Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 21/02) - Renaming the Northwest Territories was considered in 1996, but the idea was met with ridicule and ambivalence.

Now, Premier Stephen Kakfwi has revived the debate. What's the result? Many MLAs appear to remain ambivalent and other territorial leaders say there are more important issues to deal with.

We may already have the only name vague enough to represent the patchwork of cultures that call the Western Arctic home.

A government strategy to rename the territories is getting a cool response from leaders. Even some of the MLAs who were part of the decision to start the process now seem unenthusiastic.

"I think people have to consider that each region is distinct unto themselves," said Michael Nadli, grand chief of the Deh Cho First Nations. "From our point of view the whole NWT should be called the Deh Cho," he said.

Nadli, however, also recognized that one name could never represent all of the regions and peoples of the Northwest Territories.

And yet, the territorial government has decided to take another run a new name. At a December meeting in Hay River, the assembly appointed MLAs Bill Braden and Jim Antoine to come up with a process for establishing a new identity, including a new name for the western territory.

"It wasn't unanimous," said one MLA of the decision. Since then, support appears to be fading fast. A number of MLAs said establishing a new name is not among their priorities. Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko noted Beaufort Delta leaders opposed a name change in 1996 and, as far as he knows, their resolution still stands.

Renaming the territory is a priority for premier Stephen Kakfwi, however. He has repeatedly said the Northwest Territories is an outdated name, a vestige of our colonial past. At the start of his term as premier, Kakfwi said renaming the territory "has got to be done."

Nunakput MLA Vince Steen voiced the same concerns as Nadli, referring to one of the aboriginal names considered during the first name debate, in 1996.

"We don't try to suggest Nunakput be applied to the whole territory," Steen, a cabinet minister, said. "Denendeh applies to the land of the Dene. Nunakput is not part of the Dene region and never was."

Steen was a member of the subcommittee that first tried to bring in a name change.

"In the end there was a decision to leave well enough alone," he recalled. "There was some suggestion that we would need to change our name if we become a province, that the Northwest Territories wouldn't be suitable. I'm willing to wait for that.

Denendeh was third choice among respondents to a government call for name suggestions at that time, in 1996. With 81 votes, "Bob" was the second-most popular response. The overwhelming favourite, suggested by 6,111 respondents, was Northwest Territories.

"For me, a name change is not a high priority," said Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod. "I'm hoping not to spend too much time and energy on this issue."

NWT Chamber of Commerce president Kelly Kaylo said the Western Arctic is now seeing facing some its biggest opportunities and challenges.

"There are other more significant priorities that focus on economic development and sustainable growth," Kaylo said.

Nadli said the time to talk about a name change is when the relationships between aboriginal, territorial and the federal governments are re-defined.