By Kelly Malone

Saskatoon public school board pressured on school’s ‘Redmen’ team name

Feb 5, 2014 | 5:53 AM

In a full room of parents, students, former students, educators, and concerned members of the public the Board of Education for Saskatoon Public Schools were told that the 'Redmen' name and logo used by Bedford Road Collegiate has to go.

For the first time the board invited presenters to speak about changing the name and logo.

“We've heard from a number people about the Redmen name and logo in the past couple years. Tonight is the first time actually that a group has come to the board with an official presentation saying they believe we need to change the name and logo because it is no longer appropriate,” said Ray Morrison, chair of the Saskatoon Board of Education.

“The board will listen and we will ask some questions for clarity to make sure we are very clear about their understanding but we will also talk to the Bedford community and we have a cultural advisory committee… after those discussions are done and we've seen and heard from people that have a variety of views we will make a decision.”

Morrison explained that around 1923 there were two high schools in Saskatoon's Nutana area. One school wore blue and were called the Nutana Blues and Bedford Road collegiate who wore red were called the Redmen. The logo came in the 1960s when the school was trying to update its identity.

Leadership Needed to Stop Federal Overreach

5m ago

Vise grip driver

Vise grips not a steering wheel: RCMP

17h ago

Patient supports

'Misuse' of free parking passes attributed to cancellation: SHA

19h ago

“Basically they took the Chicago Blackhawks logo and reused it,” Morrison said, adding that he understands that at that point it took on new meaning.

“In the past two years… there's been some feedback from various groups about the appropriateness of the name and logo in the 21st century.”

The presentation was supposed to be 15 minutes long including questions from the board but ran well over 25. It was conducted Dr. Alex Wilson, the Academic Director of the Aboriginal Education Research Centre at the Department of Educational Foundation at the University of Saskatchewan and former Bedford Road Collegiate Student Andre Bear who currently goes to Oskayak High School.

“I'm an academic but I'm also a community member. I am here as a Cree woman who is a member of this community in Saskatoon and also a person who pays property tax and supports the schools,” Wilson said, adding that an academic and research based approach was brought with their presentation.

“Masters thesis, doctoral dissertations, books, studies… all of them say the same thing. That negative caricatures or stereotypes, specifically of indigenous people, harm the school environment and they are internalized by not only First Nations people but also non-First Nations people.”

She said that indigenous students are often discriminated against in society and especially in school settings. It becomes confusing to understand their place in society when at the same time a cartoon version of their heritage is used as a logo.

“You have contradictions happening all the time. Those kinds of contradictions lead to an unequal education for certain students in that school. Mostly those students that get an unequal education are First Nations students,” she said.

“The overall values and vision of the Saskatoon public school board is to be new and innovative. There is nothing new or innovative about an antiquated caricature of a cartoon figure. Here is a great opportunity for the school board and the school to say lets just take this with energy and positiveness and just get rid of this and move on… We are people, we are not mascots. It's that basic. We are human beings we are not cartoon characters, we are not caricatures, we are not logos, we are people.”

Although the logo was created around a half century ago, Bear said the effects are felt now in the school.

“Being aboriginal it was a hard school to fit in even though you have a Redman logo. The majority of the sports team are not Native people,” said Bear of his time spent at Bedford Road Collegiate.

“It's kind of degrading in a way to be excluded by all of these people and all of these sports teams… and they are carrying the name of Redman and they are depicting Native people and they aren't Native.”

Bear added that recent changes with the Nepean Redskins Football Club in Ontario and major movements against the Washington Redskins have made it clear that it's time now for the Redmen name to change.

“It's ridiculous. You would never see the Oskayak White Man. It would be socially unacceptable. But because its depicting a First Nations person its socially accepted racism,” Bear said.

At the end of the presentation Morrison said that they would need time to consult with other people before making a decision. Bear said that is something they have heard before in previous consultations with the school itself.

“Who exactly will be affected if the name is changed? Let's say they call themselves the Bedford Airplanes, who is that going to hurt if it is changed tomorrow?” he asked.

“Think about who it is going to affect, leading up to how long you guys take to deal with this racism. We are the people who feel this. We will feel this until you decide. Until you can make up your mind. It is not affecting you, it is affecting me.”

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow