Sask. senior hockey team says it plans to remove Confederate flag from its logo

A senior hockey team in southern Saskatchewan says it will change its team logo, which features a Confederate flag, as soon as it can afford to.

The Assiniboia Rebels Senior Hockey Club's current logo features the silhouette of a bugler with a Confederate flag waving in the background above him.

"We are aware of the complaint and the concerns brought forward. As a group we have already started discussions and we will be phasing our logo out as soon as we are financially able to do so," the team said in a statement sent to CBC.

It did not provide information on how much the logo alteration would cost or how soon it might be made.

Photos from the team's Facebook profile show the logo in 2011, while the most recent photo is from their championship victory in 2022. It shows the team with their white home jerseys featuring the logo on the front.

The team also has photos posted to social media from 2020 with an alternate dark-coloured jersey that features a large letter "R."

The logo is included in the town's new $18-million recreation centre, called the Southland Co-op Centre, also known as the Town of Assiniboia and District Recreation Complex.

The facility was completed in mid-September, according to a news release. It's expected to be fully operational before the end of September.

The federal government provided nearly $6.3 million for the facility from its Investing in Canada infrastructure program, while more than $5.2 million came from the Saskatchewan government.

The remainder of the price tag was covered by the town, about 135 kilometres southwest of Regina, and fundraising efforts, the news release says.

In the release, Assiniboia Mayor Sharon Schauenberg said, "Recreational facilities, especially in small towns,