SUSSEX, N.B. — The New Brunswick government is re-naming Negro Brook Road, as the province embarks on a plan to update the names of nine landmarks bearing the racially charged word.
The road, outside Sussex, N.B., is being renamed Harriet O'Ree Road.
The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture is investing $50,000 to rebrand the sites with names that reflect the black history of each area.
The province worked with the New Brunswick Black History Society to honour O'Ree, who according to the 1851 West Sussex Census, was a black resident in the area.
Some members of the society resisted the change, saying the word "negro" is a part of loyalist heritage in Canada.
Others argue the word has been tainted through years of culturally insensitive misuse.
