McGill waiting for report before ruling on name

School says it won’t make a decision until December

Despite growing calls for McGill University to immediately change its controversial team name, administration won’t rule on the matter until December at the earliest. During a referendum on the McGill Redmen name, students sent a clear message to the university Monday casting 78 per cent of their ballots in favour of changing the nickname. The following morning, 100 McGill faculty members threw their weight behind the referendum. In an open letter published Monday, the professors, lecturers and librarians demanded an “immediate end” to the Redmen name. “It is time for our institution to acknowledge the racist history of this moniker and reckon with the harmful impacts that the Redmen name has exerted —and continues to exert — on Indigenous Peoples and the overall health and culture of our university.” These actions follow a recommendation in the 2017 report by McGill’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Education that the school change its varsity sports name. The university is preaching patience on the issue. Contacted by the Montreal Gazette, officials at McGill pointed to an Oct. 24 statement by provost and vice-principal Christopher Manfredi. In it, Manfredi says the university will wait for the results of a Dec. 6 report by the Working Group on Principles of Commemoration and Renaming before making a decision. On the other side of the debate, boosters, donors and alumni are fighting to keep the Redmen name. “The student perspective, it’s an important aspect that the university needs to consider but I don’t think it should be the final word,” said Bruno Pietrobon, speaking on behalf of Friends of McGill Football. “On the issue of the Redmen and the interpretation that it’s a negative connotation towards Indigenous peoples, the university already addressed it a generation ago.” The team’s name, which dates back to the 1920s, refers to the school’s colours. But over time, Redmen squads began using tomahawks and other Indigenous symbols in their logo. They briefly used slurs like “Indians” and “Squaws” to describe their sports teams in the 1960s. The school removed the offending images in 1990. Tomas Jirousek, who led the campaign to change the name, says the original intent of the name is irrelevant. “It doesn’t matter what the origin of the name is, all that matters here is Indigenous students are hurting,” said Jirousek, who comes from Blackfoot territory in Alberta. “They need the name to change. I don’t care what the intent was. We can debate that, but the issue is it’s a degrading name and it hurts us and it’s the only consideration here.” One student told the Montreal Gazette they received racist, harassing messages on social media because of their work on the name-change campaign. The student said they did not want their name published for fear it would attract more negative attention. “There’s no place for racism in this debate and I find that abhorrent,” said Pietrobon. “I think the university has an opportunity to promote education on the true origins of the Redmen name. In the absence of that, people are left to draw their own interpretations.”