Women join in song at lake renaming ceremony, Tuesday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

'Indigenous lives matter'

Renaming of lakes a step forward for MMIWG Inquiry report: Indigenous lawyer

Jun 11, 2019 | 9:41 PM

Kellie Wuttunee looks resolved as she stands beside a body of water that now bears a new name – Kikiskitotawânawak Iskêwak Lakes – which means ‘We Remember the Women’ or ‘We Honour the Women’ in Cree.

As a result of the efforts of this Indigenous lawyer from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, a group of lakes near Unity no longer bears the name Killsquaw.

“There can be no true reconciliation without justice,” Wuttunee said during a ceremony Tuesday afternoon to re-name the lakes. “This event is one of the first steps of many to ensure that everyone knows Indigenous lives matter.”

Indigenous lawyer Kellie Wuttunee, of Wuttunee Law Office, speaks during the ceremony. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

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Many Indigenous communities gathered with government officials to officially mark the occasion in ceremony.

Wuttunee sees renaming the lakes as a step forward in advancing the cause of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry report.

“The former name of this lake ‘Killsquaw,’ highlights exactly what the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls Inquiry report called genocide,” Wuttunee said. “We can mince words in determining what genocide is, but the former name of this lake highlights what Canadian policy was up until now, ignoring the issue.”

Cut Knife-Turtleford MLA Larry Doke, right, and Sheldon Wuttunee (President of Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence) shown during the ceremony. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

The province formally approved changing the name of the lake in November.

Wuttunee has worked towards the renaming effort over the past two years.

She first pushed for the change after discovering the former name while driving through the area in 2017. She found the lake was given the name through an oral narrative detailing a massacre of Cree women by the Black Feet in the 1800s.

As she said during the announcement of the renaming process last autumn, Wuttunee sought guidance from her Elders and the name of the lake that was brought forward was ‘We Remember the Women’, which she believes better reflects Indigenous history without forgetting the story of the women.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW