In September of this year, Currents reported on a proposal from Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ [pronounced Lee-gweeth-dowkh] Nations (We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah) for the formal renaming of various locations in the greater Campbell River/rapids area. The new names would be drawn from First Nations language and tradition.
Three of these place-names are local to the city of Campbell River. The well-loved park now known as Tyee Spit would be renamed to ʔuxstalis [pronounced Oox-sta-lease], the spelling of the Quinsam River would be updated to “Kʷənsəm River”, and Discovery Passage would be renamed to “Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Passage”.
High waters on the Quinsam River (Nov 2019) – Photo by Jennifer Aitkens via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The provincial government advised the City of Campbell River in August that they had until late October to ask questions or make comments about the proposed changes. At the October 24 meeting of the Campbell River City Council, two elected chiefs attended as a delegation to support the renaming initiative. Chief Chris Roberts of We Wai Kum Nation spoke at some length, supported by Chief Ronnie Chikite of We We Kai Nation.
Chief Roberts acknowledged that there had been some negative feedback about the renaming proposal, but encouraged City Council to support it.
We’ve since had communication — one on one — with Mayor Dahl, and understand some of the perspectives, and the position and approach that the city is coming from. But we felt it important to come here today. I’m here today to give a little bit more background, a little more context to our initiative: to explain how important it is to us, for our communities and for our people, and just to reinforce and strengthen the importance of our efforts to work collaboratively in the spirit of reconciliation.
Chief Roberts said that while land acknowledgements at City Council meetings are a great step forward, it was important to “move beyond the niceties and the kind words”. Reconciliation, he said, was not simple or easy. First Nations representatives have presented their ethno-history to the city council and staff: “it’s very important to us to have that deeper understanding of the connection we have to these places.” He reminded the City Council that their own strategic plan for 2023-2026 features five core themes, one of which includes furthering “indigenous relationships.”
Chief Roberts said that the renaming of places in BC to reflect First Nations history and culture was not a new idea. “We don’t see it as controversial. We’ve seen it […] across the water on the Sunshine Coast.” Remembering and recovering traditional place names, he said, was a source of pride. “We have great pride in the work that we’ve done with our language speakers — the few that we have left — and the history that we have collected.”
While there were some negative reactions to the complicated-looking phonetic spelling of the new place names, Chief Roberts suggested people shouldn’t feel too intimidated. “The phonetic spelling we use is a convention that is accepted broadly, it’s what we utilise in the school district, where we are very proud to have a program for language revitalisation, a bilingual program at Ripple Rock School.” He suggested that remembering how to pronounce the new names was not that much more difficult than remembering that Nodales Channel is pronounced “No-Daal-Ess” rather than “Node Ales.”
In response to feedback that “reconciliation is a good thing but the pace is too fast,” Chief Roberts reminded everyone that these issues touch on “some very dark parts of our history.” He suggested that the City Council should consider whether residual racism might lie beneath some of the resistance to renaming efforts, and described some of the comments received as “worrisome.”.
What’s behind some of those type of statements? We want to look at getting beyond […] what we’ve seen playing out in the provincial politics […] — fear mongering around commitment to reconciliation and upholding the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Paoples.
This is why, Chief Roberts said, his delegation had come to the council meeting: “to address this head-on, to explain the importance of it to our communities and maybe be more clearly understood.”
We are both elected leaders here in front of you, just as you are. And we have constituents to keep happy. Not everyone voted for me, I have to keep that in mind, but as a leader in representation of people in the task I’ve been put up to do: we often have to make difficult decisions. And have the courage to move forward and do the right thing. Because we are elected to lead, and if we give the biased voices too much [weight] — sometimes racist opinions — we are failing those who elected us and put us in these positions, to lead and improve our communities for everybody.
Chief Roberts then made a request of the City Council: to adopt a resolution in favour of the proposed renaming and to rewrite their official letter of response to the Province. He offered some sample language: “That our Place Name Committee recommends the following, that the City of Campbell River supports reconciliation with our neighbours and friends the Wei Wai Kum, We Wai Kai, and Kwiakah.”
Chief Chikite added, “We looked at the previous Mayor and Council, we never had that support. We never had these council-to-council meetings. Looking for a simple three-name request shouldn’t be out of the question.”
The City Council discussed the matter briefly. Councillor Johnston moved to amend the official letter “to the language that we’ve received based on the delegation that we just heard.”
The Council did not immediately approve the redrafting of their official response to the Province. The Province has granted an extension of the time period allotted for that response; Council did vote to meet again with First Nations representatives to discuss this matter, before the new deadline.
This motion passed almost unanimously, with only Councillor Kerr opposing. However, this meeting would be held in camera.
[Feature image by David Stanley 2020, Flickr]