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McGill Redbirds and Martlets

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The McGill Redbirds (formerly the McGill Redmen ) and McGill Martlets are the varsity athletic teams that represent McGill University in Montreal , Quebec, Canada.

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48-477: According to Suzanne Morton, a professor of history at McGill, the name "McGill Redmen" was first adopted in 1927, initially intended to reflect James McGill's Scottish heritage and hair color. Despite this, after the hiring of a new football coach from the United States sometime before 1940, Indigenous imagery was brought in to accompany the name as a show of spectacle. Men's teams became colloquially known as

96-415: A Comanche social activist who spoke about empowering Native American schoolchildren in the 1960s at Ponca City , Oklahoma , recounted: We tried to find out what the children found painful about school [causing a very high dropout rate]. (...) The children said that they felt humiliated almost every day by teachers calling them "squaws" and using all those other old horrible terms. As a word referring to

144-407: A broomstick, as well as verbal and physical intimidation of rookies by a large portion of the team." In 2006, McGill's Senate approved a proposed anti-hazing policy to define forbidden initiation practices. Squaw The English word squaw is an ethnic and sexual slur , historically used for Indigenous North American women. Contemporary use of the term, especially by non-Natives,

192-521: A certain etiquette. The Squaw's station in travelling is at a considerable distance in the rear of her liege lord, and never at the side of him. [Walker] had the kindness to present the writer a dozen pair of moccasins worked by this squaw - richly embroidered on the instep with colored porcupine quills." Edgar Allan Poe uses the word in his 1838 novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . The 1887 Canadian novel An Algonquin Maiden uses

240-517: A derogatory term and began formally removing the term from use on the federal level, with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland ( Laguna Pueblo ) announcing the creation of a committee and process to review and replace derogatory names of geographic features. In a press release, Secretary Haaland announced, Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate

288-584: A learner, including: squaw ("woman"), squawsuck ("women"), keegsquaw ("virgin or maid"), segousquaw ("widower"), and squausnit ("woman's god"). In most colonial texts squaw was used as a general word for Indigenous women. The Massachusett Bible was printed in the Massachusett language in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1663. It used the word squa in Mark 10:6 as a translation for "female". It used

336-549: A shipboard trip to Alaska, included, "Mr. Hubbard ... saw that Siberia was represented by a couple of dozen furry Eskimos and one squaw man; they came aboard from a skin boat as soon as the Buford dropped her hook." Science fiction author Isaac Asimov , in his novel Pebble in the Sky (1950), wrote that science-fictional natives of other planets would use slurs against natives of Earth, such as, "Earthie-squaw". LaDonna Harris ,

384-536: A streak which has now been extended to five straight national championships. The team plays out of Trudeau Park in Côte-Saint-Luc . A 2005 hazing scandal forced the cancellation of the final two games in the McGill Redbirds football season. An investigation into the incident showed that "the event did involve nudity, degrading positions and behaviours, gagging, touching in inappropriate manners with

432-458: A woman, it was sometimes used to denigrate men, as in "squaw man," meaning either "a man who does woman's work" or "a white man married to an Indian woman and living with her people". An early comment in which squaw appears to have a sexual meaning is from the Canadian writer E. Pauline Johnson , who was of Mohawk heritage, but spent little time in that culture as an adult. She wrote about

480-590: Is considered derogatory , misogynist , and racist . While squaw (or a close variant) is found in several Eastern and Central Algonquian languages , primarily spoken in the northeastern United States and in eastern and central Canada, these languages only make up a small minority of the Indigenous languages of North America. The word "squaw" is not used among Native American , First Nations , Inuit , or Métis peoples. Even in Algonquian,

528-600: Is geographically diverse with student-athletes recruited from across Canada and the US. The team plays home games in McGill's Percival Molson Memorial Stadium . The soccer program at McGill operates for a big part of the school year. On top of the regular U Sports fall season there is a Quebec indoor season, which runs from January to mid March. Preparation for the U Sports season starts with try-outs in mid-August and several preseason games against NCAA teams. McGill's sailing program

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576-608: Is the Canadian university field lacrosse championship, awarded annually to the winner of the post-season tournament by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association. The Baggataway Cup tournament is typically held the second weekend in November, and is hosted by one of the member schools. The operations of CUFLA are handled by an executive that reports regularly to the team presidents, typically at annual general meetings. Currently,

624-498: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary now list squaw as "offensive", "often offensive", and "usually disparaging". While some have studied the elements of Algonquian words that might be related to the word, the consensus among Native women, and Native people in general, is that—no matter the linguistic origins—the word is too offensive, and that any "reclamation" efforts would only apply to

