Canton BOE votes to retire Native American imagery; rebrand Warrior mascot

The Canton Board of Education voted Tuesday night to remove any Native American imagery from their school mascot and to rebrand their current Warrior mascot.

CANTON, Nov. 9, 2021 – The Canton Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to retire any Native American imagery from the Canton High mascot beginning immediately and to complete removal of any Native American imagery from the school and athletic uniforms by June 2023.

The Board of Education also voted to retain the Warrior nickname and rebrand it by a vote of 5-4. The Board of Education will direct the Canton administration, with input from students, to rebrand the Canton Warrior mascot and present the rebranded Warrior to the BOE by May 2022.

By a 5-4 count, the BOE rejected a motion that would have created an ad-hoc committee to solicit potential new mascots, including a rebranded Warrior, and present several potential mascot proposals to the students at the high school and middle school to vote on.

A motion to prohibit the future sale and production of any imagery or symbols related to Native Americans on fan attire, uniforms, equipment, signage, playing fields, printed materials and websites associated with Canton High and Canton Middle School and their athletic programs passed by an 8-1 vote.

A motion that the Board of Education review curriculum around Native American studies, implement changes to comply with state statue and examine and establish a partnership with a Native American cultural resource center passed unanimously, 9-0.

A 17-person committee, which was comprised of members of the Board of Education, school administrators, teachers, students and members of the community met seven times to investigate and learn about the Warrior mascot beginning in May. The committee recommended removing any Native American imagery from the logo but was undecided on keeping or retiring the Warrior mascot name.

The process began in August 2020 when Superintendent Kevin Case asked the BOE to create a mascot review committee after receiving a request from community members to relook at Canton High’s mascot.

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 mascot committee has been receiving comments from the public since August. The Board of Education has been receiving comments from the public on this issue since October.

There was more than 30 minutes of public comments on the mascot issue Tuesday night in the meeting at the Community Center and several residents that delivered prepared remarks over email. A majority of the public comments on Tuesday were for keeping the Warrior nickname but there were some residents that called for its retirement.

In an advisory survey of students in September at Canton High (grades 9-12) and Canton Middle School (grades 7-8), most students wanted keep the Warrior mascot and rebrand it.  Students were against a proposal to retire the current Warrior mascot for a new one, 321-159 with students supporting a proposal to rebrand the Warrior logo, 282-178.

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, Watertown and Wilton (Warriors), Killingly (Redmen), Torrington and Derby (Red Raiders), Montville (Indians), Nonnewaug-Woodbury (Chiefs), 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 any used Native American imagery since 2015. Watertown recently announced a decision to change their school mascot from Indians to Warriors.

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.

Nov. 9, 2021 Canton Board of Education meeting

October 26. Board of Education meeting, draft minutes

Mascot Committee report to BOE

October 13: Mascot Committee meeting

October 6: Mascot Committee meeting

Mascot Committee report begins on page 9 

Mascot Review Committee meeting, July 27

Mascot Review Committee meeting, June 30

Mascot Review Committee meeting, May 27

Mascot Committee meetings and minutes