(Fredericton) The New Brunswick government has indicated that it has no intention of changing the name of the Saint John River to its original Aboriginal place name.
At a parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday, Green Party leader David Coon questioned Minister for Indigenous Affairs Arlene Dunn on the Wolastoqey Nation’s proposal in 2021 to restore the Wolastoq name to the province’s river.
MMe Dunn responded that this flow crossed international borders, complicating matters, and that the government had “no intention” of proceeding with the toponymy change.
In a statement, Chief Allan Polchies of St Mary’s Maliseet congregation argues that if the government is truly serious about reconciliation, it should give the river back “its rightful name”.
New Brunswick’s Systemic Racism Commissioner Manju Varma last December recommended renaming the river Wolastoq Saint-Jean.
Wolastoq, meaning “the beautiful river” in Maliseet, was also the name Ottawa chose in 2011 when the cultural landscape along the 700-kilometer river was designated the Wolastoq National Historic Site of Canada.
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