With righting the wrongs of cultural appropriation being among the important topics of discussion in 2020, we have already witnessed other sports organizations, most notably Washington's NFL team, formerly known as the Washington Redskins, take a step back and realize the error of their ways.
It appears as though the NHL's Vancouver Canucks are the latest team to be placed in the spotlight over cultural appropriation concerns, after a professor at the University of Manitoba identified the Canucks' Orca logo as a design that is disrespectful to Indigenous people, due to the fact that the team continues to "profit from branding that is appropriating their art style".
Sean Carleton took to Twitter on Monday in an attempt to stand up and blow the whistle on the Canucks organization after Francesco Aquilini had said, back in 2019, that the Canucks have no intentions of abandoning the logo, stating to reporters: "It's indigenous to the region. We're going to keep it."
Carleton believes that, at this point, with all of the changes that other organizations are undergoing in order to attempt to make amends for the potentially offensive branding, the Canucks' owner should admit to its mistake and work towards repairing the damage.
"People will say, but Sean the imagery is a 'a sign of respect.' How respectful is continuing to make piles of money from a business you operate on stolen land all the while branding that business with stolen imagery. That's the logic of colonial capitalism for you."
Carleton even had a helpful suggestion for the organization on how it can move forward with designs such as the Orca logo in a more respectful way.
"[The Canucks should] work with Indigenous peoples to develop iconography in appropriate ways, giving Indigenous artists a platform and a way to participate and benefit."
The Canucks have now been using the Orca logo for nearly 30 years.
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