New name, new focus for Black Creek Village
Dropping ‘pioneer’ part of Indigenous inclusivity plan
Black Creek Pioneer Village is getting a new name this year, along with longer-term plans to provide a permanent home for an Indigenous exhibit.
As part of its ongoing work to tell more accurate stories about settlement in 19th-century Ontario, the Village has been collaborating with five southern Ontario First Nations to recraft the stories at the museum — and its next phase includes dropping “pioneer” from its name.
“I look at our society as a piece of fabric: it’s got different threads woven through it,” said Wendy Rowney, general manager at the Village. “What museums should do is make sure all those threads are visible again.”
The First Nations the museum has been working with include: Mississaugas of the Credit, Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Chippewas of Rama, Chippewas of Georgina Island and Six Nations of the Grand River.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s board, which owns the museum, voted last April to rename the museum “The Village at Black Creek,” which is expected to formally take effect in the fall.
“We already colloquially refer to it as ‘the Village,’ ” said Darryl Gray, director of education and training at the TRCA, noting the name change is expected to cost about $45,000. “The ‘village’ is a common unifier around the world. Everybody comes from a village in some form.”
Gray added it was important to keep the Black Creek reference to signify its relationship with the watershed and as a nod to the local community.
For Tracey-Mae Chambers, a Métis installation artist, this is an “incredibly important” step forward for all Indigenous communities, whether it be First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
“A lot of times it’s older white men who tell the story,” Chambers said. “Places like Black Creek Pioneer Village, as it was called at the time, only addresses a settler narrative as opposed to Indigenous folks that were displaced along the way.”
The museum is also putting up a series of installations incorporating Indigenous voices and perspectives throughout the Village, including Chambers’s work, some of which is already on display at the visitor centre. Chambers considers it a “cherished opportunity” to continue “decolonizing public spaces at the Village.”
The museum’s efforts are part of a multi-phase collaborative project that started in 2017 between York University, Jumblies Theatre and the five First Nations called “Changing the Narrative.”
An introductory exhibit opens Saturday to present this project and set the stage for the rest of the year, Rowney said, which will include regular Indigenous programming that starts in May with a Mohawk Melungeon artist teaching visitors how to make traditional Iroquois pinch pots.
“The larger (permanent) Indigenous exhibit is not going to be ready this year,” Rowney added.
Both Gray and Rowney noted that the museum will continue to tell shared stories of that period in Ontario, including the pioneers, even though the word “pioneer” is being dropped from the name.
Attendance at the village plummeted during COVID-19 and is not projected to recover to pre-pandemic levels within the next two years.
However, the TTC has no plans to change the name of its neighbouring Pioneer Village Station.
“No decisions have been made regarding the station name at this time,” said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green, although the transit agency is aware of the museum’s name change.
Should the TTC alter the station’s name, the standard cost would be about $1.5 million, Green noted.
Drawing parallels to the Yonge-Dundas Square renaming, where the adjacent street remains unchanged, Chambers believes if there’s no name change to the station it’s “counterintuitive” to the broader efforts at play.
“You either all have to be on board and mean it, or it is quite literally lip service,” she said.
The Village is also in early stages of talks with others — including LGBTQ+ and Black communities — to ensure their stories and perspectives will be incorporated at the Village as a broader history museum rather than a place that’s frozen in time.
“That rich cultural heritage of our local communities needs to come through,” Gray said.