Chief Sheri Taylor of Ginoogaming First Nation says the renaming of Indian Road in Longlac, Ont., is a good start, but there’s a long way to go when it comes to reconciliation between the Municipality of Greenstone and nearby First Nations.
Greenstone’s municipal council passed a bylaw approving the road’s new name last week.
Taylor says she was first approached about the proposed change last summer, and turned to her community’s council of elders and knowledge keepers for input.
“Behind all that was that it simply just can’t be a name change to a road; it has to be more done in the spirit of reconciliation,” Taylor said.
“What comes with that? The responsibility on the behalf of the municipality in regards to the way a lot of the historical and the systematic issues and racism that our people have felt over the years.”
Ginoogaming’s council came up with the name Nishnabe Miikena, which translates from Ojibway to Nishnabe, or Anishinaabe, Road.
“Anishinaabe refers to our people, the Ojibway people, the first people, the good people,” said Taylor.
The Municipality of Greenstone, located within the Thunder Bay district in northwestern Ontario, includes a number of smaller communities, such as Geraldton, Longlac and Nakina. It covers an area of over 3,100 square kilometres along the Trans-Canada Highway.
It’s located on the traditional territories of several First Nations, including Animbigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek, Aroland, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, Ginoogaming and Long Lake #58.
While she gives credit to the municipality for acknowledging the importance of a more appropriate road name, Taylor said it’s also necessary to recognize the historic tensions caused by towns being “developed in our homelands.”
A road renaming project is part of Greenstone’s official Reconciliation Action Plan. In a report to council, the municipality’s chief administrative officer said the new name “recognizes the historical intent of the naming of Indian Road (to recognize those with Indigenous heritage in the region) while also being more culturally appropriate.”
The bylaw approving the name change will come into effect Oct. 1 “to allow for ordering of signs, notice, and event planning.”
During the Aug. 11 municipal council meeting, Coun. Elaine Mannisto of the Longlac ward said she’s received “explosive comments” from those who live on Indian Road that oppose the change.
“One of the comments they made was that they all received letters asking about this initially and that they didn’t agree to a name change, and now the proposal is to change the name,” Mannisto said.
However, Taylor said this kind of response “comes from a lack of knowing the history.”
“It comes from a lack of not understanding where we come from, too, so there’s a lot of work that has to be done.”
“There’s many examples of the old systematic discrimination that has happened to our people, one of them being the Indian Act,” she said. “There’s residential schools, Indian day schools, Sixties Scoop, there’s overrepresentation in the child welfare system, there’s incarceration rates.”
One way to address these inequalities is by promoting economic development within the area’s First Nations, she said.
“Our people, First Nations people, have contributed enormously to the economic growth of Greenstone, and that doesn’t seem to be recognized,” said Taylor.
“I think as they move along, those types of things need to be recognized — that our people have made major contributions to what Greenstone is today.”
Taylor is waiting to hear more details about when the road signage will be changed, and said she hopes to have elders at the event “and to have it done in the right way with our own practices and our ceremonies.”
