N.B. community with racial slur to be renamed, signs already removed

Warning: This article discusses an offensive slur. CBC has chosen to only use it once for context and censor it in later references.

Tanya Warren has always been embarrassed by the name of the community in which she was born and raised. 

She said that feeling grew more intense as she got older and developed closer ties with Indigenous communities. 

"That term is just not meant to be used. Period." 

Fewer than 100 people live in Squaw Cap, a rural community located west of Campbellton on Route 17 in Restigouche County, near the border with Quebec. 

A nearby mountain bears the same name. 

Warren remembers when she first learned that her community's name contained a racial slur against Indigenous people. She was 11 years old. 

"It was an embarrassment," she said. "I was in shock and questioned it from that point on."

That's why she campaigned for years to have the name changed to something more respectful. 

Warren is relieved the government has finally listened and agreed to rename the community and the mountain. To start that process, all road signs with the controversial name were recently removed.

"It's about time," said Manju Varma, New Brunswick's commissioner on systemic racism. 

In her report on systemic racism in New Brunswick released in December 2022, Varma recommended the change along with several others.

A statement from Tourism, Heritage and Culture Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace said the department previously asked First Nations to identify derogatory place names. At least seven were identified, she said.

The department will now "embark upon a 28-day consultation period" where New Brunswickers can suggest new names for Sq–w Cap and Sq–w Cap Mountain through a website that will be set up by the province.