The Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) Raiders of the Western Hockey League, one of Canadas top three major junior hockey leagues, sparked controversy over the unveiling of the teams new mascot late last week. Critics of the new mascot are calling it offensive to Middle Asia Jersey Eastern people, according to the Canadian Pre s.More from the CP (via ):Rhonda Rosenberg, executive director of the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, said the mascot plays into po sible discrimination."The idea of a somewhat violent Muslim man is a stereotype that is really difficult for a lot of people to live with," she said.Rosenberg added that if a team uses a mascot representing a particular cultural group "at the very least they need to check in with some people who are of that background.""Really mascots are not where we should be depicting cultural groups of people," she said. "We just need to look at what values and ideas are being put forward, and whether they are really embodying what we want to be sharing."A spokeswoman for the Raiders told the CP that she was surprised by the criticism and that the organization has received more positive comments than negative.The mascot was intended as a nod to the teams original logo in the 1980s seen here: Our new mascot Boston Raider is a throwback to our original logo! PrinceAlbert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) The mascots name comes from a sponsorship deal with the local Boston Pizza restaurant in Prince Albert.This controversy comes amid heightened sensitivity regarding teams using depictions of people of distinct ethnic backgrounds as mascots. Perhaps most notably, the NFLs Washington Redskins have been under pre sure to change their name and logo.More closely connected to the controversy in Prince Albert, Coachella Valley High School in California including the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. The team had been previously known as the Arabs, but later changed to the Mighty Arabs and retired its mascot which was called "stereotypical."The WHL club has not yet indicated if they will be keeping the new mascot or not, but maintained that they do not believe it is offensive. "It was never our intention to offend anyone nor do we feel that the character is in any way a negative representation of Middle Eastern people or their culture," the team spokeswoman told the Canadian Pre s. North Central America Jersey