672-675: The Baggataway Cup , in 2012 and 2015. McGill competes in the CUFLA East versus Bishop's , Carleton , Nipissing , Ottawa , Trent and Queen's Universities . Four-time recipient of the Harry Griffith's Award in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2015, the team has won eight CUFLA East conference titles in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The team has achieved a record of 97–11–1 since 2011 versus Canadian opponents. The hybrid Canadian-box-American-field lacrosse program

720-475: The Canadian Football League 's Montreal Alouettes also play. After their 2005 suspension, the team struggled with three losing seasons, including two winless seasons in 2007 and 2008. The program showed signs of hope as the team won three games in 2009, but soon sank back down to futility with consecutive winless campaigns in 2010 and 2011. On March 3, 1875 the first organized indoor game

768-773: The National Lacrosse League ) are eligible to play. Throughout the years, the league has seen many current and former NLL players scattered throughout various teams. Many current and former players have met with a great deal of success representing their countries or playing professional lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League and Major League Lacrosse . Media coverage of CUFLA has grown in recent years, with local and student newspapers devoting several articles to CUFLA's game results. Several lacrosse websites ( Lacrosse All Stars , Inside Lacrosse , The Lacrosse News , Lacrosse Bucket , etc.) and magazines have taken notice and included CUFLA in their ongoing coverage of

816-876: The United States Department of the Interior , headed by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland , declared squaw to be a derogatory and racist term and began formally removing the term from use on the federal level. Eastern and Central Algonquian morphemes (smallest units of meaning) meaning "woman" (mostly found as components in longer words) include: Massachusett squàw ("woman"), Abenaki -skwa ("female, wife"), Mohegan-Pequot sqá , Cree iskwew / ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ (iskeyw, "woman"), Ojibwe ikwe ("woman"). Variants in other related languages are: esqua , sqeh , skwe , que , kwa , exkwew , xkwe . These are all derived from Proto-Algonquian *eθkwe·wa ("(young) woman"). According to linguist Ives Goddard,

864-400: The "Indians" and from 1961 to 1967 women's teams were formally known as the "Super Squaws ". 1950s McGill team logos featured Aboriginal Canadian iconography and reports by news sources in the 1950s refer to the "McGill Indians" in their sports reporting. Stereotyped Indigenous iconography was on McGill football and hockey team jerseys and helmets until 1992 when a student-led campaign against

912-609: The 13th member, the third in Quebec, in 2012. As it celebrates its 30th year in 2014, the CUFLA has expanded again to 15 teams with the addition of Nipissing University and the University of Ottawa . This ongoing growth bodes well for the continued expansion of men's field lacrosse at various universities across Canada. Concordia University left after the 2015 season, leaving the league with 14 teams. Former The Baggataway Cup

960-651: The 2016 CCBA National Tournament, held at Ahuntsic Park in Montreal, the Redmen went 2–1 in pool play, advancing to the semi-finals where they defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies by a score of 21–0, and then defeated the Montreal Carabins in the national championship game 3–2 on a walk-off home run by catcher Christopher Stanford. This victory marked a three-peat for the Redmen as Canadian National Champions,

1008-499: The Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association to reflect the additions of McGill University and Bishop's University , both located in Quebec. The league expanded to 12 teams in 2007 with the additions of Trent (Peterborough) and Laurentian (Sudbury) universities. With these additions the league split into two divisions (east and west) based on geographic location of member schools. Concordia University in Montreal became

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1056-507: The Grand River wrote letters petitioning for the name change as well, with Chief Hill writing, The continued use and acceptance of the word 'Squaw' only perpetuates the idea that indigenous women and culture can be deemed as impure, sexually perverse, barbaric and dirty ... Please do eliminate the slur 'Squaw' from your community. The Buffalo Common Council then voted unanimously to change the name to Unity Island . In November 2021,

1104-463: The Indians, that any one should write up an Indian heroine with such glaring accusations against her virtue, and no contradictory statements from either writer, hero or circumstance. Statements that squaw came from a word meaning "female genitals" gained currency in the 1970s, but have since been found to be inaccurate. In November 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior declared squaw to be

1152-641: The Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club throughout the fall and competes in dinghies such as the collegiate 420 and the Flying Junior . The baseball team plays in the Canadian Collegiate Baseball Association (CCBA). They have won seven national championships (2006 and 2010 under the old CIBA banner and 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 under the new CCBA banner), and have appeared in two national finals (2005 and 2008). In

