We Should Consider Changing the Name of British Columbia
Let the discussion, and your suggestions for a new name, begin.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/06/16/Changing-British-Columbias-Name/
Time for British Columbia to change its name
Tue, 2020-06-16 13:36
#1
Time for British Columbia to change its name
Tue, 2020-06-16 16:01
#2
South Yukon
Tue, 2020-06-16 18:24
#3
Misfit
Mountain Pacific.
Tue, 2020-06-16 21:20
#4
It should be Indigenous...was there a consensus name FN people called the area before the settlers showed up?
Tue, 2020-06-16 22:28
#5
Misfit
I'm fine with "not the prairies".
Wed, 2020-06-17 20:13
#6
How about "warmer than *insert name of prairie city here* in January"?
Wed, 2020-06-17 20:15
#7
Misfit
I think Winnipeg has that reputation.
Wed, 2020-06-17 20:54
#8
That is ridiculous. If the name is changed, it has to be an Indigenous name the various First Peoples can agree upon.
Wed, 2020-06-17 20:57
#9
It should be Indigenous...was there a consensus name FN people called the area before the settlers showed up?
Ken sorry but you are merely showing a lack of knowledge. BC is very big (more than three times the size of Texas) and is and always has been inhabited by many indigenous groups.
Wed, 2020-06-17 21:10
#10
That is ridiculous. If the name is changed, it has to be an Indigenous name the various First Peoples can agree upon.
"British Columbia is home to 203 First Nations communities" the area that BC occupies was the homeland of many nations prior to first contact with a richness of languages but there would not have been a word for the geographic area we call BC in any of those languages.
Canada needs a new constitution not name changes to provinces. British Columbia has its name because it was the British part of the Colombian basin. A name change to an indigenous one would be a white wash not a step forward. The British Crown acquired most of BC by this man and others sailing by the mouths of rivers and claiming all the land to its headwaters.
https://thebasin.ourtrust.org/geography/
Beside who the fuck was Prince Edward anyways.
Wed, 2020-06-17 21:13
#11
It should be Indigenous...was there a consensus name FN people called the area before the settlers showed up?
Ken sorry but you are merely showing a lack of knowledge. BC is very big (more than three times the size of Texas) and is and always has been inhabited by many indigenous groups.
I was simply asking if such a name ever existed. If it didn't, that I withdraw the suggestion.
Wed, 2020-06-17 21:16
#12
How about "Pacifica"?
Wed, 2020-06-17 21:19
#13
That is ridiculous. If the name is changed, it has to be an Indigenous name the various First Peoples can agree upon.
"British Columbia is home to 203 First Nations communities" the area that BC occupies was the homeland of many nations prior to first contact with a richness of languages but there would not have been a word for the geographic area we call BC in any of those languages.
Canada needs a new constitution not name changes to provinces. British Columbia has its name because it was the British part of the Colombian basin. A name change to an indigenous one would be a white wash not a step forward. The British Crown acquired most of BC by this man and others sailing by the mouths of rivers and claiming all the land to its headwaters.
https://thebasin.ourtrust.org/geography/
Beside who the fuck was Prince Edward anyways.
He was THIS guy-and is probably best remembered for being Queen Victoria's daddy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward,_Duke_of_Kent_and_Strathearn
Wed, 2020-06-17 21:34
#14
My main point is that the First Peoples should decide. Yes, I know that there were many peoples in what is now BC.
Wed, 2020-06-17 23:22
#15
And Kropotkin, I normally like and learn a lot from your posts, but I'm not sure why you felt you needed to get personal about it and imply that I was ignorant for even asking the question. Why wasn't it enough for you to just say "no, there was no single Indigenous name for the whole area"?
Thu, 2020-06-18 05:01
#16
sorry but you are merely showing a lack of knowledge. BC is very big (more than three times the size of Texas)
Try 1.36 times the size of Texas. BC is big. But it's not that big.
Thu, 2020-06-18 07:08
#17
Canada needs a new constitution not name changes to provinces. British Columbia has its name because it was the British part of the Colombian basin. A name change to an indigenous one would be a white wash not a step forward. The British Crown acquired most of BC by this man and others sailing by the mouths of rivers and claiming all the land to its headwaters.
In all seriousness, I absolutely agree. There is a great deal of racism that is part of Canada's history. Changing names of places or taking down statues will not undo that. I feel that by doing that we are erasing our history, and that it is better to keep that so we can learn from it.
There is another pratcical problem here. If we change the name of the province, it does not matter what name you come up with, somebody somewhere is not going to like it and will feel alienated from it. Wasting that kind of political capital will do our side no favours. But suppose you do end up changing the name. Congratulations. What does that do to help address poverty, hunger, climate change, or the fact that many of the same groups vulnerable to covid are also hurt by the social distancing requirements to fight it? Changing names is too easy, and it does nothing to help with the practical day-to-day problems people are facing.
Thu, 2020-06-18 08:05
#18
Misfit
Actually changing names is not easy. I remember when I was young, the government decided to change the words to the national anthem. NAC put in a request to remove the words "in all thy sins command". Many Canadians felt that the words "true north strong and free" were racist.
