Matthew Dance
This submit is a part of a sequence. See the opposite entries right here.
As a construction and never an occasion, settler colonialism is commonly completed by seemingly banal acts. By way of forms and the institution and implementation of coverage and course of, settler colonialism can deeply impression a spot, small determination by small determination, progressively over time. Naming, or renaming, a avenue, neighbourhood, or city is such an act.
Earlier writing in Lively Historical past, equivalent to Sean Graham’s Altering Place Names, reminds us that the majority place names in Canada had been imposed beneath colonialism and the processes to rename locations at the moment typically elevate questions of whose historical past is being acknowledged, whose erased, and the way communities reckon with these legacies. Equally, Thomas Peace’s What’s in a Place Title: Adelaide Hoodless and Mona Parsons makes use of the tales of people to point out that the naming faculties and parks after folks sends messages about whose contributions are seen as worthy of public remembrance.
As a geographer, I’ve lengthy been fascinated by how folks perceive their environments. After finishing my B.A., I spent a number of years working as a subject technician throughout northern Canada. One summer season within the early Nineteen Nineties, whereas on Devon Island, I heard Inuktitut on the radio throughout our day by day check-ins. Solely then did I start to know that individuals had lived and thrived there lengthy earlier than settlers arrived — a realization that set me on an extended, typically uneven journey towards studying the lacking geographies absent from my Nineteen Eighties training.
Many years later, throughout my M.A., I found that Edmonton lacked a place-name dataset, so I created one based mostly on Naming Edmonton: From Ada to Zoie. Working with the info revealed how few Indigenous names existed and the way most commemorations honoured European males. Ladies, folks of color, and Indigenous peoples had been largely excluded. Interested in how naming would possibly turn out to be extra inclusive, and keen to construct a extra complete dataset, I joined the Metropolis of Edmonton’s Naming Committee to discover what a extra consultant course of may appear to be.
What’s in a reputation: The historical past of Amiskwacîwâskahikan
Amiskwacîwâskahikan, that means Beaver Hill Home, was the unique identify for the realm that got here to be referred to as Fort Edmonton and later Edmonton. This place has lengthy a been assembly grounds for the Nehiyawak, Tsuut’ina, Niitsitapi, Metis, Dene, Nakota Sioux, and Anishinaabe as a spot to assemble, hunt, fish, and relaxation. Situated inside Treaty 6, town now referred to as Edmonton was integrated in 1892 and rapidly grew to envelop smaller cities and settlements. This enlargement was facilitated by land dispossession and theft. As an example, the Papaschase First Nation (Alexander First Nation) in present-day southeast Edmonton, was stolen by settlers by a sequence of questionable land offers. This course of accelerated following the Oliver Act in 1911, which Edmontonian Frank Oliver shepherded by the Home of Commons. The Oliver Act permitted the compelled removing of reserves close to cities with 8,000 folks or extra, and have become a vital expertise of land theft and white possession in western Canada.
Context: Edmonton naming committee – naming coverage and observe
Since its inception in 1892, Edmonton had grown considerably and had integrated a number of smaller cities, with duplicate place names and completely different addressing programs. Place naming in Edmonton was largely advert hoc by the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries. It wasn’t till the mid-twentieth century, that there was formal coverage on how locations had been to be named. In 1956, Edmonton handed its first naming bylaw (Bylaw No. 3414), which acknowledged that the committee ought to resolve names based mostly on “historic significance” and “suitability…to the use and performance” of what was being named. Moreover, on the inaugural assembly of the committee on March 14th, 1956, the chairman, Alderman J. R. Falconer, noticed the committee was established to “get rid of repetition and keep away from confusion with similarity of names…. The correct distribution of names must be thought-about. Names usually suited to Alberta or to Edmonton and names having historic significance would possibly nicely be chosen.”[1]
Whereas there have been minor amendments or gildings to the naming coverage since 1956, vital adjustments weren’t made till just lately. The naming of an Edmonton neighbourhood in 1961 illustrates the standard course of that prevailed at the moment. A 1961 letter from J.E. Duggan advocated {that a} neighbourhood be named after his father, John Joseph Duggan, who was the principal landowner within the space and former Mayor of Strathcona. The Duggan Neighbourhood was so named in 1961 (see Determine 2, J.E. Duggan letter).
Duggan’s letter is only one instance of the sturdy correspondence and debate discovered within the Edmonton archives and newspapers about place names in Edmonton. There are letters from the household of well-known Alberta figures, equivalent to Emily Murphy’s daughter, Evelyn. There are additionally letters from builders, petitions from neighborhood leagues, in addition to residents suggesting names such because the undated handwritten observe (see Determine 3: Scottish and Ulster Title Recommendations) suggesting Scottish or Ulster names for areas throughout the Grandview Heights neighbourhood.
Whereas the Names Advisory Committee would have thought-about identify solutions, you will need to acknowledge that it was a member’s solely membership of elected officers or Metropolis Council-appointed professionals who in the end determined Edmonton’s Place Names, and the outcomes are putting. A sample emerges by an evaluation of Edmonton place names memorializing folks from the Nineteen Fifties to the 2000s:
- Male place names equivalent to Churchill, Oliver, and Laurier characterize 57% of locations memorialized.
- Feminine names characterize 7% comparatively.[2]
- The overwhelming majority of place names originate in western Europe or the UK.
