Mascot causes offence
The mascot for the Shawinigan Cataractes was in attendance to support Hockeyville’s winners at the announcement last weekend. The mascot is a caricature of an Indigenous “chief,” complete with war bonnet. Photo taken by Laver Simard. Courtesy Kimberly Murray
The winner of 2025’s Kraft Hockeyville competition was announced last weekend – but some might have been taken aback to see an offensive mascot on-screen during the official livestream of the event, who was wearing a feathered war bonnet complete with colourful war paint on its cheeks.
The mascot, which is named “Thomas Hawk” (a.k.a. Tomahawk) belongs to the Shawinigan Cataractes, a Junior hockey team from Shawinigan, a neighbouring town to St. Boniface, the winners of this year’s Hockeyville tournament. As the winning town, St. Boniface won $250,000 in arena upgrades from Kraft Hockeyville.
Tammy Whitebean typically organizes the Kraft Hockeyville campaign in Kahnawake, but opted not to participate this year after being discouraged by low participation and support in the past. She was shocked to see the mascot.
“I’m not sure how to feel about it, because they all know how we feel about things like that, and to put that right there, I’m at a loss for words right now,” she said.
Patrick Richard, a representative for the municipality of St. Boniface told The Eastern Door that the Shawinigan Cataractes have been a partner in their Hockeyville campaign, with whom they had set up “visibility exchanges” during their games, to mobilize the population of Shawinigan to support St. Boniface’s plight – many Shawinigan residences have posted memories of St. Boniface’s arena on their rally page.
Richard confirmed that the mascot was present at the announcement last weekend to “support our evening celebrations and entertain our youngsters,” but added that the Cataractes do not and will not play in St. Boniface, where the arena upgrades will take place.
Related Reading
Adrien Reynolds, account director at a public relations firm representing Kraft Hockeyville, sent a statement on behalf of the organization saying that it does not host nor control the guest lists for community events, adding that the mascot is not affiliated with Kraft Hockeyville.
The Cataractes did not respond to The Eastern Door’s request for comment by deadline.
