Eight women honoured with newly named trails in Dieppe, N.B.

Dieppe, N.B., marked Parks and Trails Month by celebrating eight women when it unveiled new names for city trails at an event on Saturday.

The Women Trailblazers Project honoured the women by adding their names and interpretive biography panels to the trails to share their stories and honour their legacies, said a news release.

“By revealing their names, we pay tribute to them and strengthen our collective memory,” said Mayor Yvon Lapierre.

The project is part of a broader initiative to acknowledge the city’s women pioneers for their community involvement.

“This groundbreaking initiative is the first of its kind in the province and helps correct the historic underrepresentation of women in public spaces,” added Pauline Cormier, the city’s municipal heritage manager.

A city representative said the women were chosen with help from Isabelle LeBlanc from the Université de Moncton’s Groupe de recherche sur les archives et les femmes en Acadie (GRAFA) and submissions from the community.

“The names were chosen through an extensive research project,” said Julie Albert in an email to CTV News.

The eight newly named trails are:

• Ada Forbes Trail (health)
• Brenda LeBlanc Trail (political life)
• Dorothy Nye Trail (Indigenous)
• France Daigle Trail (arts and literature)
• Joanne (JoJo) LeBlanc Trail (sports)
• Laure Bradley Trail (intercultural relations)
• Rebecca LeBlanc Trail (environment)
• Shaaron Gionet Trail (entrepreneurship)

Saturday was also Indigenous Peoples Day. The city welcomed Dorothy Nye, a respected Elder from the Amlamgog (Fort Folly First Nation) community and one of the “trailblazing” women to the event.

The city started taking nominations for honourees in July 2024. The eight trails were previously unnamed.

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