Open this photo in gallery Greg Halinda/The Canadian Press Parents of a Fort McMurray, Alta., minor hockey team have cancelled the team’s season to protect their kids from death threats made after a video on social media showed them performing a powwow dance in their dressing room, an act dubbed “sad and gravely unfortunate” by the local hockey association. The Midget "A" Junior Oil Barons will skip their remaining six regular-season games and be fined $2,100 after the team was identified and disparaged in a tersely worded statement by the Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association (FMMHA) issued three hours after the video appeared. The video, shot Jan. 20, went from Snapchat to Facebook and sparked an angry backlash against the 15- to 17-year-old players. The three players shown dancing were quick to apologize online. Since then, emotions have been running hot. The school that several players attend has requested an increased police presence. Another player has carried a baseball bat with him in his car in fear for his safety. The local RCMP said it would escort the team to and from its remaining games but the Junior Oil Barons declined because no one was sure the players could be protected inside the arena. Story continues below advertisement “We couldn’t guarantee the safety [from] people in the stands or the players on the ice from the other team,” parent Shane Kearney said on Friday. “Some of the threats made, it absolutely baffles you about mankind. To say, ‘We hope that the next semi that collides with a bus is your guys’ team’ [a reference to the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy] – who in their right mind says that to 15-, 16-, 17-year olds? Where in society is that acceptable?” The parents have said the dance to Electric Pow Wow Drum by Indigenous electronic music group A Tribe Called Red was not meant to be disrespectful or racist. In fact, two of the teens dancing to it are Indigenous. The FMMHA dispatched a statement saying it was “wrong and will not be tolerated. … These players will know how deeply impactful their actions are.” Members of the association executive met with the parents on the evening of Jan. 21 where they were told that by naming the team they had exposed the players to targeted attacks. The parents, in their own news release, said the association’s lack of investigation, and overreaction, had “contributed to team members receiving death threats, threats of harm, and humiliating and degrading comments about them on social media." The FMMHA statement has been removed from its website and its other social-media links. Asked if she thought the closeness of the Fort McMurray hockey community meant the association would be more understanding and would have investigated before denouncing the players, parent Roxanne James replied: “That was our hope. That’s why we reached out. We just want some resolution for our children.” Ms. James and Mr. Kearney said the team and its players are seeking an apology from the FMMHA. The Globe and Mail left a message with league president Travis Galenzoski but it was not returned by Friday’s deadline. “[The FMMHA and its directors seem to] have taken a vow of silence. We have not talked to them since our initial meeting on Jan. 21,” said Mr. Kearney, who added that the parents have also tried to contact the association via their lawyer. “I don’t think any of us know what the next step is. We hope they do the right thing and we don’t have to go any further. If they don’t, at a point we have to go to a higher avenue, whether that’s with Hockey Alberta or Hockey Canada, and put in a formal complaint.” The past few months have been emotionally charged on the Fort McMurray minor-hockey front. In December, a 31-year-old volunteer coach was arrested by Buffalo Wood RCMP and charged with luring a child, sexual assault and sexual exploitation. The charges against Steven Charles Adams are alleged to have occurred in 2018.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email Parents of Fort McMurray minor hockey players whose team was criticized for an Indigenous locker-room dance say they’re forfeiting the season due to safety concerns. A social media video in January showed a boy beating his hockey stick against a trash-can lid as he and others jumped around and shouted to a song by Indigenous electronic group A Tribe Called Red. A statement shortly after from the Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association apologized and called the actions by members of the Midget A Junior Oil Barons disrespectful. READ MORE: First Nations mother thankful for support after woman hurled racist remarks at her on Edmonton bus In a statement posted to Facebook this week, players’ parents say some of the kids shown in the video are Indigenous and the dance was meant to be motivational, not derogatory or racist. Story continues below advertisement The parents say the team has been threatened verbally and on social media, so they decided it was too dangerous to finish the season. “One of the comments made was, ‘I hope that the next semi that collides with a bus is your guys’ hockey team,'” Shane Kearney, one of the players’ fathers said. “As a 15-, 16-year-old, how do you deal with something like that? As parents how do you deal with someone making a comment like that towards your child?” READ MORE: Athletes from around the world bring culture and competition to Alberta for Indigenous Games Another parent speaking out is Roxanne Janes. She said the team made the decision because they were worried not only for themselves, but the teams they were playing against. “Because our team name was out there, our schedule was posted all over social media and comments were being made like, ‘This is where they’re going to be. This is where we can get them. Make sure you go find them, make sure you take care of them,’ and we didn’t want to put anybody in jeopardy. “It wasn’t safe for our players and our families and it wasn’t safe for the host teams that we were going to be attending.” Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It wasn't safe for our players and our families and it wasn't safe for the host teams that we were going to be attending." She told Rob Breakenridge on Global News Radio 770 CHQR that most of the players attend the same school and that the school increased police presence after the backlash. Story continues below advertisement “Our players walked with their heads up and their backs against the wall,” Janes said. “They didn’t wear their team jackets. They were afraid. They were really, really afraid.” LISTEN BELOW: Roxanne Janes speaks with Rob Breakenridge on Global News Radio 770 CHQR Janes doesn’t place blame with the entire Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association for what’s happened to her kids. She blames the select few who chose to release the statement. “It was their statement that made the news Canada-wide,” she said. “They were reading their comments on-air and in articles that were posted. By feeding in to what was already going on it just made it 10 times worse.” READ MORE: Lethbridge Sport Council highlighting Indigenous athletes Story continues below advertisement Janes wants the people who issued the statement to stand up, take responsibility and publicly apologize to the kids. “My problem is that adults who are responsible for the safety of our children won’t accept responsibility. “They won’t acknowledge that they did wrong. That they contributed to this. Our kids are more mature than them.” Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They won't acknowledge that they did wrong. That they contributed to this. Our kids are more mature than them." The move means the team incurred and paid a $2,100 penalty. – With files from The Canadian Press<doc-sep>
The locker room incident went viral after it was uploaded to Facebook. The social media backlash that followed saw commenters accusing the boys of mocking Indigenous culture. Many comments included hopes the boys would die in a traffic accident, specifically mentioning the Humboldt Broncos’ team bus crash. Last month, a video uploaded to Snapchat showed a boy from the Fort McMurray Midget “A” Junior Oil Barons banging a hockey stick against the lid of a garbage can like a drum. As music from the Indigenous electronic group A Tribe Called Red plays, two other players can be seen dancing while the rest of the team shouts and laughs. Parents of a Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association Team have forfeited the rest of the season following a social media backlash to a viral video included “death threats, threats of harm, and humiliating and degrading comments.” However, forfeiting the rest of the season means the team will have to pay the association a $2,100 fine. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content As it turned out, the boys involved were Indigenous, with at least one player a member of the Fort McKay Métis. “We could not guarantee the safety of our players, the families and the teams that we were going to play against because of the threats that were made against the team,” said Shane Kearney, a parent of one of the players on the team. Following the release of the video, the association released a statement saying the behaviour was “wrong and will not be tolerated.” “We are sick to know how many people this hurts and offends and for that we sincerely apologize on their behalf,” the association’s statement read. Two days later, a statement from lawyer Dwayne Roth, who is also the CEO of the McKay Métis Group, said the teens were Indigenous and called the dance was intended to be motivational. The apology was later pulled from the association’s website and social media accounts. The statement from the parents blames the response of the association for mismanaging the incident. The group says leadership of the association never met the parents or team staff members before posting an apology, which they say gave the video further exposure online. It also says police were called to one of the player’s schools after FMMHA’s response was posted. A representative from FMMHA did not respond to email or phone requests for comment made by the Today by deadline. “They are out there to protect all the kids that are in minor hockey . . . we don’t feel that they protected these 17 kids with what went on,” said Kearney. “We feel that the people that were in place, the executives, need to take responsibility for what they did and own up to it and make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”