After 100 years and growing public pressure, Edmonton football team is dropping its name.
The Canadian Football League team announced the move Tuesday afternoon.
“Recent findings demonstrate that views regarding the team name are shifting,” the club said in a news release.
“While many fans are deeply committed to keeping the name, others are increasingly uncomfortable with the moniker.”
A new name has not yet been chosen.
But it is clear the term, which refers to the Indigenous peoples of Alaska and other Arctic regions, including Siberia, Canada and Greenland, is shifting towards the pejorative.
Several high-profile Inuit from the Canadian Arctic, including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed and Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, recently called on the team to drop the title they feel is a derogatory, colonial slur.
The chair of the team’s board acknowledged the off-field debate was taking away from the team’s accomplishments over the past century.
“Going forward, we want the focus to be on the work we do in the community and our team’s excellence on the field as the CFL’s most successful franchise,” Janice Agrios said in the release.
For now the club will use the name EE Football Team and Edmonton Football Team.
This is the second professional football club to change its divisive name and logo this month in the face of public and sponsorship opposition. The Washington Redskins are also looking for a new moniker.
Editor’s Note: The original story included the name of Edmonton’s football team. APTN News has decided it will no longer use that name on TV or in print.
