ÎYÂRHE NAKODA – It was and always will be Mînî Thnî.
Despite European settlers assigning the name Morleyville – which was eventually shortened to Morley – to the Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation community, to those who inhabited the land long before colonialism, it was always much more than a place named after a white settler.
“We had our own traditional community names already before even the white settlers came, so that’s what we’ve been trying to bring back,” said Goodstoney First Nation Chief Clifford Poucette.
“I know it’s been over 150 years that we’ve utilized Morley in our community, but it’s now time to move on and bring back that reconciliation aspect to our Nation. Going into the future, I know it’s positive and our younger generation will utilize that.”
Chiefs, dignitaries and community members with Goodstoney, Bearspaw and Chiniki First Nations gathered Thursday (Aug. 29) in a celebration to reclaim and recognize the community’s historical name.
Mînî Thnî is named in recognition of its location along the Bow River, fed by the Rocky Mountains. In Stoney, it means cold water.
Chiniki First Nation Chief Aaron Young said the name is a reflection of the Nation’s deep spirituality and connection to the land, a fact that comes across even more clearly in its traditional language.
“We believe that every creation has a spirit, and of course, the mountains as we have been guided and protected by for many years. That’s where the waters come from … It’s really significant that we hold true value and hold the spiritual aspect of it high.”
The name Morley – after Reverend Morley Punshon, who opened a store and post office at the location of the current townsite – has simply never fit the bill.
Tied to colonial history, the name reflects a period marked by the opening of the Morley Day School in 1873, the establishment of the Morleyville Methodist Mission in 1875, and the signing of Treaty 7 in 1877, which led to the formation of the Morley Reserve.
This history is intertwined with figures like John McDougall, who influenced the land’s designation and the displacement of the Stoney people by establishing the area as a Methodist mission site.
As detailed in the late Goodstoney Chief John Snow’s book, These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places, McDougall had influence over the Nation, was present at the signing of Treaty 7 and played a major role in the reserve being reduced to a fraction of the Stoney’s traditional lands, reflecting a broader pattern of dispossession.
The Nation traditionally occupied a much larger area, including lands to the north and south, which are today known in English as Big Horn and Eden Valley.
“One explanation could be that the treaty commissioners assumed, from what the Wesleyan missionary said, that all our people lived at Morleyville, and that John McDougall found that false assumption very convenient,” wrote Snow in his book. “We now know and realize that John McDougall had a personal interest in having one large reserve established at Morleyville; the church was there, his home and farm buildings were there, the hay fields were nearby, and a small area was under cultivation.
“It was apparently his feeling that the Church could not continue effectively Christianizing my people if we did not all settle on one reserve.”
While it is part of the Nation’s history, the name Morley has never captured the Nation’s connection to its ancestral lands.
Reclaiming the site’s original name of Mînî Thnî marks a milestone for the Goodstoney, Chiniki and Bearspaw First Nations which identify under Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation, in reestablishing sovereignty and self-determination.
“Moving forward, it’s going to give us a road map for other areas of change that’s needed not only in this community but in our satellite communities to gain that recognition back,” said Bearspaw First Nation Chief Darcy Dixon.
“As people of this area, as people of this land, as treaty partners with the Crown … the three Nations here that belong to this area, we’re all treaty signatories … To go beyond that it was the missionaries who used the Indian Act, who used their powers to put us here in this community and fenced us in in this area to stop us from using our traditional territories, which go as far south as Chief Mountain [in Waterton Lakes National Park] and [north] past Hinton, Alberta.”
To the Bearspaw, which traditionally occupied lands surrounding what is today known as Eden Valley, and to the Goodstoney, which traditionally occupied lands surrounding what is known as Big Horn, the reclamation of Mînî Thnî signifies more changes to come.
Eden Valley is known in Stoney as Gahna and Big Horn is Wapta Mnûtha.
“The Nations here have done a tremendous amount of work to not just name our communities their historical names, but also the headwaters and all the mountains you see in the Rockies west of this place are already named,” said Dixon.
“We’ve already got those names placed in our archives. They’ve always been there. That’s nothing new to us. It’s just working along with government officials to try to get them to really take a look at before the coming of settlers. There was names for these areas, so it would be nice if Alberta and Canada would recognize those first names to this area.”
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.