Buyer Promises to Change Derogatory Name of Ski Resort Decades After Term Was Banned

The new buyer of a ski mountain resort in Maine promised to eliminate a derogatory term for Native American women from its name, a move that comes two decades after the state banned the slur from use in the names of communities and public landmarks, the Associated Press reported. Perry Williams, managing partner at Big Lake Development Co., promised that the Big Squaw Mountain Resort in Greenville would receive a new title once the investor group's purchase was finalized.

"It's going to change. There is no doubt about that," Williams said.

Williams, who expects to close on the property in the coming months, said that a new name has not yet been designated, the Portland Press Herald reported.

"We will look at different names and consider what the right one will be. It's not as easy as it sounds. But we are definitely changing the name," Williams said. "We want to do the right thing."

"It's about time," Penobscot National Tribe Ambassador Maulian Dana said of the tentative renaming plans.

The planned renaming of the Maine resort reflects a nationwide push to remove such derogatory terms from venues, buildings and sports teams. A popular ski resort in California's Olympic Valley, which hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics, also changed its name to Palisades Tahoe in September after regional tribes had called for the change for decades.

"It was the right thing to do and I think it's going to make a difference. I think we're going to be seen as a more welcoming, inclusive resort and community," said Palisades Tahoe President and COO Dee Byrne.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:

The Maine mountain's name was changed from Big Squaw Mountain to Big Moose Mountain after the state banned the word from public place names like towns, mountains and lakes in 2000. But the offensive word had carried on at the ski resort because it's a privately-owned business.

The word "squaw," derived from the Algonquin language, may have once simply meant "woman," but over generations, the word morphed into a misogynist and racist term to disparage Indigenous women, according to experts.

In Maine, Dana said she's pleased that the new owners will change the name—something the current owner has declined to do.

"I am thankful that the Wabanaki and Indigenous women and two spirits will have one less reminder of deep trauma as we move about our homeland," Dana told the newspaper.

Two weeks ago, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ordered a task force to find replacement names for sites on federal land that use the term.

"Our nation's lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage—not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression," Haaland said earlier this month.