Inuit groups praise Edmonton CFL team’s move to change nickname after 70 years,

Inuit group welcomes move, club cites change in public attitudes

Facing what it called a sweeping shift in public opinion, Edmonton’s CFL team acknowledged Tuesday that times have changed and said it will retire its 70-year-old “Eskimos” moniker and rebrand.

One local Inuit advocate says it’s a welcome, long-awaited change — and that the team should now turn to repairing the legacy of a racist name. Edmonton-based writer, scholar and researcher Norma Dunning has pushed for a name change for years, and is encouraged that the team is taking time to reflect on what the new name should be.

“That’s kind of nice I think, to take a break from it and allow their fans some input into a new name, that would be great,” Dunning said. “And it’s just wonderful for me to have one of the most visible teams eliminate that word.”

Board chair Janice Agrios told reporters that their most recent research had captured a sweeping change in public opinion on the name, and that “people who supported it a year ago are less comfortable now.”

There is no new name yet, and while officials stressed they’re at the very beginning of the process, the team plans a “comprehensive” engagement process.

In the meantime, it will use the names EE Football Team and Edmonton Football Team.

Agrios said the name had initially been chosen because the team was proud of its Northern connection, and that for many who had grown up cheering at games in sub-zero weather, the name meant “tough, resilient, never give up.” She said the team had “come to understand the concerns” of critics.

“While we might relate to Inuit values, that doesn’t mean that we can continue to use the name,” she said. The Edmonton Eskimos are a 70-year-old franchise that’s had a lot of success on the field. The use of Eskimo — an outdated, and some say racist, term for Inuit — was once common for sports clubs in central Alberta, and according to a recent survey sent out by the team, it was chosen to acknowledge the “hardiness” of Inuit culture.

Concerns over using Indigenous groups as team names or mascots has bubbled for years. In Canada, the debate landed on the national stage after Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, wrote an oped in 2015 declaring that “Inuit are not mascots.”

After that first storm of criticism, the Eskimos embarked on a Northern consultation tour, where they talked to Inuit leaders in Iqaluit, Inuvik, Yellowknife and Ottawa, and did a phone survey of Inuit across the country.

They ultimately concluded that Inuit held “a range of opinions” on the name, and announced as recently as February that they would keep it.

Agrios noted that while some suggested the research was just optics, she said “nothing could be further from the truth.”

When asked if Inuit or other Indigenous groups will part of the discussion on the new name, president and CEO Chris Presson said the team “certainly wants to get the opinions of more than just a small group of people,” and that it would “make sense” to continue conversations with Inuit. The team’s name has been controversial for years but in recent months, that debate has roared back, as the Black Lives Matter movementhas renewed a global conversation about race.

For perhaps the first time, it had also begun to seriously affect the bottom line of sports clubs. Earlier this month, the Washington Redskins announced they were dropping the name.

Boston Pizza, a chain that began in Edmonton, and insurance company Belairdirect are two of the major sponsors who have threatened to pull funding from the Eskimos if the name wasn’t changed, and others have followed. The move was welcomed by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national advocacy organization that represents over 60,000 Inuit. In a statement sent to the Star on Tuesday, they said the name has been damaging to Inuit, and that recognizing harmful acts like this is part of dismantling systemic racism.

In the statement, they also expressed gratitude to those who had spoken out against the name, “from Inuit youth to corporate sponsors and Canadian citizens who saw an injustice and felt compelled to speak out.”

“Your voices have brought us here.”