User talk:CFV2

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Heather Spearman is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Heather Spearman until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

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Bearcat (talk) 13:19, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

Hi there. You seem to have an interest in Mi'kmaq topics - did you know that there's a test Wikipedia written in the Mi'kmaq language? It started somewhere around a decade ago, but never really got off the ground, unlike the Inuktitut Wikipedia. I've tried reaching out to a few organizations like Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey and the Native Council of Nova Scotia but haven't had much luck drawing any interest. Maybe you have some ideas? In any case, I thought you'd be interested to see it. All the best, MediaKyle (talk) 22:33, 19 October 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for reaching out.

I know people at MK, and people who have been involved in developing the Mi'kmaq language curriculum. I'll definitely keep it in mind.

And, yes, I definitely do have an interest in Mi'kmaq topics; you can maybe see an effort in my edits to (respectfully, I'd hoped) add original Mi'kmaq place names on relevant Nova Scotia articles. That effort was prompted in part by the NS government's recognition of Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk, and partly by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report's Calls to Action; specifically #14.

There is no intent to harm, here, and no desire to cause an argument.

In my view, these place-names have always been there; in a perfect world, I would personally like to see Mi'kmaq have a similar status that the Maori_language has on New Zealand\Aotearoa articles, like the one for Auckland.

Again, thanks. CFV2 (talk) 23:32, 19 October 2025 (UTC)

Well you're surely not harming anything - in a perfect world, an article is the result of many differing opinions coming together to find the "right" answer, although it's usually not such a clean process... Allow me to offer a differing perspective on the resistance to adding Mi'kmaq place names. We need to have some editors who are willing to rigorously enforce the verifiability policy in order to maintain a healthy editing environment - the fact of the matter is, Indigenous place names have become something of a contentious issue, and some may see adding them to the infobox as a form of righting great wrongs rather than reflecting what the sources have to say on the matter. Further, these placenames are usually added with unsatisfactory sources, like a news article or a Mi'kmaq blog - I would argue toponymy should (and can) always be sourced by the books, i.e. Brown, Fergusson, and Hamilton. I'm a big fan of toponymy, and I'd love to see Nova Scotian articles provide more context on their Mi'kmaq names... Many places actually still have names derived from Mi'kmaq, like Shubenacadie, Malagawatch, Ecum Secum, etc... From what I've seen, including them in the infobox has been an ongoing argument for about a decade, so we probably won't ever come to a resolution as to whether they should be applied unilaterally. Don't feel discouraged - your contributions are most welcome, this is all just part of the editorial process. MediaKyle (talk) 11:50, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

From my perspective, having an editor continually and arbitrarily delete these names, even when referenced and sourced - often deleting the historical sections to support them, as well - and then dismiss those contributions because, "the Indians [sic] had names for everything" certainly doesn't seem like an expression of Wikipedia:NPOV, either. Given the history of bigotry toward Indigenous people and colonial erasure of Mi'kmawi'simk (and, other Indigenous languages), it's tough not to feel discouraged in the face of that.

To me, their addition isn't about righting wrongs. It's simply returning a name to places where they have always been, sometimes for thousands of years, and has been used by Mi'kmaq people into the present day.

Thanks again for reaching out. CFV2 (talk) 12:18, 20 October 2025 (UTC)