Whitby rep baseball re-brands – now known as ‘Canadians’

The Whitby Minor Baseball Association will no longer be known as the ‘Chiefs.’

After a re-branding process that involved players, their families, and the public, the organization has settled on ‘Canadians’ for the name for all rep teams in the association.

“We are proud of our team and organizational successes over the years, and are not trying to erase our history,” the team said in a news release. “We do recognize that there is a community for whom the Chiefs name may be hurtful. As such, and in accordance with the OBA’s policy on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, we have undergone a rebranding process throughout the 2021 calendar year.”

More than 100 different names were considered, and the club narrowed that list down to five before putting it to public vote.

‘Canadians’ was the name of the local OBA Senior team in the 1990s and earlier, so this name is a bit of a throwback to Whitby’s baseball past, the release stated. The name also allows the teams to continue using their current hat logo (a ‘W’ with the maple leaf), “which is representative of both Whitby and Canada, and is familiar to players within our association and across the province.”