NCC board approves new name for SJAM Parkway

The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway is getting a new name – Kichi Zibi Mikan.

The National Capital Commission (NCC) board has approved the name change because the roadway was named after the country’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, who was instrumental in creating Canada’s residential school system in the late 1800s.

After discovering hundreds of children in unmarked graves across the country in 2021, three Ottawa city councillors wrote a letter to the current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, urging the federal government to rename the parkway.

The chosen name, Kichi Zibi, means ‘Great River’ in the Algonquin language, and that would later become the basis of the name for the Ottawa River, while Mikan is a traditional Algonquin word meaning “road” or “path.”

“I am grateful for the participation of community members from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg as well as from Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation. I am thankful for the generosity of the participants, who shared views, stories and cultural references about the area, highlighting the profound connection to the Algonquin Anishinabeg maintain with the river and surroundings,” Nussbaum said.

The new name was chosen through an Algonquin naming and engagement exercise.

“When I think of the river, I think of our ancestors and how it has been used to divide our people. I look at this as an opportunity to connect our people to our language and culture. To connect the population around the waterways, the protection of the river and all the people within it,” an Anishinabe Algonquin workshop participant told the NCC.

Generally, Indigenous place names describe the meaning of a place, how it was or is used, and its significance to the communities involved. The names can also convey teachings about the land and the area.

The new signage will be unveiled in September 2023.