COXHEATH, N.S. —

The Ravens have landed.

A new era of Riverview High School athletics was unveiled on Tuesday when the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education announced the Coxheath school has rebranded and will now be known as the Riverview Ravens.

The rebrand process officially began in June 2019 after the school confirmed they would be dropping the name “Redmen” from their boys hockey team, using the opportunity to fully rebrand its athletic department.

“Although we had many reasons that influenced our decision to look at a new brand, we knew it was time for our students and our community to influence the rebrand,” said Riverview principal Joe Chisholm in a news release.

During the process, which took more than a year to complete, Riverview officials received input from a variety of community stakeholders. Riverview’s school advisory council suggested the final process be student-driven.

The process later involved several focus groups with students, parents, volunteers, coaches, staff and alumni as well as a call for submissions for names and logo ideas.

More than 100 entries were submitted by students and staff with two names — Ravens and Fusion — were shortlisted.

Last week, more than 900 students voted on the name over a two-day period with a 68 per cent majority choosing the name Ravens.

At the time of the June 2019 re-brand announcement, McGill University in Montreal had vowed two months before to remove the name “Redmen” from its men’s varsity sports teams after students argued the term was a racial slur.

In an interview with the Post in June 2019, centre for education spokesperson Michelle MacLeod said the history of the name “Riverview Redmen” in the beginning did not refer to First Nations people, but to the colour of the team’s jersey and candy cane socks.

When the name was chosen close to 50 years ago, a consultation process occurred with community leaders from First Nations communities, and at the time the name was not found to be offensive.

Riverview High School first opened in August 1950 and was built on the former site of the Keefe farm in Coxheath.

The school’s first championships, on record with the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation, came during the 1970-71 season when the school captured both mixed badminton and hockey provincial titles.

The “Redmen” name was only attached to the school’s hockey program. Riverview was known as the Royals in basketball, Reds in soccer, Rugrats in rugby and Redettes for cheerleading.

The NSSAF resumed activities last week after being shut down for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

High school baseball and golf are allowed full competition to date, however, cross country and volleyball remain at modified competition and practice levels only.

With the recent announcement that more provincial restrictions will be eased on Oct. 1, more high school sports are expected to begin in the coming weeks. The NSSAF has not officially made a decision as of yet.

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