Discussions launched on naming the Plateau’s Library

How to name a library, Part fifteen

Shortly after the city acquired land to build the library in the Plateau neighbourhood, a discussion on its name ensued when Myriam Nadeau, councillor for Pointe-Gatineau, suggested during the August 30 council meeting that the future library should bear a woman’s name.

L'Orée-du-Parc councillor Mireille Apollon, Chair of the Arts, Culture et Lettres Commission, agreed and added that “since the Plateau is the neighbourhood with the highest concentration of Aboriginal people in Gatineau, with roughly 8%, the future library should bear the name of a woman, yes, but it must be an Aboriginal woman.”

Two of Gatineau’s ten libraries bear the name of a woman, Lucy-Faris in Aylmer and Manise-Morin in Masson. Two Gatineau libraries also bear names in relation to their location.

One reason why the Plateau is home to such a high concentration of Aboriginals is because many students settle in the area to obtain their high school diplomas from Symmes Junior High School and D’Arcy McGee High School. Many Cree students from the James Bay region attend both Aylmer schools.

Rick Henderson, local historian with a strong interest in toponymy, is not against the idea, but considers the suggestion as rather small potatoes.

“I have absolutely no objection to it; it would be small of me to object. But the fact remains that it is all smoke,” said Mr Henderson. “It’s the right attitude, but naming a library after an Aboriginal is not doing what needs to be done.”

Mr Henderson, a descendant of the founder of Hull, Philemon Wright, fought in vain against Gatineau to preserve the name Leamy Road (Chemin du Lac-Leamy), a street in Hull named in honour of local pioneer Andrew Leamy.

“When I undertook that battle, I had councillors tell me that the name Leamy already designated the nearby lake and the casino, and that that was sufficient. The city finally changed the name of the street to Atawe, which is a perfectly good name for any new street given the area, because Atawe means Ottawa. The name Ottawa is all over the place and Gatineau decided to use a more native (dialect) version of it. I remember asking Gilbert Whiteduck (Kitigan Zibi Chief between 2008 and 2015) if he cared that the name was being changed. He had a good laugh. He told me that he had been fighting for 12 years to have bones, dug up at the Canadian Museum of History, returned. He added 'so don’t tell me they are making it all better by giving a street a native name when we have nothing to do with the City of Gatineau',” explained Henderson.