Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has approved five traditional Aboriginal names for the Mackenzie River under the NWT Geographical and Community Names Policy.
As the department responsible for community and geographical names in the Northwest Territories, we place a special emphasis on traditional Aboriginal geographical names as they are important to the culture, history and languages of the people of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie River is the largest and longest river system in Canada and continues to serve as a transportation corridor. It provides key support to communities along its length, while serving to foster economic development. In this way, like a strand of sinew, it ties the Northwest Territories together. The Mackenzie River is one of our most important geographical features and helps to define the Northwest Territories’ place in Canada.
In 1984 the Geographical Names Board of Canada declared the Mackenzie River a geographical feature of pan-Canadian significance in recognition of its historical importance and prominent place in the Canadian landscape. With that decision, both the French and English names for the Mackenzie River became official. Previously, only the English place name was an official name.
Through the NWT’s Geographical and Community Names Policy, we have the ability to also make the traditional names for geographical features official to assure their cultural continuity. In accordance with this, the five Aboriginal names for the Mackenzie River are now approved and join the English and French versions as official names.
The Aboriginal names are: • Kuukpak, the Inuvialuktun name; • Nagwichoonjik, the Gwich’in name; • Deho, the North Slavey name; • Dehcho, the South Slavey name; and • Grande Rivière, the Michif name.
All of the Aboriginal names translate as a variation of “big” or “great” river, underscoring its importance as a geographical feature.
Mr. Speaker, now that the Aboriginal names for the Mackenzie River have been recognized, an elder from any community along its length can stand on its bank and tell his or her grandchildren that their name for the river is known by all. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.