1200-533: The U.S., as well as certain businesses, such as Squaw Lake (Minnesota) , Squaw Grove Township (DeKalb County, Illinois) , Squaw Township (Iowa) , Squaw Canyon Oil Field , Squaw Creek Southern Railroad , and Squaw Peak Inn . Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association The Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) is an association of men's field lacrosse teams connected with several universities in Ontario and Quebec . Teams compete in

1248-559: The colonial booklet Mourt's Relation (1622), one of the first chronicles of the Plymouth Colony written by European colonists, including the story of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving . The sachem or sachim is the elected chief of a Massachusett tribe, and the booklet used Pidgin Massachusett to call the chief's wife the "squa sachim". Records accompanying sketches by Alfred Jacob Miller document mid-19th century usage of

1296-532: The derogatory meaning of the word. American Indian women claim the right to define ourselves as women and we reject the offensive term squaw. In 2015, Jodi Lynn Maracle ( Mohawk ) and Agnes Williams ( Seneca ) petitioned the Buffalo Common Council to change the name of Squaw Island to Deyowenoguhdoh . Seneca Nation President Maurice John Sr., and Chief G. Ava Hill of the Six Nations of

1344-480: The disuse of the term in normal discourse. When asked why "it never used to bother Indian women to be called squaw," and "why now?" an American Indian Movement group responded in 2006: Were American Indian women or people ever asked? Have you ever asked an American Indian woman, man, or child how they feel about [the "s" word]? (... it has always been used to insult American Indian women.) Through communication and education American Indian people have come to understand

1392-495: The executive is composed of a commissioner, two assistant commissioners, a treasurer, a director of communications, a high school liaison and a referee-in-chief. Only current students registered at their respective universities with a full course load are deemed eligible to play in CUFLA competitions. Players who have played professional field lacrosse (such as Major League Lacrosse ) are prohibited from playing in CUFLA. However, players who play professional box lacrosse (such as

1440-534: The fall with league playoffs typically in early November. Founded in 1985, the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association, or the "CUFLA," was originally known as the Ontario University Field Lacrosse Association (OUFLA) and, as the name suggests, was entirely Ontario-based. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, OUFLA expanded to include more teams across Ontario. Having grown to 10 teams in 2002, OUFLA changed its name to

1488-530: The first and oldest ice hockey club in the world. The university operates both men's and women's teams in U Sports. The teams play at McGill's McConnell Arena . The men's team has won championships in 1883, 1903, 1905, 1912, 1918, 1921, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, including the 2012 CIS University Cup national championship. The women's team has won championships in 1985, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. On November 15, 2003, Kim St-Pierre

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1536-465: The locations across North America that have contained the word, as well as to eliminate the word from the lexicon in general. The work follows previous actions by the Board on Geographic Names which recognized place names containing words that were widely recognized as being pejorative or derogatory for Black and Japanese people. The term persists in the officially sanctioned names of several places in

1584-506: The name and imagery led to their removal. At the same time, a large crest depicting an Indigenous man wearing a headdress was removed from the McGill gym. A second student-led campaign, #ChangeTheName, was organized in 2017 by the McGill Student Union Indigenous Affairs committee. In a 2018 referendum organized by McGill's student union, 78.8% of 5,856 participating students voted in favour of changing

1632-597: The notion that the word originally referred to a woman’s vagina is inaccurate. In the first published report of Indigenous American languages in English, A Key into the Language of America , written in 1643, Puritan Minister Roger Williams wrote his impressions of the Narragansett language . Williams noted morphemes that he considered to be related to "squaw" and provided the definitions he felt fit them, as

1680-409: The outdoors and our shared cultural heritage – not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression. Today’s actions will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place names and mark a significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial. This follows decades of work by Indigenous activists, both locally and in more general educational efforts, to rename

1728-412: The plural form squaog in 1 Timothy 5:2 and 5:14 for "younger women". A will written in the Massachusett language by a native preacher from Martha's Vineyard uses the word squa to refer to his unmarried daughters. In the Massachusett language, squa was an ancient and thoroughly decent word. One of the earliest appearances of the term in English in print is "the squa sachim , or Massachusetts queen" in

1776-543: The small percentage of Native women from the Algonquian-language groups, and not to the vast majority of Native women who feel degraded by the term. Indigenous women who have addressed the history and depth of this word state that this degrading usage is now too long, and too painful, for it to ever take on a positive meaning among Indigenous women or Indigenous communities as a whole. Feminist and anti-racist groups have also worked to educate and encourage

