In response to the viral video of the Fort McMurray Midget A Junior Oil Barons, the family of the team captain Chris Hamelin, has had to ask a lawyer for assistance.
Some of the comments on social media are issuing death threats on the team and boys in the video for being “disrespectful.”
The Hamelin family claims the video, which has been viewed on Facebook over 239K times in two days, has been taken wildly out of context.
The following is a statement from lawyer Dwyane Roth from the the Fort McKay Métis Community Association:
“It is worth noting that both of the boys filmed doing a Pow Wow style dance are of Aboriginal descent.
One of the boys is Chris Hamelin, the captain of the Midget A Junior Oil Barons minor hockey team. He is Métis. He is a member of the Fort McMurray Métis Local #1935, and the Métis Nation of Alberta. His grandfather is a respected Métis elder Joe Hamelin.”
The statement goes on to say that “according to his father Chris dyed his hair blond to support a friend with cancer. The dance was intended as motivational and was reflective of Chris’ culture. It was in no way disrespectful of Indigenous culture.”
“Rush to judgement based on out of context video clips is becoming all too common and poses real danger to the reputation and safety of those incorrectly labelled.”
The Hamelin family is also asking for the statement from the Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association be retracted.
In addition they are respectfully asking media to update their coverage of this issue.
