MONTREAL -- The wife of a Indigenous man who claims to have been bombarded by racist insults during a friendly hockey tournament has launched an online petition demanding elected officials take the situation seriously.
The racist comments were allegedly made last weekend at the Paspébiac Arena, in Quebec’s eastern Gaspé Peninsula, during a match between the Chandler Goons and the Gesgapegiag Chiefs, a Mi'kmaq community.
One of the Chiefs' players, Dave Condo, says he heard both insults hurled at players on the ice, as well as towards Indigenous children watching the game in the stands.
Amanda Ottawa, Condo’s wife, started the petition on change.org and says she wants there to be a regulation against racist speech in all sports arenas.
She argues that Indigenous people have the right to have fun without being called names and demands that measures be taken so all Indigenous children, including her seven-year-old son, no longer have to experience discrimination.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 1,900 people had signed the petition.
The small Mi'kmaq reserve of Gesgapegiag is located halfway between Maria and New Richmond, south of the Gaspé Peninsula.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2020.
