The City of Mississauga is removing Indigenous-themed mascots, symbols, names and imagery from all of its athletic facilities following a settlement that “addresses the harmful impact of stereotypes” on youth.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission reached a settlement Thursday with the complainant Bradley Gallant and the city.

“Despite some of the progress we have made as a society, the reality is that every single day in this country, Indigenous people face discrimination,” Gallant, of Mi’kmaq descent, said in an interview Friday with the Star.

“We need to work to tear down the structures of discrimination, and we can start with the continued use of Indigenous peoples as mascots for team sports.”

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Shari Lichterman, director of recreation for the City of Mississauga, said sports groups have responded, and that the impacted sports groups have been working co-operatively throughout the process.

“We will work together to meet the terms of the settlement, starting with the removal and/or replacement of signs, banners and trophies in the facilities over the coming months,” Lichterman wrote in an email.

Gallant has argued that the Indigenous-themed names and logos of teams demonstrate institutional racism and promote stereotypes that shape how Indigenous people are viewed in society.

“These types of images and mascots are harmful and have a negative effect on both Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids,” Gallant said in an earlier email. “Things can change, but we must expect and demand the equality that all are provided under the Canadian human rights laws.”

He told the Star he first learned about the issue in 2010 when there were calls for the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL to change its nickname and logo. But it hit home for Gallant when he and his daughter attended a Dufferin-Peel Catholic School for a sports tournament.

“I took my daughter to an elementary school tournament and noticed that every kid there had a mascot bag. Every single kid there,” he said.

When his daughter was asked to play for the team in February 2015, Gallant said he was hesitant. When he told the coach he had a problem with the logo, he was told he would have to “get used to it.”

Gallant met with the City of Mississauga the very next month.

Gallant and his legal counsel complained to the city about the use and display of Indigenous-themed logos and team names in its sports arenas.

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In a press release, the commission said they conducted “extensive outreach” with Indigenous peoples to learn more about the impact of this use, and heard directly from youth across the province through the Indigenous Youth Council of the Ontario Federation of Friendship Centres.

As part of the settlement, the city also committed to developing a policy on the use of Indigenous images and themes at its sports facilities, in collaboration with different groups like the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, the Peel Aboriginal Network, the Indigenous Youth Council of the Ontario Federation of Friendship Centres and Indigenous Sport and Wellness Ontario.

Emerald Bensadoun is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @twerk_vonnegut

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