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(CN) — A Native American artist hired by the Chicago Blackhawks hockey organization to build a better relationship with American Indian groups who take issue with the team’s name, logo and imagery suedthe team in Illinois state court claiming she was the victim of fraud and sexual harassment before she was fired.
Daniel Wirtz, Blackhawks chairman and CEO, offered artist and scholar Nina Sanders a contract with the hockey organization to serve as a liaison with the Native American community to help it deal with growing criticism of the team name following the Washington Redskins’ decision in 2020 to change its name.
In his effort to induce Sanders to accept the offer, Wirtz made a number of promises, including employment of Native Americans, and to educate the organization’s employees regarding Black Hawk, a Sauk leader born in what is now Rock Island, Illinois. Wirtz also pledged to dedicate the organization’s resources toward purchasing land in Illinois to give back to the Sac and Fox Nation and said he would advocate for changing the Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Team’s logo.
Sanders claims in her lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court May 14 but released Wednesday, that none of those promises were kept and that Wirtz “only intended on the Organization benefiting from their association with Ms. Sanders, as her standing and reputation in the Native American community." Sanders is represented in the suit by Chicago attorney Lee Jacobson.
The relationship between Sanders and the hockey team deteriorated after she complained to the organization about sexual harassment by two men associated with the team, including one, Chris Boyd, identified in the complaint as an agent for the team. She said Boyd accosted her at a team event ahead of the organization’s “Native American Heritage Night,” grabbed her by both arms, and demanded she accompany him to his hotel room. Sanders alleges Boyd subsequently sent her Snapchat videos of him masturbating.
Sanders asserts the Blackhawks organization took no action after she complained about the sexual harassment of her and other women. Instead, Sanders was moved out of the team’s headquarters at Chicago’s United Center to a different location.
Her relationship with the hockey organization officially ended last June when Sanders and the Blackhawks were negotiating an extension of her contract, and Sanders repeated her allegations about workplace harassment and discrimination and sought answers to how her concerns would be addressed. Wirtz subsequently sent Sanders an email acknowledging that while the Blackhawks would continue to review her sexual harassment complaints, the organization was ending its business relationship with her.
The Blackhawks did not respond to a request from Courthouse News Service for comment Wednesday.
According to the New York Times, however, the Blackhawks organization issued a statement saying it had “zero tolerance policy for misconduct and take(s) allegations of harassment in the workplace very seriously” but “based on the information available to us, we found insufficient evidence to substantiate her claims.”
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