This is where I first crossed paths with Nogojiwanong, the name that Michi Saagiig people gave to this place at the end of the rapids. I am a white, English-speaking person whose ancestors settled in south western Ontario seven generations before me. Anishinaabemowin is a language that I do not know, but I do remember the name Nogojiwanong, because I heard it spoken here on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig, where it belongs. 

The context of that moment would have been the Artspace outdoor exhibition, Earth Seed Sun and Water, circa 1993 here in this place that was named Scotts Plains Park by European Settlers living in Peterborough. The exhibition featured several artists' gardens created specifically for locations throughout this park. I was on staff at the time, and appreciated a break from the office in Market Hall, to walk down to the park come and watch the artists working with plants and other components of their designs. My favourite garden was by the Metis artist Peter M. Tasse who used stones that he found around Burleigh Falls to make a large sculpture of a turtle, planted with blue lobelia to represent the water. 

Peter was the person who told me the original name for this place, Nogojiwanong. Some time later I noticed the name on a sign posted near the birch trees where Charlotte and Simcoe Streets meet, and years later when the name changed again to Millenium Park, the original name, Nogojiwanong was included on new signage.