Many people have seen the kneels that National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers has taken during the national anthem to protest racial oppression and police brutality in the United States.

Since Kaepernick’s gesture gained widespread attention in late August, teams at various levels in several sports have followed his example.

The entire Tommies men’s basketball squad was among the latest teams to do that Saturday night, but as a way to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women and children in Canada.

The idea for a St. Thomas University sports team to follow suit came from aboriginal players Jeremy Speller of Gesgapegiag First Nation in Quebec and Quentin Sock of Elsipogtog First Nation in northeastern New Brunswick.

Speller said before the game that the move was an effort to educate Canadians on what he said is a crisis involving the 1,000 First Nations women and girls who have gone missing or been murdered in recent decades.

“Quentin and I had volunteered with the Red Shawl Campaign that was going on a month or so ago,” he said.

“We thought this was a perfect opportunity to bring awareness to the issue where [our games] provide our biggest platform and audiences.”