Given the relationship between Canada and its Indigenous population, sadly there was no surprise that some team nicknames were racist. This isn't a comparison to the United States; Canada must reckon with its own offensive nicknames.
We've talked and dealt with Edmonton's CFL franchise finally making the decision to shed its nickname. We haven't talked about much about the McGill University men's teams in Montréal.
The modern name for the women's teams have been known as the Martlets. The women's teams in the past unofficially built off the offensive terms based on the men's teams nickname.
The McGill men's teams will now be known as the Redbirds. There is a McGill history with Redbirds with the Red Birds Ski Club and other McGill sports clubs, teams and events using the Redbirds name.
The previous Red--men (imagine the nickname minus the dashes) had been in use since 1920 until April 2019.
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McGill, along with the Edmonton CFL team and the Washington NFL team, had a transition between dumping the offensive nickname and having a new team nickname.
Changing the nickname away from being offensive is significant; until you have a new nickname, some people would revert back to the old nickname without an alternative.
Edmonton hasn't played a game as The Team because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team did represent at the virtual Grey Cup Unite events. We've heard Empire and Energy for a new nickname though we love the Elks as a nickname. We'll take any nickname that isn't offensive.
The CFL released its 2021 schedule last week. If this happens, the Edmonton Football Team needs a new nickname before the team starts up again.
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Using Indigenous people as racist overtones for sports nicknames has been quite popular in North America. A number of U.S. universities went through these steps years ago, such as Stanford, Miami of Ohio, and Marquette.
The nickname change is only the beginning of the process to improve relationships between Indigenous people and those who are not Indigenous.
photo credit: @RedZoneMTL
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