Saint John's Indiantown to be renamed with Indigenous input

Like so many other places whose names have evolved into insensitive or downright racist terms, Saint John's Indiantown neighbourhood will be renamed. 

At a meeting Monday night, Saint John council voted to stop using the name. 

"Indiantown needs to go," Mayor Donna Reardon told Information Morning Saint John on Tuesday. "It's time to update."

Reardon said the city will stop using the name and ask Google to do so as well. 

"The next job would be to engage with the stakeholders, to come up with a meaningful name for that space." 

Indiantown refers to a section of the north end closest to the St. John River. Following streets like Victoria, Metcalf and Main will lead into the heart of Indiantown and end with Bridge Street, which runs parallel to the water. 

Reardon said she's learned a lot about the history of the area and how it was a portage route that Indigenous people used to get from the river to where they traded with the soldiers at Fort Howe. 

"So it was a significant piece of real estate for the Indigenous community," said Reardon. "You don't want to lose that history. You want to somehow hang onto that. So the name is important for where you go from here.

"And it's that story that you need told, because that's our story and it's identity-shaping in a way … to find out where we've been and who we are, and where we've come."

Reardon said it's important to consult with Indigenous people to help come up with a suitable and meaningful new name.

"The name belongs to, in a way, the Indigenous community, and it's their history. So they need to be a big player in the renaming. And we need to respect that."

But she also acknowledged that it will be more difficult to shake people out of the habit of referring to the area as Indiantown. That, she said, will take some time. And education. 

Mykala Spinney — one of the founders of Eastern Circle, a group dedicated to keeping Indigenous sovereignty in urban centres — is pleased that city councillors voted to rename the neighbourhood.

"I think that there's enough backing behind it now that there shouldn't be a reason to not change it," said Spinney, who was invited to sing the Honour Song and perform a smudging ceremony before Monday's council meeting.

Spinney said it was a "huge step" to be included in the meeting and asked to incorporate Indigenous practices. 

Councillors took part in the smudging ceremony and Graydon NIcholas, former lieutenant-governor and a Tobique First Nation member read the first land acknowledgement in council history. 

Spinney said she'd like to see a memorial or plaque in the neighbourhood "to honour what it used to be."

"Personally, we would love to see a friendship centre be built in the old north end and have it given Saint John's old traditional name back," she said. 

City council resolved to stop using the name "Indiantown" in any municipal records and other sources. 

The recommendations passed by council on Monday say:

• The city will cease using Indiantown in its records and actions.
• The city manager will take the necessary steps to have the name Indiantown removed from other sources, including Google maps, as soon as possible.
• Through the civic commemoration committee, the city is to make it a priority to consult with stakeholders and community members to Indiantown officially renamed through the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Culture, and Heritage, and updated in the Geographical Names Board of Canada.