Ontario chiefs say Cleveland must axe mascot
Two Ontario First Nation chiefs say the Cleveland Indians’ “cartoonish” and offensive logo and team name need to go.
“I think it’s about time,” said Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee. “It’s 2016. Surely people are more enlightened than that.”
Stacey Laforme, chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, echoed Madahbee’s frustration. “We’re not Indians,” he said. “That name isn’t accurate to describe us. It was bestowed by some traveller in history who happened to get lost.”
New Credit band councillor and diehard Jays fan Evan Sault was once a Cleveland fan, but as he grew up and started working with youth, he said he began to see the damage that racist stereotypes can have on young people.
“Now, for them to come to our territory with that name, that cartoon Indian . . . young people see it and they grow into it. They can’t help it,” he says.
Both Laforme and Sault want to see the team reach out to indigenous communities and consult with them about using any indigenous imagery in their logo or branding.
Laforme also has some words for the Blue Jays.
Downtown Toronto is the traditional territory of Laforme’s First Nation, one they were essentially evicted from generations ago.
Laforme said it’s time Toronto’s ball club recognized that dislocation; he wanted to see the Jays publicly recognize the Rogers Centre as part of the Mississaugas’ traditional territory.
The idea has some growing online support. A Grade 10 class at the Woodlands Secondary School in Mississauga has launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #RecognizeTheLands, hoping to get the Jays to give a nod to the GTA’s original inhabitants.
Neither the class nor Laforme has had any response from the Blue Jays so far, and the Star’s request for comment was not immediately returned.