City brewery changing label out of respect for MMIWG crisis

By: Ben Waldman Posted: 11:30 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 7, 2022

A Winnipeg brewery is changing the label of one of its beers, recognizing the original branding could be seen as disrespectful in the context of Canada’s ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2022 (1468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stone Angel Brewing Co.’s Redhanded Irish Red Ale was introduced five years ago with a stylized red hand on its label, meant to evoke the Red Hand of Ulster, a historical emblem chosen to evoke the company’s majority Irish ownership.

“This week we have been asked to stop using that image,” Stone Angel’s president Paul McMullan wrote in a blog post on the brewery’s website. “When the reasons were made clear to us, we absolutely agreed.”

The stylized red hand on Stone Angel Brewing Co.’s Redhanded Irish Red Ale was meant to evoke the Red Hand of Ulster, a historical emblem chosen to evoke the company’s majority Irish ownership. (Supplied)

In recent years, McMullan wrote, a very similar red hand has become a symbolic representation in raising awareness of the ongoing violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Often depicted across the mouth, the red hand is also considered a metaphor for the silencing of Indigenous women throughout history as a result of colonialism.

“While our original use of the red hand was in celebration of Irish culture, now in the context of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, we recognize that for some our continued use of the red hand on a can of beer may seem very hurtful and disrespectful,” he wrote. “Out of respect for MMIWG in particular, we are redesigning our labels and marketing of this product.”

McMullan said that in the meantime while design changes are being implemented, a portion of the sales of the remaining cans with the red-handed label that are in stores will be donated to the Indigenous Women’s Healing Centre, organization operating in the city’s North End.

Founded in 1979, the healing centre, formerly known as the Native Women’s Transition Centre Inc., helps women and mothers navigate family violence, addictions, intergenerational issues, and institutionalization by providing long-term safe housing, ongoing supports such as counselling, learning programs, parenting programs, and healing circles. According to its website, over 20,000 women have utilized those services since the centre opened.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

Ben Waldman
Reporter

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.

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Ben Waldman
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