McGill University varsity men's sports teams will no longer be called the Redmen, the school announced on Friday.
According to McGill, the university—which is located in Montreal—decided to change the Redmen name after calls from Indigenous students, faculty and staff saying the name was discriminatory. Principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier announced the decision by email to all students Friday morning. The campaign to change the name started in 2017.
"Today, 'Redmen' is widely acknowledged as an offensive term for Indigenous peoples, as evidenced by major English dictionaries," Fortier said in a statement. "While this derogatory meaning of the word does not reflect the beliefs of generations of McGill athletes who have proudly competed wearing the University’s colours, we cannot ignore this contemporary understanding.