Many things are embedded in a community name SA国际影视传媒� our history, culture and identity are connected to where we live.

In the NWT, we have spent a lot of time and effort over the years converting community names to Northern Indigenous names to reflect the true history of that particular place. This journey of reconciliation is not yet finished in Fort Smith.

I live on the banks of the Slave River, in the constituency of Thebacha, in the Town of Fort Smith. For centuries, the site where Fort Smith is located was of strategic significance to the Indigenous people who used and travelled the Slave River. Then the explorers, traders, government and church showed up. They quickly appreciated the strategic significance of the location and set up shop. It was unilaterally decided by the powers-that-be of the day that the community would be called Fort Smith, though there was never was an actual fort there and Mr. Smith never set foot in the community named after him.

Thanks to the efforts of MLA Jeannie Marie Jewell in the 11th Assembly, the riding of Slave Lake was renamed to Thebacha in time for the election of the 12th Legislative Assembly, in which she re-elected as MLA.

On June 21, 2024, the Fort Smith Metis Council, the Salt River First Nation, the Town of Fort Smith, the Smith Landing First Nation and the MLA for Thebacha signed a historic memorandum of agreement (MOA), to work collaboratively as governments on issues of common interest and concern. The leaders named themselves the Thebacha Leaders Council (TLC) and have made it official by incorporating as a society under that name, making the TLC a legal entity.

The formal signing of the MOA and the creation of the TLC enables the leaders to sit together at the new TLC table to discuss issues of common interest, such as a community name change. As part of reconciliation, if the TLC agrees they wish to initiate such a process, the steps to follow are laid out by the GNWT, through Education Culture and EmploymentSA国际影视传媒檚 Steps for Changing a Community Name, and the Municipal and Community AffairSA国际影视传媒檚 Cities Towns and Villages Act, clause 8.1.

All around us we have examples of NWT communities with traditional names, for example Inuvik, Deninu Kue, K'atl'odeeche, Behchoko and Kakisa, to name a few.

In regards to the use of the word Fort in our name, I went on toppr.com to check and this is what came up: SA国际影视传媒滷orts were of special significance. With a firm hold over a fort, it was possible to control the surrounding area. If one had forts, one ruled the land.SA国际影视传媒� That was certainly the intent when the government, the church and the traders came North, a dark legacy we still deal with to this day.

Our residents could have a very constructive discussion about renaming our community with a name that recognizes the deep history, culture and ties to the land that connects all of us that live here and continue to live here.

The signing of the MOA and the resulting creation of the TLC have created the conditions for this timely discussion. This will be putting the talk of truth and reconciliation into specific, constructive action that our descendants will thank us for.

We also need to have this type of discussion at the territorial level about the renaming of our territory with a name that reflects the deep history, culture and the land that we all call home. This issue was brought up in the House in the 13th Assembly to much ridicule and disparaging comments. I bring it up again because it is important unfinished business.

I am 73 and in my lifetime I would like to know that we have finally recognized, like Nunavut and Yukon, how important a name is and how it helps us define ourselves. The last physical vestige of our dark colonial history is the placeholder name, bestowed on us by long-ago politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa, as a mere direction on the compass of the land northwest of Ottawa. I have always considered it an insult, especially with the many beautiful indigenous languages we have to choose from.

There will be more to come on this topic.

-Michael Miltenberger was the MLA from Thebacha from 1995-2015 and served as minister of Health and Social Services and Environment.