Saskatoon business owner Peter Garden say he wants to create greater awareness around treaty issues.
The owner of Turning The Tide books is helping to coordinate orders for clothing with the slogan “Got Land? Thank an Indian” on them from a Manitoba designer.
Some people see the clothing as controversial but Garden says the real issue is creating a better understanding.
“The whole discussion around land rights and treaties has always been contentious in Saskatchewan, I think it just comes from living in a colonial context,” he says.
He adds he believes the clothing goes a long to way in creating a better awareness of Indigenous issues.
“I think these shirts do a really great job of raising awareness about ongoing questions, ongoing struggles around land and resource development.”
Garden says he has been taking requests for the t-shirts and pullovers since the end of last week and has about 100 orders so far.
According to CBC reports, 13-year-old Tenelle Starr of the Star Blanket First Nation was met with considerable backlash when she wore one of the pullovers to a Balcarres school earlier this month.
Local officials initially told Starr she couldn’t wear the pullover to school but later relented.
The reports also say the teen’s Facebook page was flooded with a number of negative comments forcing her family to close it down.
The clothing is designed by Jeff Menard.
Garden says 50 per cent of the clothing sales coordinated through his store will go to a Saskatoon group working on behalf of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.