• Black Nova Scotia
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
    • COVID
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Labour
  • Policing
  • Politics
    • City Hall
    • Elections
    • Province House
  • Profiles
  • Transit
  • Women
  • Morning File
  • Commentary
  • PRICED OUT
  • @Tim_Bousquet
  • Log In

Halifax Examiner

An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Commenting policy
  • Archives
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe
    • Gift Subscriptions
  • Donate
  • Swag
  • Receipts
  • Manage your account: update card / change level / cancel
You are here: Home / City Hall / Halifax to consider renaming streets and communities containing ‘Indian’

Halifax to consider renaming streets and communities containing ‘Indian’

June 29, 2021 By Zane Woodford Leave a Comment

A blue sign is show on the roadside among evergreen trees. In white print, the sign has an outdated logo for Halifax Regional Municipality at the top, and then the community name, Indian Harbour, underneath. The bottom of the sign reads, "Welcome to our community."

The sign for the community of Indian Harbour, near Peggys Cove, is seen in a July 2019 Google Streetview screenshot.

Halifax will reconsider its use of an “outdated and disrespectful term” on its streets and communities.

Coun. Pam Lovelace brought a motion to Halifax regional council’s meeting on Tuesday seeking a staff report “regarding the end of use and removal of the word Indian from all municipal street and place names, and recommendations on potential new names, including possible use of Mi’kmaq placenames.”

In her detailed reasoning for the request, Lovelace wrote that the Task Force on the Commemoration of Edward Cornwallis and the Recognition and Commemoration of Indigenous History recommended to council that it “examine its approach to naming streets and places to reintroduce Mi’kmaq place names and language.”

Lovelace continued in her reasoning:

The term “Indian” refers to the specific legal identity of a First Nations person who is registered under the Indian Act, as defined by federal law since 1876. As such, the term “Indian” is used when referring to a person with registered status. The Indian Act is a contentious issue with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit across Canada due to its oppressive control over their lives, disenfranchisement, confiscation of self-governance, Indian Residential Schools, seizure of land, and more. In Canada, this colonial term has been used to identify a child or adult and their forced registration or absence of status recognition within this systemically racist and sexist legal framework.

City staff should “engage with the Mi’kmaq communities through HRM’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion” as part of the renaming process, Lovelace wrote.

According to a 2018 document listing all HRM community and street names, there is one community bearing the name and five streets. There are also a handful of lakes using the name, but their renaming would require provincial government action.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets councillor said renaming is an opportunity to educate the public.

“Most people don’t know where the term Indian came from,” Lovelace said. “They don’t realize that within many members of the Mi’kmaq community, that it is an outdated and disrespectful term that is specifically tied to the legal entity of a First Nations person registered under the Indian Act.”

Lovelace said consultation will be important in the process to make sure there aren’t some places where Mi’kmaq would prefer to keep the name.

Other councillors agreed the consultation process will be important in helping to educate the public as well.

“The reality is that we still have a population who are digging in their heels around change,” said Coun. Becky Kent.

Council passed the motion unanimously.


The Halifax Examiner is an advertising-free, subscriber-supported news site. Your subscription makes this work possible; please subscribe.

Some people have asked that we additionally allow for one-time donations from readers, so we’ve created that opportunity, via the PayPal button below. We also accept e-transfers, cheques, and donations with your credit card; please contact iris “at” halifaxexaminer “dot” ca for details.

Thank you!




Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News

About Zane Woodford

Zane Woodford covers municipal politics for the Halifax Examiner. Email: [email protected]; Twitter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification when we publish new Morning Files and Weekend Files. Note: signing up for this email is NOT the same as subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • Dartmouth man charged with wilful promotion of hatred May 19, 2022
  • “Representation matters”: Vince Williams talks about the inaugural CFL Officiating Academy training camp May 18, 2022
  • Developer wants to clear trees early at fast-tracked Dartmouth development sites May 18, 2022
  • Property owner applies to infill Halifax Harbour at Dartmouth Cove May 18, 2022
  • Halifax chief administrative officer Jacques Dubé resigns May 18, 2022

Commenting policy

All comments on the Halifax Examiner are subject to our commenting policy. You can view our commenting policy here.

Copyright © 2022