Dear editor,
Regarding your front-page story Aug. 5, ” Indigenous woman pushing for hockey name change,” I found it strange that this story was “front page” news.
Someone who jumps on the bandwagon of racism without clearly thinking it through, as this lady did, is one thing. But making it a front-page story without proper vetting is inexcusable. The offending word was “Chiefs.” There is nothing Indigenous in that word. It is an Old English word, derived from Old French. It was used to describe the heads of Scottish and Irish clans 300 years before it was applied to the leaders of Indigenous tribes in North America. We have police chiefs, fire chiefs, chief financial officers, chief of defence staff, chief warrant officer, etc. Did anyone from the newspaper ask her what we should do about the hundreds of other chiefs in our society?
Using the logo with the feather headdress might be another issue, but I doubt, very much, that the founders of the hockey team said let’s chose a name and logo that will show disrespect to one group, or another. I would argue that the opposite is more believable.
Ed Medford,
Comox