1824-429: The squaws of Indians, their lives are subjected to the caprices of a tyrant too often, whose ill treatment is the rule and kindness their exception. Nothing so strikingly distinguishes civilized from savage life as the treatment of women. It is in every particular in favor of the former." For "Bourgeois" Walker, & his Squaw , Miller describes his depiction of the fur trader made in 1858 thusly: "The sketch exhibits

1872-483: The teams' name. On April 12, 2019, McGill announced that "McGill University's men's varsity teams will cease to be called the Redmen." On November 17, 2020, "Redbirds" was announced as the new name for the McGill men's varsity teams. Since 2005, the mascot for both the men's and women's varsity teams has been Marty the Martlet . The mascot made its first appearance at the 2005 Homecoming men's football game, where it

1920-482: The term in the United States. Miller wrote notes in 1858-1860 for each picture, many of which included Indigenous women. These were published in the 1951 catalog of a Miller exhibition. For Indian Girl reposing , Miller wrote, "Before they are 16 years of age, these girls may be said to have their heyday, and even then if they become the wives or mates of Trappers, are comparatively happy, for they generally indulge them to their hearts' content; should they become however

1968-569: The term squaw four times; twice as "squaw-snake" to refer to a female snake, and twice to refer to a woman from an Algonquin tribe. Colville / Okanagan author Mourning Dove , in her 1927 novel, Cogewea, the Half-Blood had one of her characters say, If I was to marry a white man and he would dare call me a 'squaw'—as an epithet with the sarcasm that we know so well—I believe that I would feel like killing him. E. B. White 's 1961 story "The Years of Wonder", derived from his 1923 journal of

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2016-517: The title character in An Algonquin Maiden by G. Mercer Adam and A. Ethelwyn Wetherald: Poor little Wanda! not only is she non-descript and ill-starred, but as usual the authors take away her love, her life, and last and most terrible of all, reputation; for they permit a crowd of men-friends of the hero to call her a "squaw" and neither hero nor authors deny that she is a squaw. It is almost too sad when so much prejudice exists against

2064-717: The words used are not the English-language word. The term squaw is considered offensive by Indigenous peoples in America and Canada due to its use for hundreds of years in a derogatory context that demeans Native American women. This has ranged from condescending images (e.g., picture postcards depicting "Indian squaw and papoose ") to racialized epithets. Alma Garcia has written, "It treats non-white women as if they were second-class citizens or exotic objects." Newer editions of dictionaries such as American Heritage , Merriam-Webster online dictionaries, and

2112-767: Was founded in 1937, and the first regattas took place in Kingston. McGill's first win came in the 1938 Canadian Intercollegiate Dinghy Racing Association National Championships. Today, the team competes in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association , which itself is a part of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association and in the Canadian Intercollegiate Sailing Association. The team trains out of

2160-595: Was impossible to accept on account of approaching exams. McGill's lacrosse tradition was not re-established until 2001, when a McGill freshman organized a student lacrosse club. In 2002 the team gained Level-3 varsity club status at McGill, and joined the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association , Canada's premier league founded in 1985. In 2007 the team's status was elevated to a Level-2 varsity team by McGill Athletics. McGill has twice won Canada's national championship,

2208-471: Was played at Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink by James George Aylwin Creighton and several McGill University students. In 1877, several McGill students, including Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W.F. Robertson, and W.L. Murray codified seven ice hockey rules. The McGill University Hockey Club – later re-christened "The Redmen" – was founded in 1877, arguably making the McGill men's hockey team

2256-588: Was presented to the McGill Athletics Department by the Student Organization for Alumni Relations. The McGill U Sports football Redbirds is one of the oldest in all of Canada, having begun organized competition in 1874. The team has appeared in three Vanier Cup national championships, in 1969, 1973 and 1987, with the team finally winning the title in the 1987 game. McGill plays out of Percival Molson Memorial Stadium , where

2304-577: Was the first woman in U Sports history to be credited with a win in a men's regular season game. This occurred when McGill defeated the Ryerson Rams by a score of 5–2. Lacrosse was played to a limited extent at McGill as early as 1873. The 15-man McGill Lacrosse Club of 1898 was led by F. L. Thompson (President), R. H. Craig (Vice President), and A. J. Grant (Secretary Treasurer). Numerous American clubs, including Brooklyn, Staten Island, Yale , and Harvard , challenged that McGill Lacrosse Club, but it

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