‘I felt defeated’: Indigenous hockey player shocked by act of racism

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – An Indigenous hockey player says her league needs to do more after another player hurled a racial slur at her.

Davina McLeod is originally from the Northwest Territories and plays on the SAIT women’s hockey team.

She said a player from Red Deer College shouted the slur during a game earlier this month.

McLeod was shocked at the event saying on Twitter, “In all my years of hockey, I have never had to experience racism at that level, although I’ve heard stories of it happening. I fell defeated and taken back.”

Now while the player did apologize in a letter, McLeod said it didn’t go far enough.

She called the letter disingenuous and noted the player misspelled the word Indigenous twice.

Multiple indigenous players in the league just found out that we are not safe or protected by the @ACAC_Sport when racism occurs within. @SAIT_Trojans pic.twitter.com/0ZrrBFfNSY

— Davina McLeod (@davinamcleod_7) February 25, 2020

McLeod is now calling on the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) to take action.

“To have one of my favourite places in the world tainted by a few words of an indignant person breaks my heart,” Mcleod said. “It hurts even more knowing that no actual consequences will be done by the ACAC as I have to continue living with the realization that Indigenous people are not safe from racism in their league.”

She also took aim at Red Deer College, saying the school should have taken responsibility for the player’s action but instead “started pointing fingers to players on our team.”