Toronto Blue Jays fans tuning in to local radio coverage of their favourite team will not be hearing Cleveland鈥檚 full team name during the upcoming playoff series.

The radio voice of the Blue Jays, Jerry Howarth, has said that he will not be using the word 鈥淚ndians鈥� when referring to Cleveland during his coverage of the American League Championship Series that gets underway Friday.

Howarth said in an interview that he has not referred to either Cleveland or Atlanta by their full team names since the 1992 World Series, when the Blue Jays beat Atlanta. According to Howarth, he received a letter from an indigenous man in Northern Ontario who explained to him that he found the names 鈥淚ndians鈥� and 鈥淏raves鈥� offensive, as well as Atlanta fans鈥� popular gesture known as the 鈥渢omahawk chop.鈥�

Howarth said he found the letter very moving and from then on would not refer to the teams by anything other than the names of their city.

According to Renu Mandhane, the chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, indigenous-themed names and mascots create barriers to inclusion for indigenous people in sports.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a simple fix to just not refer to the team name for Cleveland, at least while we鈥檙e in Canada,鈥� Mandhane told 麻豆传媒 Channel. 鈥淲e want sports to be a driver for inclusion.鈥�

Mandhane said that indigenous themes in sports can actually impede a person鈥檚 access to the sport and in this case has made some fans feel like they can鈥檛 attend games because of the prominent displays of the team鈥檚 name.

According to Cleveland鈥檚 website, they adopted the name 鈥淚ndians鈥� in 1915. The website says they took on the name as a revival of the team鈥檚 old nickname when Native American Louis Sockalexis played for the then Cleveland Naps.

The team then adopted the 鈥淐hief Wahoo鈥� caricature as a logo in the 1940s, originally with a yellow face and a red headband with a feather. It was changed in the 1950s, to the current 鈥淐hief Wahoo鈥� logo with a red face and red feather. In 2013, the team officially designated the logo to secondary status, replacing it with a 鈥淐鈥� for Cleveland.

Twitter users have tweeted in agreement with Howarth, using the hashtag #NotYourMascot, thanking the veteran broadcaster for his decision to avoid use the controversial name.

Howarth was born in the United States and started working with the Jays in 1981. He became a Canadian citizen in 1994, and now calls Toronto home.