More pressure on Esks name

Photo: Edmonton Eskimos

Edmonton's mayor says he wants the city's Canadian Football League team to start taking steps towards a name change.

Don Iveson says there needs to be serious conversations about changing the name, given that an organization that represents Inuit people calls the term Eskimos offensive.

Iveson says it doesn't have to be resolved in the next month while the Edmonton Eskimos are in the CFL playoffs.

He says it's up to the team to talk with the public and other stakeholders about what name would work for all, and he'd like to see it happen before the Grey Cup comes to Edmonton next year.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said earlier this week he wants the Eskimos to change its name to a more inclusive one.

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada's 60,000 Inuit, said Edmonton can be a leader in Canada's movement to reconciliation with Indigenous people by changing the name.

"It is my hope that the team will respect the wishes of the Inuit and replace its moniker with a team name that is not widely considered an ethnic slur," Obed said in a statement.

The Eskimos said in a statement that it uses the name with "pride and respect."