Fraternity cancels party named 'Western Bros and Nava-hoes'

Monday, December 3, 2012  

A fraternity in Alberta, Canada, canceled a party named "Western Bros and Nava-hoes" after Native students protested.

The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was going to hold the party at the Ranch Roadhouse in Edmonton. Native students at the University of Alberta heard about it and complained to the fraternity and the Roadhouse.

"There are 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women and some think it's okay for someone to come up with a name they think is clever — 'Nava-hoes' — and that's seriously not okay,” Kirsten Lindquist, the president of the Native Studies Students’ Association, told CBC News.

The fraternity president called Gail Gallagher, the president of the Aboriginal Student Group, and apologized. The Roadhouse also apologized in a Facebook posting.

“There needs to be more awareness with non-aboriginal people about how this can be offensive to an aboriginal person. With the play on words, they’re basically calling a group of aboriginal people sluts,” Gallagher told The Edmonton Journal.

The fraternity does not have official status at the university because it was suspended for five years due to hazing allegations.

Get the Story:
Frat fundraiser a sign of casual prejudice, aboriginal group says (CBC 12/2)
Name of student fundraising event in Edmonton offends aboriginal student groups (The Edmonton Journal 11/30)