'It's really shameful': N.B.'s racist place names remain, despite years of calls for change

When elders from Chief Allan Polchies's community see place names with derogatory language, it's triggering for them, he says. 

At least seven locations across the province bear the name of a racist and misogynistic term used against Indigenous women — more than any other province or territory, according to the Canadian Geographical Names Database.

"Our elders see that, it upsets them," Sitansisk Chief Polchies said. 

"When your spirit is upset, it doesn't give you a very good feeling," Polchies said. "We want to make sure those place names are changed."

Mi'kmaw leaders have urged the province to change derogatory names for years, according to an organization representing several communities.

In 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called upon governments to prioritize eliminating "the social, economic, cultural, and political marginalization of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people when developing budgets and determining government activities and priorities." 

The call came again from Manju Varma, New Brunswick's former systemic racism commissioner, when she highlighted the issue of place names with racist terminology in her December 2022 report. She wrote that it saddened her to have to make the request again, given the issue had already been raised with the province.

"Whenever issues of overt racism are not managed immediately, it is difficult to believe that dealing with racism is a priority," Varma wrote in the report.

But so far, the province has only moved to rename two locations in Restigouche County, soliciting suggestions for new names for a community and a mountain this past spring.

And even though the provincial government described it as a "priority" to rename locations with derogatory language, the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture has only budgeted a little more than $7,800 this fiscal year for renaming places, according to briefing materials obtained through access to information.

"It's really shameful," Varma told CBC News. "There's really no other word for it."

No one from the provincial government was made available for an interview about why all locations haven't been renamed yet.

In a statement, a government spokesperson said "the public and First Nations leadership" identified the locations in Restigouche County as priorities to be renamed first, but didn't provide evidence that anyone asked for one location to be changed before the others.

"Government is committed to renaming the remaining features of the same name and those containing other derogatory terms," wrote spokesperson Leigh Watson, who didn't provide a timeline for when that might happen.