With the Edmonton Eskimos preparing to play the Blue Bombers in a Canadian Football League’s (CFL) West Division semi-final in Winnipeg this weekend, the mayor of Manitoba’s capital suggested the Eskimos could change their name to something more “inclusive.”
“I think there’s an opportunity to have a more inclusive name,” Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said of Edmonton’s football team being named after Indigenous people living in the North. “That’s ultimately a decision for the team though and I will obviously respect that.”
Bowman made the comments at an unrelated news conference in Winnipeg on Wednesday after a reporter asked him if he has brought up the issue to Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, which Bowman said he had.
“If you’re asking, I’m going to give you the truth – I’ve voiced my thoughts on the team name,” he said. “That being said, they’re a great team, (a) great organization and it’s going to be a great game on the weekend.”
The Edmonton Eskimos Football Club responded to Bowman’s remarks in an email to Global News on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are always interested in hearing what people think within our community and elsewhere, on this topic or any other topic related to our football club,” the club said in a statement. “We use the Edmonton Eskimos name with pride and respect.
“If the mayor of Winnipeg has an opinion he’d like to share with us, he should do so.”
The Eskimos name has been a source of controversy before. Just last fall, former federal Liberal leader Bob Rae spoke out about his concerns with the Eskimos team name as well as with Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians.
READ MORE: Bob Rae says Cleveland Indians, Edmonton Eskimos both need name changes
Watch below: In October, 2016, Bob Rae spoke about the Cleveland Indians’ name being “seen as insulting.”
“If you did it to any other group of Canadians, Chinese-Canadians, Filipinos – you would say, ‘Wow, is that ever insulting,'” Rae said in October 2016. “If it means a whole bunch of sports teams have to change their names, too bad.”
The Eskimos team also said it is “actively engaged” in listening to what people have to say about their name.
Bowman, who is Métis, is mayor in a city that had the largest Indigenous population in Canada in the 2016 Census. Edmonton had the second-largest Indigenous population at the time.
READ MORE: Expert says ‘meat-eater’ name Eskimo an offensive term placed on Inuit
Watch below: In June 2014, Fletcher Kent filed this report about the Edmonton Eskimos facing questions about their name as the fight over the Washington Redskins logo was heating up.
The Bombers host the Eskimos at Investors Group Field on Sunday. The winner will play the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL West Division final.
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