nation and the Crowchild Hockey Association are still working on a new logo design for the Northwest Warriors as the team heads into the 2018 season.
The minor hockey club began consulting with the First Nation last year after the parent of a seven-year-old girl told Postmedia her daughter refused to wear the Warriors’ jersey.
The hockey sweater features a cartoon emblem of a First Nations man wearing feathers in his hair, similar to the Chicago Blackhawks logo.
Bryan Boechler, president of the Crowchild Hockey Association, said no decisions have been made but both parties are committed to finding a logo design that pays homage to the Crowchild family and portray First Nations people “in a positive light.”
“The relationship is strong, the communication is clear; it’s just the nature of the process that goes along with what we’re trying to do … if we were corporately funded and had bags of money we probably would have dealt with this quickly and easily,” Boechler said.
Boechler said Chief Lee Crowchild has lent support to the team using the existing logo until a new one can be designed, which will line up with the scheduled replacement of the team’s jerseys in two years.
Consultations between the team and the First Nation are ongoing.
The parties are working on a selection process for who will design the logo, and Boechler said there has been discussion about using an artist from Tsuut’ina Nation to create the updated emblem.
“We’ve had recent conversations … but we just aren’t at a point where we’re on a plan of path,” he said. “Our hope is by the end of this calendar year we’ll have a clear decision that both parties are a part of.”
The Warriors aren’t the first Calgary sports team to change direction after concerns were raised about the portrayal of First Nations people.
In 2014, Western Canada High School dropped the name “Redmen” from the school’s athletics teams.
Calls to Chief Crowchild and the Tsuut’ina Nation were not immediately returned.