THUNDER BAY -- What’s in a name is everything.
That’s what sixth-grader Thomas Hardie learned during the production of his school’s play: Anemki Wajiw: The Story of Mount McKay.
Thomas and his grades 5 and 6 classmates at St. Elizabeth School performed the play for the third time on Wednesday.
The play narrates the history of Mt. McKay in theatrical fashion, detailing the story of how the mountain was stripped of its Ojibwe name, Anemki Wajiw.
“In this play we’re looking at white settler colonialism,” artistic director Lila Cano said. “We’re sort of unpacking that at a level these kids can start to understand.”
Cano said the play took months of research and collaboration with members of Fort William First Nation.
The students even got the chance to go to the mountaintop and see the historical significance of the landmark for themselves.
“I always looked at that mountain as Mount McKay,” Cano said. “The gist of the play is that it didn’t need to renamed. It had a name. And it was Anemki Wajiw.”
Cano said this side of history will soon be implemented in the local curriculum.
“The experience was great,” Thomas said. “I learned a lot about Indigenous culture, a lot from the elders, a lot from being up on the mountain.”
The production carried a message that served as a historical lesson that could be applied to everyday moral philosophy.
“If someone changed your name you wouldn’t like it,” Grade 6 student Raven Parrkilbern said. “Just don’t call other people something they wouldn’t want.”
