Canmore Takes First Step Toward Renaming Indian Flats Road

The gravel road that carries hikers, climbers and horseback riders off Highway 1A toward Grotto Mountain could lose the name it has carried for generations.

At its June 30 meeting, Canmore town council directed staff to begin working toward formally changing references to "Indian Flats" and Indian Flats Road to a traditional Stoney Nakoda name for the area. The road provides the main access to the Alpine Club of Canada's clubhouse and to Echo Canyon and Bataan, two of the Bow Valley's most heavily used rock-climbing destinations.

The road itself has not been renamed. Council directed administration to work with the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, the Province of Alberta, the Alpine Club of Canada and the Bow Valley Riding Association to explore a formal change to the place and road names, along with any ceremony the Nation advises. Because the road sits on provincial land, the town cannot rename it on its own, and the change will require coordination with the Province and the First Nations before it is finalized.

The name council has in mind is Tînda Mîmân, which the mayor said means "round meadow." But councillors were careful not to lock it in. They wrote the instructions to staff so that the community could still end up with a different name if that is what the Stoney Nakoda recommend once the two sides sit down together.

Mayor Sean Krausert, who brought the change forward, told the meeting the existing name reflected Indigenous peoples "with an outdated term."

"I don't think that there was anything derogatory or negative intended by the name," Krausert said. "But it does reference Indigenous peoples with an outdated term, and so that has raised some concern for me in the past."

The mayor said he had reached out to chiefs, administrators and elders across the Stoney Nakoda First Nations to ask what they called the area, and that the name Tînda Mîmân kept coming back. The name refers to a spot historically used for camping while travelling through the valley, he said. He added that a forthcoming study uses the same name and spelling, and that the Municipal District of Bighorn, the area next to Canmore, already uses a similar spelling.

The only naming change council actually enacted Tuesday was to a zoning district, a technical designation used for town planning. Council voted to name a new district over the Alpine Club's leased lands the "Lands Adjacent to Tînda Mîmân Direct Control District," dropping "Indian Flats Road" from the title. That step is largely administrative and does not, on its own, change the road's name.

The naming discussion rode in alongside a separate, unanimous decision to approve the Alpine Club's plans to redevelop its 54-year-old site, upgrading facilities, adding staff housing and formalizing trailhead parking. That project drew dozens of letters of support from the climbing community and measured concerns from the neighbouring riding association about traffic and safety on the shared road.

Council set no firm deadline for the road's formal renaming, which now moves into discussions among the town, the Province and the First Nations.