• City Hall
  • Province House
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Commentary
  • @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
  • Donate
  • Manage your account
  • Swag
You are here: Home / City Hall / Halifax to consider renaming streets ‘as a matter of respect’ for the Mi’kmaq

Halifax to consider renaming streets ‘as a matter of respect’ for the Mi’kmaq

November 17, 2020 By Zane Woodford 5 Comments

A man walks toward Micmac Blvd. in Dartmouth on Tuesday. — Photo: Zane Woodford

Five streets, a park and a transit terminal could be getting new names after regional council voted on Tuesday to consider removing the outdated spelling of Mi’kmaq from municipal properties.

Coun. Sam Austin brought a motion to council requesting a staff report on renaming Micmac Boulevard, the Micmac Transit Terminal, and Micmac Drive in Dartmouth, and Micmac Street and Micmac Court in Halifax.

“From what I understand, it’s not necessarily a slur but it’s not the proper pronunciation of their name,” Austin said during council on Tuesday.

“It’s very antiquated, very colonial, it’s just very outdated. As a matter of respect I would think that it’s incumbent on us to use the proper name.”

Mi’kmaw poet and activist Rebecca Thomas said the mispronunciation and misspelling comes from a “consistent misnomer” that the French couldn’t get the name right.

“But now we know better, so we can do better,” she said in an interview Tuesday.

Rebecca Thomas in Dartmouth in 2018. — Photo: Zane Woodford

Thomas thinks it can cause people to continue to mispronounce the word.

“I think that if you don’t have close Mi’kmaw friends or family members, that you don’t have that constant reminder of, this is how you actually say it,” she said.

“And so you tend to see it written that way and that’s how you’re going to have it reaffirmed in your brain.”

Coun. Pam Lovelace made an amendment to Austin’s motion to include the Micmac Drive and park in her district to the staff report, too. The amended motion passed unanimously.

Austin told his colleagues that while the question of what to do about all the things in Dartmouth bearing the incorrect name has been simmering for some time, it was the final report from the Task Force on the Commemoration of Edward Cornwallis and the Recognition and Commemoration of Indigenous History, tabled in July, that got him thinking about this motion.

The task force didn’t specifically recommend renaming these streets, but it did recommend “additional usage of the Mi’kmaw language in naming and signage,” and changing anglicized Mi’kmaw names back to the original language.

Austin suggested the streets are named after the lake, and he said the lake wasn’t renamed — from Second Lake to Lake Micmac in the 1920s — out of respect for the Mi’kmaq.

“This, to me, wasn’t named to honour the Mi’kmaq because that was an era when the Canadian government, we really weren’t honouring, we were in full assimilation mode when it came to First Nations culture across the country,” Austin said. “They weren’t allowed to vote. There were residential schools.”

Thomas said that for that reason, she doesn’t think the names should just be changed to Mi’kmaq.

“Switching it simply to Mi’kmaq is not necessarily going to address anything. People are still going to call it Micmac,” Thomas said.

“We have incredible community members from both the African Nova Scotian community and from the Mi’kmaw community, if we wanted to name it after somebody like that, that would be wonderful.”

Thomas also suggested moving past naming things for people, noting that the municipality could honour some of the animal and plant life that’s been wiped out due to the colonization of the area.

“There are ways that you can pay homage to the place that you are in without necessarily having to find a person,” she said.

Austin’s motion didn’t presuppose exactly what the new names could be, although he did suggest part of Micmac Boulevard could just become Glen Manor Drive, given they’re actually the same street in one section.

For the rest of Micmac Boulevard, from Glen Manor Drive to Woodland Avenue, Austin suggested a commemorative name “that reflects the former Black community that previously existed in the area for approximately 200 years” — the Avenue.

Austin said he wants to see the municipality consult with the Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian communities in the municipality on the new names.

Thomas said she hopes council’s move will spur action from the provincial government to change the name of the lake — and from private businesses.

“I find it infuriating a little bit that Mic Mac Mall would do a multi-million dollar renovation and not change its name,” Thomas said.

“I hope if you can lead by example, then other people will follow suit.”


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

Comments

  1. tindall says

    November 17, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    What is the correct spelling? Surely they did not use the Roman alphabet?

    Log in to Reply
    • Colin May says

      November 18, 2020 at 11:37 am

      Unfortunately, the Romans never made it across the Atlantic.

      Log in to Reply
  2. Colin May says

    November 17, 2020 at 8:51 pm

    And people who live adjacent to a cemetery where Indigenous people are buried should not be planting trees in the cemetery and making a garden so they can paint/enjoy a different view.
    And this thesis for an MA degree has had me puzzled since it first appeared online : http://library2.smu.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/01/28112/Sutherland_Heather_MASTERS_2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

    Log in to Reply
    • Barbara Amero says

      November 18, 2020 at 4:20 pm

      What puzzles you about the thesis?

      Log in to Reply
      • Colin May says

        November 18, 2020 at 5:10 pm

        Indigenous people believe ancestors are buried there. Don Awalt explained the history to me about 10 years ago. His family and other indigenous families used a beach nearby. Indigenous groups in the province are well aware of the history of the location and they did not get their history from the John Martin book; and tend to favour keeping quiet about the area.

        Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

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.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification of new posts on the Halifax Examiner. Note: signing up for email notification of new posts is NOT subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • Halifax police board approves terms of reference for committee to define defunding March 8, 2021
  • Halifax-area police chiefs call for quicker vaccines for officers as COVID keeps cops at home March 8, 2021
  • Zero new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Monday, March 8 March 8, 2021
  • The revamped vaccination booking site is working, but slowly March 8, 2021
  • Abbie J. Lane: A daughter’s stories of a woman ahead of her time March 8, 2021

Commenting policy

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

Copyright © 2021