The Canadian Press
CALGARY–A bid by a group of First Nations to have well-known places across southern Alberta, including Calgary, renamed in their language is being challenged by the chief of another indigenous community.
The Stoney Nakoda have applied to the Alberta government to change the names of Calgary and dozens other sites they consider to be part of their territory.
They wrote in a letter that they are the original occupants of the land and that a lack of recognition increases the threat to the Stoney Nakoda’s heritage.
But Chief Stanley Grier of the Piikani Nation said the cultural, historic, and archaeological record contradicts the Stoney Nakoda’s claim to be the area’s original occupants.
Grier said in a letter that the Blackfoot people have lived in the area since time immemorial.
The Stoney Nations, descendents of the Sioux, include three bands with the largest reserve west of Calgary.
In their letter, they said they wanted Calgary to be renamed Wichispa Oyade, which roughly translates to elbow town.
But Grier said his Blackfoot ancestors thousands of years ago called the place Mohkinstsiss–a reference to how “a great bend, the Elbow, came to be in The River Where the Bow Reeds Grow.”
