
The public is invited to make comments to the Board of Education’s mascot review committee on Wednesday night or by submitting comments by email.
The public is invited to provide comments about Canton High School’s use of the Warrior mascot on Wednesday night to the Canton Board of Education’s Mascot Review Committee or by submitting them by email to the committee.
The meeting will be held online via Zoom beginning at 7 p.m. The committee has scheduled 30 minutes for public comment. Residents can find the links to join the meeting at the Board of Education’s website. Residents are also invited to submit their comments via email at [email protected].
The 17-person committee that is comprised of members of the Board of Education, school administrators, teachers, students and members of the community has been meeting throughout the summer. The committee hopes to provide the Board of Education with a recommendation about the Warrior mascot in September.
“Hearing from the public is an important part of our mascot review process,” committee chair Erika Hayes said in a statement. “It is a chance for every person who wants to share their opinion to do so. Whether they submit written comment or speak during the zoom meeting, we would appreciate hearing from as many community members as possible, and most importantly Canton students.”
Canton High’s mascot has been the Warriors since the early 1950s. Over the last 10 years, the school has quietly been replacing Native American imagery in the building, on campus and on school athletic uniforms.
The committee has spent considerable time learning about the history and evolution of the Warrior mascot at Canton High and about the Tunxis tribe, who lived in the Farmington Valley, including Canton.
The committee had a lengthy discussion with Dr. Glen Mitoma, director, Dodd Human Rights Impact and Assistant Professor of Human Rights and Education at the University of Connecticut’s Human Rights Institute at a recent meeting. According to a news release from the committee, he offered the committee guiding principles and processes on how to move the charge of the committee forward.
Mitoma has assisted other Connecticut towns with Native American mascots through their decision-making process.
Committee members have also read and discussed the school district’s materials regarding the school’s mission, vision of a graduate and equity statement to see how the current mascot fits with those stated beliefs and goals of the curriculum.
In the news release, the committee put forth questions that need to be answered.
- Should the feathers and Native American images and depictions be removed completely from the logo and mascot?
- Can we remove the feathers and all native American imagery and stay the Warriors?
- What would the new logo be?
- Do we need to find another mascot entirely? Or perhaps we don’t need a traditional mascot at all?
According to the news release, some members of the committee would like to keep the Warriors name saying that the word itself is not of Native American origin and is not by definition attributed to any one ethic or racial group. They say that there are other groups that use the word Warriors (American Ninja Warrior, NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Wounded Warriors) without any connection to Native American culture.
“I believe that we can remove all the Native American imagery and stay the Canton Warriors if we take this opportunity to define exactly who the Canton Warrior is,” said Amy Orschel, a member of the committee and the president of the Canton Athletic Booster Club in the news release. “If we have a clear vision that fits in with our goals and values as a district and a community who is to tell us we are wrong?
“Perhaps what we need is motto and not a mascot,” Orschel said. “We are Warriors. It’s a way of living in our town, the type of graduates we’d like to produce, and the values we’d like to instill in them.”
A number of Connecticut schools have re-examined their mascots and the use of Native American imagery used with those mascots. In the 2021, four schools have modified their athletic nicknames. Farmington went from Indians to River Hawks; Newington changed from Indians to Nor’easters and Glastonbury went from Tomahawks to Guardians. In July, the North Haven Board of Education voted unanimously to change their mascot, which is currently the Indians.
In 2020, Guilford changed from Indians to Grizzlies while RHAM High, a regional high school in Hebron, changed their mascot from Sachems to Raptors. In 2019, Manchester High changed their nickname from Indians to Red Hawks.
Killingly High changed their nickname to Red Hawks in 2019 but in February 2020, a newly-elected Board of Education voted to return to the legacy nickname of Redmen, which many people consider a racist slur.
In June, the state legislature passed a provision that would bar municipal grant money from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund if their high schools keep team names, logos, mascots or symbols and mascots associated with Native Americans. Towns would have one year to inform the state Office of Policy and Management of their intent to change the name without losing the grant money.
Canton is currently one of 13 state high schools with Native American nicknames, mascots and/or imagery including Windsor, Valley Regional in Deep River, Wamogo Regional in Litchfield and Wilton (Warriors), Killingly (Redmen), Torrington and Derby (Red Raiders), Montville (Indians), Nonnewaug-Woodbury (Chiefs), and Watertown (Indians) and the two public high schools in West Hartford.
In West Hartford, Hall High’s nickname is the Warriors and Conard’s nickname is Chieftains but neither school has used Native American imagery since 2015.
While provision bars grant money from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund to these towns, Canton, Windsor and Woodbury currently receive no money from the fund. Canton, Windsor and Woodbury are among several towns that have not received any money from the fund since 2018.
Minutes of the mascot review committee’s meetings are available online at the Canton Board of Education website along with video links of three meetings this summer.
Mascot Review Committee meeting, July 27
Mascot Review Committee meeting, June 30
Mascot Review Committee meeting, May 27
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.


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