In the heated debate over teams with indigenous names and logos, one Mississauga team is keen on keeping theirs — and it has an indigenous community’s blessing.

The Mississauga Chiefs, who play in the Mississauga Girls Hockey League, have had the name since the team’s inception, but their logo, an arrowhead, was designed more recently after a dialogue with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.

“I don’t believe they have to change (their name),” said New Credit Chief Stacey Laforme. “They’re not the only people who have chiefs. We have police chiefs, fire chiefs …

“I don’t find it offensive and they represent themselves in a good way and they have met with us to talk. I think it’s an opportunity to educate them and to educate the fans.”

The Chiefs were among five hockey teams in Mississauga cited in a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario over team names and logos deemed “racially insensitive.”

Brad Gallant, of Qalipu Mi’kmaq ancestry, filed the complaint, which asks the city of Mississauga to end its “subsidy” to five hockey teams using indigenous names or logos, and for the city to remove their mascots and banners from municipal property.

“I realize that the mascots are the most visual and constant barrier to change,” Gallant said. “So long as you think you can do what you want with another person’s culture, then it’s kind of hard for them to get respect for that culture.”

The hearing for Gallant’s complaint is set for Nov. 21-23, but the Mississauga Chiefs are hopeful that the tribunal will let them keep their name.

Mississauga Girls Hockey League president Marian Jacko, an Ojibwa woman whose daughters play on the team, said she doesn’t find the name offensive.

“We wear the logo with pride, we carry the name with pride … There’s nothing disrespectful, there’s nothing derogatory about it,” said Jacko. “We try to have the kids from the organization learn about the culture.”

Last summer, she added, the Jr. Chiefs team and league players were invited to attend the New Credit First Nation’s powwow. Laforme also attended the league’s Annual Jr. Chiefs Day and welcomed everyone to his community’s traditional territory.

In her statement to the Human Rights Tribunal, Jacko wrote: “It is only through these positive relationships and positive promotion of our Indigenous background and identity that our children and future generations will see reconciliation become a reality.”

But, Laforme cautioned, “not all logos are that way. Certain logos by their nature are automatically offensive.”

Of the remaining four teams in the complaint, two have made efforts to change their names and logos.

The Meadowvale Mohawks and the Lorne Park Ojibwa, both of which play in the Mississauga Hockey League, a member organization of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, have changed their names to the Meadowvale Hawks and the Lorne Park Clarkson Wild.

But the move was not strictly in reaction to the upcoming tribunal hearing, said MHL executive director Jeff Leavens.

“It was a coincidence that it worked out, but in actual fact the Lorne Park Clarkson group is going to go to the tribunal hearings in an effort to try to retain some degree of the Ojibwa name,” he said.

“They feel it’s important to the history of their club and I think for this season they have a patch on the shoulder of their new jersey with the logo,” he said. “I believe they’re going to drop that for next season since this whole issue has cropped up.”

Though the Mohawks and Ojibwa have made changes to their names and logos voluntarily, the other two teams — the Mississauga Braves and the Mississauga Reps (who have a Chicago Blackhawks-style logo) — may be required to do so under a new Greater Toronto Hockey League policy.

GTHL board chair Don West outlined the policy in a column he wrote for the October edition of Breakout magazine: “GTHL teams should not use ‘specific’ Indigenous-themed names or logos … unless consent has been obtained from the governing or representative body of the particular Indigenous group.”

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The policy was created through consultations with First Nations leaders and the Aboriginal Sport & Wellness Council of Ontario, he said, adding it applies to “existing team names and logos, as well as to teams that are rebranding.”

“The Mississauga Braves hockey club has advised the GTHL that, in compliance with the GTHL’s policy, they will be changing their team names for the 2017-18 season,” West told the Star in an email.

Laforme said, “I firmly believe you have to have understanding and you have to have permission. I don’t think in this day and age anyone can purport to represent anyone unless you have their permission.”

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