Five years after embarking on a campaign to change the name of the 3,700-acre Carib Territory to the Kalinago Territory, Dominica’s indigenous people are to get their wish.
The Government of Dominica announced that the name change is an urgent matter and will be down for consideration at the first sitting of parliament since the December 2014 general election.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says as well as renaming the territory, the government intends to ensure the Carib Chief will be known as the Kalinago Chief.
This is a vital issue for Dominica’s indigenous people, who say the term “Carib” dates back to Christopher Columbus and is a derogatory term with connotations of cannibalism. For years, several chiefs have said the term has resulted in the diminishing of indigenous pride among people of Kalinago decent.
The “Carib” Council’s original letter to government requesting the name change was written to the Ministry of Legal Affairs in 2010.
The letter indicated that council members would not wait for government’s official name change but would begin using the term “Kalinago” immediately. This change took effect within the community, where the term has been used for the past five years.
According to Dominican Historian Dr. Lennox Honychurch, the 1642 writings of French priest Raymond Breton prove the Carib Indians have always referred to themselves as “Callinago.” Historians say the phonetic writing is equivalent to “Kalinago.”
The operations of the “Carib” Territory in Dominica are enshrined in the 1978 Carib Act, which provides for communal land holding, an elected chief and a “Carib” Council.
The official renaming of the territory is one of several items down for consideration when Dominica’s parliament convenes on Feb. 20.
For the original report go to
For more information go to
http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2375096&CategoryId=14092
Press release of the government of Dominica:
http://news.gov.dm/index.php/news/2241-dominica-s-indigenous-people-to-be-renamed
Repeating Islands 
Reblogged this on Dennis R. Hidalgo and commented:
This is relevant to my Colonial Latin American History course. The Caribbean Sea should remind every one of the power to name that the European sojourners exercised here.
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Reblogged this on Ned Hamson Second Line View of the News.
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Takahi (Greetings) from Opi’a Taino of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We of Taino descent here in the Virgin Islands celebrate this historical advancement with you. Thanks to your work and dedication wrongs that were imposed on all of us so long ago shall come to an end.. I am comforted in knowing that finally the term Carib would be strickened from the minds of our future generations so that they will not be ashamed of our rich Culture and Heritage as indigenous people in 2015. Please feel free to contact me anytime.
Oma bahari, (With respect)
Maekiaphan Phillips/President
Opi’a Taino and Opi’a Taino International, Inc.
(340) 514-5665
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On Febr. 20, Dominica’s Parliament indeed approved the change from Carib to Kalinago as well as from Reserve to Territory. See http://news.gov.dm/index.php/news/2258-parliament-approves-indigenous-people-name-change.
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Reblogged this on The Politics of Memory.
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Reblogged this on Island Moon.
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So the ‘Kalinago Act’ needs to be introduced to end the statutes of the ‘Carib Act’.
Technically abolishing one to implement the other.
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It should be made clear that this is a word-for-word reblog. A reference to the “original report” makes Telesur look instead more like a source.
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Can you tell me what the symbols painted on the face of the girl at the top of the page mean?
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