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Vice: A Tribe Called Red DJ threatened for opposing mascot

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Nepean Redskins, a youth football club in Ottawa, Ontario, that changed its name after Ian Campeau of A Tribe Called Red filed a human rights complaint. Photo from Facebook

VICE interviews Ian Campeau, a DJ for A Tribe Called Red, who has been threatened after he filed a human rights complaint against a racist mascot in Ontario:

VICE: Can you explain how these threats have been delivered?
Ian Campeau: I was getting ridiculous unsolicited hateful messages on my personal Facebook and when I replied, the reply was like mad racist and “whatever, wagon burner,” so, I contacted my lawyer because there's stipulations in the agreement that we have with the Nepean football team and if this guy is affiliated with the team then that reflects poorly on the agreement that we have. So, I called my lawyer and she was like: “You need to report that as a hate crime, because it clearly is, so I went to the police.”
Was this “Corey” affiliated with the Redskins?
That hasn't been determined, but this was a just in case sort of thing.
Are the police going to be taking any action to make sure this doesn't escalate any further?
They asked what kind of outcome I would like to see, and I said that I would like for this guy to be contacted by the police and basically be told to smarten up. It's amazing when you send a message on Facebook to somebody you don't know and you don't have the settings put the way you want, you are putting where you sent the message from. So, all three of his messages were from the same address in this rural place, so I guess that's where he's from.
What’s up with Ottawa? I grew up playing with the Nepean Chiefs and we also have the Nepean Redskins.
I don't know I don't think it’s Ottawa, I think it’s society in general. Because I grew up here, because you grew up here, we see it happen more often. It's a turning point in society and we're all starting to wake up and see how First Nations are being treated differently and how their images are used as opposed to any other race in North America.

Get the Story:
A Tribe Called Red’s Deejay NDN Is Being Threatened For Pointing Out Racism (Vice 1/21)

Also Today:
Redskins ‘blowback’ prompts police complaint (The Ottawa Citizen 1/19)

An Opinion:
Editorial: Standing up to the haters (The Ottawa Citizen 1/21)