- Lower than 10% of place names stem from First Nations, Métis, or Inuit roots.[3]
Till just lately, Indigenous names had been assigned with out session and for sometimes suspect causes. For instance, at a Metropolis Council assembly on December 18, 1974, Council handed a movement to undertake the identify “Sakaw” for a residential neighbourhood throughout the Mill Woods space in southeast Edmonton. The rationale given by the by Council for the identify was:
In view of the truth that the Mill Woods space lies throughout the boundaries of the 39.9 sq. miles which comprised the Indian Reserve N0. 136 allotted in 1889 beneath Treaty No. 6 NWT to Papaschase and his band, the Committee feels that Cree names are appropriate and in line with the names beforehand adopted on this space.[4]
The assembly minutes point out that “‘Sakaw’ is derived from the Cree phrase that means ‘wooded space.’”
This performative act of naming small parts of stolen land in “honour” of the folks whose land was stolen is a part of a broader nationwide sample – a bureaucratic bait and change. On this instance, Metropolis Council and the Names Advisory Committee felt that they had been honouring the Papaschase First Nation. The land was stolen, partly by the actions of Frank Oliver, and a folks dispossessed as a part of the broader technique of settlers Indigenizing the land, laying declare to what was not theirs.
Tuck and Yang’s Decolonization is just not a metaphor supplies an fascinating touchpoint to establish a sample of “settler strikes to innocence.” What does this imply, and what’s the sample? As Indigenous peoples are actually faraway from the land and disposed of its sources equivalent to searching and fishing, but additionally entry to pure useful resource income, they’re additionally figuratively eliminated and changed with appropriated phrases, equivalent to Sakaw. That is an occasion that Tuck describes as “settler nativism” the place setters try to “deflect” their id by appropriating, on this occasion, Indigenous phrases for use as place names. There are lots of situations of this in Canada – itself a spot identify rooted in an Iroquoian language
This sample is rooted in colonial and patriarchal energy. The settler claims management the land by displacement and substitute of Indigenous peoples. On this particular occasion, the Papaschase First Nation who occupied Reserve 136. Settlers, equivalent to these on the Names Advisory Committee and Metropolis Council, then use Indigenous phrases (i.e. Sakaw) as place names to assuage emotions of guilt. This “transfer to innocence” permits for a sense of ethical decision with out addressing the continued colonial constructions that led to the theft of land within the first place.
Present issues
Place names matter. Place names are extra than simply labels on the nodes and paths that join our metropolis. They turn out to be a part of our day by day lives, representing how we view our metropolis, and whether or not we see ourselves in a spot. As a device of settler colonialism, place names act as a means for settlers to say an area beforehand occupied by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. Whereas place names have turn out to be a lot part of our day by day lives that we stop to consider them, we should. And we should accomplish that by a lens that acknowledges the previous and makes use of that data to create new coverage and course of.
With this lens in thoughts, Edmonton’s Naming Committee is searching for to push the method of place naming to incorporate the voices of Indigenous Peoples inside Treaty 6. Particularly, the Naming Committee has participated in a number of ad-hoc Indigenous-led naming processes; the Edmonton Wards, the renaming of the Oliver Neighbourhood to Wîhkwêntôwin, and the naming of the trail Amisk Wacîw Mêskanaw (Beaver Hill Highway) from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan, which runs by Edmonton.
These examples show a want for Indigenous-led place naming processes to meaningfully interact with those that have been harmed by colonial naming practices. These processes are ad-hoc. There isn’t a formal, policy-based mechanism to constantly contain Indigenous peoples in Edmonton place naming. That is an oversight and problem throughout the context of the Metropolis of Edmonton as a colonial assemble.
Nonetheless, the Naming Committee is deeply concerned with exploring and higher understanding how Indigenous voices and course of might be extra formally included. Whereas we’re within the early levels of pondering although how we need to do that work, there’s a dedication to achieve out and interact with Indigenous students and coverage makers within the Confederacy of Treaty 6 Nations, and different Nations inside Treaty 6 Territory. The Naming Committee’s purpose is to proceed recognising the harms of previous place naming observe, whereas making an attempt to be taught from the previous and encourage inclusive naming processes.
Naming coverage in Edmonton is not only about selecting phrases for maps and avenue indicators—it’s about inspecting who has the authority to outline town’s historical past, whose tales are centered, and whose presence is erased. As we reckon with the legacies of Treaty 6, the displacement of Papaschase First Nation, and the deep inequities in previous naming practices, it turns into clear that names should not impartial however political. The problem now could be to develop who’s acknowledged and to maneuver past ad-hoc processes. By doing so, we will be sure that the names of our metropolis not solely mirror a extra sincere account of our previous but additionally sign – nonetheless small – a dedication to a shared future.
Matthew Dance holds an M.A. in Geography from the College of Alberta. He works as a facilitator and is the volunteer Chair of the Metropolis of Edmonton’s Naming Committee. He lives and works in Edmonton.
Creator’s observe: I’m deeply grateful to Drs. Kristin Burnett and Shannon Stettner for his or her invaluable steering and constructive suggestions through the preparation of this text. Their mentorship, generosity of time, and considerate feedback have vastly enriched this work.
[1] Metropolis of Edmonton Archives: Fonds RG-8-Sequence 81.4-Minutes and Agenda 1892-1991.
[2] Evaluation accomplished by Matt Dance, utilizing this dataset.
[3] Evaluation accomplished by Matt Dance, utilizing this dataset.
[4] Metropolis of Edmonton Archives, RG-17, Sequence 3.2, Field 2, File 19: Minutes and Agendas.
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