First Nations teen Indigenizes Edmonton Elks team logo for orange T-shirt

A First Nations student has re-designed the Edmonton Elks logo for an orange T-shirt raising awareness of residential schools, with proceeds going to sports programs for Indigenous youth.

Izaiah Masuskapoe, 14, from Ocean Man First Nation in Saskatchewan, is in Grade 9 at St. Thomas More junior high in Edmonton.

"I noticed the B.C. Lions had the [Indigenous-themed] logo and the shirts, and everyone was wearing them," he said.

He thought it would be great if Edmonton's CFL team also had its own Every Child Matters T-shirt.

"I just thought of it in my head and drew it. It took me like an hour," he said.

Among other flourishes, he added an eagle feather to the ear of the stylized elk's head, to represent residential school survivors.

Masuskapoe likes to draw in pencil in his sketchbook, working on symbolic wolves and bears, one of which represents NHL hockey player Ethan Bear. He said redesigning the Elks logo took a weekend to create. 

Leah Piekema, who teaches art at St. Thomas More, said half Masuskapoe's sketchbook is logo design.

She said he came in on Monday and showed her the design he had done over the weekend.

Piekema sent the sketch to the Elks, who then shared the student's art on their social media sites.

"I was in shock. I honestly cried," she said. 

"It was so powerful and positive that they even took the time to reach out."

Piekema said she hopes it reaches a lot of people and raises awareness about residential schools.

Trevor Sieben, director of marketing for the Edmonton Elks, said of Masuskapoe's logo, "We loved it."

The team rebranded itself with a new name and logo earlier this year after dropping its old name, which had been criticized for years for being racist. 

Sieben said one of the new logo's design elements was made to be minimal and easy to read.

"He found all those nice areas that you could fill in the gaps with the Indigenous motifs, things that were special to him," Sieben said.

"One of the things which I thought was super clever was that he added a feather to the ear of the elk . . . I thought it was a nice touch."

The T-shirts will be sold at the Elks home game against the Hamilton Tiger Cats Oct. 29. The team has compensated Masuskapoe for his work and proceeds from the shirt sales will benefit Spirit North, a charity that does youth sports programs in Indigenous communities.