Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, says if the reports are true that Edmonton’s CFL team will have a new name, Inuit can move on to tackling other issues without this ‘distraction.’
Natan Obed doesn’t feel that he, himself, made the Edmonton football team change its name.
But the national Inuit leader — whose 2015 op-ed in The Globe and Mail brought the discussion into the national spotlight ahead of the team’s Grey Cup victory — says if the reports are to be believed, Inuit can now move on to tackling other issues without this “distraction.”
CBC News has not been able to verify the reports from TSN and Postmedia suggesting Edmonton’s CFL club has come to an internal decision to change its name, with an announcement expected as early as this week.
A team spokesperson said, as of Saturday, there was no update regarding the name change.
But if the reports are true, it brings an end to a bitterly divisive debate that has played out not only in Southern Canada, but among Inuit across the country.
“That’s something that weighs heavily on me because I hate to see our community and our people fight with one another over any issues. But let alone something that seems to be so personal,” Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), told CBC News.
Repairing relationships
Support and opposition for the team’s name across Inuit Nunangat largely depended on demographics. Inuit in the Western Arctic were generally more supportive of the name, along with older Inuit; while those farther East, and the younger generations, predominantly supported a change.
In the fight for Inuit self-determination, we all want to feel like we’re part of it.– Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Duane Smith, the chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation — and an ITK board member — told Sportsnet radio earlier this month many of his constituents found pride in Edmonton’s team name.
The issue even reached Nunavut’s Legislative Assembly in February, when cabinet minister Lorne Kusugak told opponents of the team’s name to “take a Valium” and to stop being “so sensitive” during his member’s statement.
Obed acknowledged there will be some who are upset with him over the reported outcome, comparing it to former Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak Lindell’s voting in favour of same-sex marri