First People’s Law Report: ChekNews – In a recent council meeting, Chief Chris Roberts called the Campbell River council’s response to a request put forward for three Indigenous place name changes “disappointing.”

Campbell River council discussed a letter from the BC Geographical Names Office notifying the city of a name change request for Tyee Spit, Discovery Passage and Quinsam River to traditional Indigenous names at a Oct. 8 committee of the whole meeting.

The discussion prompted Roberts of Wei Wai Kum and Chief Ronnie Chickite of We Wai Kai First Nations to speak at the Oct. 24 council meeting, where Roberts said that “watching that webcast was a little bit disappointing to sum it up as far as the conversation that took place.”

Members of the First Nations communities had submitted their requests to the BC Geographical Names Office to change the names of the following:

• Tyee Spit to “ʔuxstalis,” which is the Lik̓ʷala name for this spit and could mean “beach on the back side” and/or “where the land ends”.
• Discovery Passage to “Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Passage,” which is the Lik̓ʷala name for this passage and means “unkillable” or an unkillable worm – no matter how many times it is cut, it replicates and grows back.
• Quinsam River to Kʷənsəm which is derived from the Island-Comox Salish word, Kwaniwsam, meaning “resting place.”

Province invites Campbell River to respond to name changes, mayor and council meet to discuss the matter Oct. 8

When the province invited the City to provide comments on proposed changes to the official names of three geographical areas, submitted by the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah First Nations, mayor and council met and discussed the matter during a committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 8.

Coun. Ben Lanyon was first to share his concerns with both the pronunciation of the Indigenous names, and how it could be bad for tourism.

“I see this and I like some of these names and can see how they would be beneficial for certain elements of tourism, just drawing attention to First Nations culture,” said Lanyon. 

“I think there may be some logistical issues with the alphabet usage and there’s some risk that if we support this, we may be moving out of step with the current public opinion on this so I have a subsequent motion,” he said.

Coun. Tanille Johnson said it was important to acknowledge “who was here first and the traditional territory that we live, work and play on and being able to acknowledge those names that have been in existence for far beyond any of our years and I understand the challenges with the phonetic.”

“However, it is the language of the communities that have been here since time immemorial so if there’s a time to learn a phonetic, I think the time is now or maybe it was 10 years ago, so I would be in support of using the phonetic to help people really engage with the culture and the territory,” she said.

Lanyon said he liked the names for two of the three places.

“The only one that I’m struggling with is that I can’t actually pronounce the passage,” he said.

He also said he would like to see these go to public consultation before making the change.

“I’m not comfortable saying to the province that there is no opposition. I think there might be within the community,” said Lanyon.

Campbell River discusses proposing public engagement as a next-step response to the province

“You know, the whole idea with reconciliation is it’s a great direction to take, but the pace is the debatable part and I think if the pace is happening too quickly then it can actually cause unintended consequences later on in terms of public opposition to what could be a good thing, so we just have to be careful,” he said.

Members of the council felt that public consultation would help ensure that everyone has a say. Apart from Lanyon’s concerns with pronunciation and tourism implications, council was not opposed to the name changes, but differing opinions suggested dual naming and public consultation.

The city drafted a letter requesting the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport work with the city to facilitate community engagement sessions to “provide valuable insight into the cultural significance of the name changes, allow for meaningful community engagement, and ensure transparency throughout the process,” according to the city’s statement.

There were also requests that the ministry consider financial costs regarding “signage and printed materials,” according to the city’s statement.

Roberts, Chickite ask council to take on ‘hard work’ of reconciliation

This meeting spurred Roberts and Chickite to appear at the recent council meeting on Oct. 24 and they were joined by elders and members of the Liǧwłdax̌w community.

“We felt it important to come here today to give a little bit more background, a little more context to our initiative and to explain how important it is to us, for our communities and for our people, and…to reinforce and strengthen the importance of our efforts to work collaboratively in the spirit of reconciliation,” said Roberts.

Roberts acknowledged the mayor and council’s recognition of Indigenous history, culture and land ties at the opening and closing of each meeting, but said it was time “to move beyond niceties.”

“Reconciliation is hard work. There’s not a straight line. To cut to the chase to to speak, it’s arduous. And often there’s going to be some bumps along the way but we must stay at it,” said Roberts.

On behalf of the place name committee, Roberts recommended “the City of Campbell River supports reconciliation with our neighbours and friends, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah three First Nations, collectively known as the Liǧwłdax̌w (Laich-Kwil-Tach) and support their decision to apply Liǧwłdax̌w names to what’s currently known as Tyee Spit, Quinsam River and Discovery Passage.”

In closing, Roberts told the city that if it was not prepared take the recommended position, then “our request would be to reply to the province simply with a ‘no comment’ and follow the previous decision you had because it would do a disservice to invite more consultative processes on this matter.”

Chickite recognized how the current council had made the effort to consult.

“When you guys did come to us when you were elected, reconciliation was the first thing you spoke of and I know Chris mentioned it. That was huge for us like I think that’s why we supported you. You know, we looked at the previous mayor and council. We never had this, these council-to-council meetings. And looking to your support for a simple three-name request shouldn’t be out of the question,” he said.

The province extended its deadline for Campbell River council to respond to the name change, and it now has the following month to make a decision.

“Following the delegation from Chief Roberts and Chief Chickite, and acknowledging the extended feedback deadline provided by the Province, Council referred the item to a future meeting to further discuss the City’s response to the Ministry,” stated the minutes.

The request does not appear on the upcoming Nov. 5 committee of the whole or Nov. 7 council meeting.

by Liz Brown