Rob Murray: I think most people around here know that there’s a peak that one can see from Canmore that is inappropriately named. I’m not going to say the name, but it’s an indigenous slur and a somewhat derogatory name for a woman’s body part. I understand there’s a drive right now to get an official and a more appropriate name. Is that correct?

Canmore Mayor John Borrowman: The peak is actually a part of Mount Charles Stewart. There’s a woman in Canmore, Jude Daniels, who’s been working on her own for several years now to try to work through a very difficult bureaucratic process to have an official name put in place. I talked with her recently and I’m very interested in helping her in this endeavor, so I will be bringing a resolution to council at our scheduled August meeting to support the official naming of that peak. The process that she’s going through will be more successful if there’s some very clear community support for the initiative as well. I introduced her to Reeve Cooper in the MD and he’s planning to do the same. Interestingly, although that peak is within the viewshed of Canmore, it’s actually in the MD of Bighorn. Given what’s been happening this past many months with Black Lives Matter and very vocal messaging in our community about racism, I think this is a really great opportunity for the community to show our intention and get behind Jude’s initiative.

Tanya Foubert: This is a very slow process. In the entire province of Alberta there’s one employee who works part time on geographic names. When I spoke to him in 2016 he confirmed there was a strong desire from the province to find an appropriate, official name. But we’re talking four years ago. I can’t even get a follow up interview with them right now. No one’s returning my calls or emails. I think seeing some momentum behind this initiative from the local communities will get the ball rolling.

JB: Ms. Daniels has been working with the Stoney Nakota because the provincial process looks for input from the First Nations communities. It’s a slow process, and I have a sense from conversations with Jude that it may finally break and start getting some traction. This is just sort of a heads up for the community that this is happening and a great opportunity to stand up and be counted.

RM: Is there an opportunity for the community to show support for this initiative?

JB: I think information around that will be coming in the future. Certainly when it comes to council for discussion there’ll be more information to share.

Filed under: Canmore, Mayor John Borrowman, Mountain Insider