The government spent 8 million dollars and set up a task force to revamp the words. They kept "in all thy sons command" in order to appease WEI ajd WEIi veterans. The kept "true north strong and free". They swapped out an o'Canada with a "God keep our land".
When Canada needed a new flag to replace the Red Ensign, all they had to do was come up with a symbol that was appropriate for all Canadians. They used the hardwood maple leaf which is found in southern Ontario and Quebec only as our national symbol. And they didn't pick it because it is easy to draw either.
Thu, 2020-06-18 08:20
#19
I agree that it's time to explore a name change. We make the wrong people and the wrong things famous.
Thu, 2020-06-18 12:24
#20
They used the hardwood maple leaf which is found in southern Ontario and Quebec only.
Not to mention New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
Thu, 2020-06-18 17:39
#21
Maybe we could name it Across the Great Divide.
BC is a colonial geographic construct built on the unceded territories of hundreds of sovereign nations. I think that to call it by a single indigenous sounding name would be the final appropriation by settlers. We would not only be stealing their lands but merging them all into one stereotypical whole as if they are one people. To me its like calling a military attack helicopter an Apache, after a "heroic" defeated enemy.
Sorry Ken about my rudeness. I think that the people of BC need to decide. We now have a large area of our central coast called the Great Bear Rainforest because US based environmental groups dubbed it that.
Thu, 2020-06-18 17:43
#22
sorry but you are merely showing a lack of knowledge. BC is very big (more than three times the size of Texas)
Try 1.36 times the size of Texas. BC is big. But it's not that big.
Absolutely right. I quickly Wikkied them both and took the top area numbers from BC and then Texas without noticing that one was in Square Kilometers and the other was in Square Miles but in reverse order in the summary charts.
Thu, 2020-06-18 18:02
#23
Misfit
I looked up those areas myself and more. I did not know that Saskatchewan is bigger than Manitoba. I also thought that Saskatchewan was bigger than Alberta because it angles in so much along the continental divide, but no, Alberta is the largest prairie province. I also thought that Texas was the biggest state in the United States but it is Alaska which is bigger. Alaska is even bigger than Quebec. I thought the NWT were bigger than Nunavut but Nunavut is by far the largest land mass jurisdiction in North America. Who knew???
However, as they say in Saskatchewan, New York is big but we have Biggar!
Thu, 2020-06-18 18:47
#24
I looked up those areas myself and more. I did not know that Saskatchewan is bigger than Manitoba. I also thought that Saskatchewan was bigger than Alberta because it angles in so much along the continental divide, but no, Alberta is the largest prairie province. I also thought that Texas was the biggest state in the United States but it is Alaska which is bigger. Alaska is even bigger than Quebec. I thought the NWT were bigger than Nunavut but Nunavut is by far the largest land mass jurisdiction in North America. Who knew???However, as they say in Saskatchewan, New York is big but we have Biggar!
Thu, 2020-06-18 18:56
#25
Misfit
I looked up those areas myself and more. I did not know that Saskatchewan is bigger than Manitoba. I also thought that Saskatchewan was bigger than Alberta because it angles in so much along the continental divide, but no, Alberta is the largest prairie province. I also thought that Texas was the biggest state in the United States but it is Alaska which is bigger. Alaska is even bigger than Quebec. I thought the NWT were bigger than Nunavut but Nunavut is by far the largest land mass jurisdiction in North America. Who knew???However, as they say in Saskatchewan, New York is big but we have Biggar!
Yup, but Saskatchewan still has Biggar!
Thu, 2020-06-18 19:35
#26
Maybe we could name it Across the Great Divide.
BC is a colonial geographic construct built on the unceded territories of hundreds of sovereign nations. I think that to call it by a single indigenous sounding name would be the final appropriation by settlers. We would not only be stealing their lands but merging them all into one stereotypical whole as if they are one people. To me its like calling a military attack helicopter an Apache, after a "heroic" defeated enemy.
Sorry Ken about my rudeness. I think that the people of BC need to decide. We now have a large area of our central coast called the Great Bear Rainforest because US based environmental groups dubbed it that.
Fair enough. It's clearly something for the residents of "The Artist Currently Known As British Columbia" to decide. And it's theirs to decide if changing the name is a priority at this time, or at any other time.
I apologize for interjecting on a topic that I should not have interjected on.
Thu, 2020-06-18 20:16
#27
Re: British Columbia
Call it Stolen Land. Because it is.
"This is the KCMG medal. The highest order given traditionally to diplomats and overseas personnel by royalty in the New Years Honors list. Zoom into the image and you'll see how/why the UK is built on racism. Until these traditions etc are over-hauled nothing will change...'
Thu, 2020-06-18 20:19
#28
In BC indigenous land defenders are being arrested by the RCMP's military wing. Stopping the Coastal Gas and TransMountain pipelines and the Site C dam, all of which are opposed by indigenous land defenders, is the objective. Lets all keep our eyes on the ball. Changing the name is a distraction that the white billionaires who run the oil and gas industry in North America would love to have us focus on instead. COVID or not they are all still under construction only they are no longer in the news cycle.
Thu, 2020-06-18 20:39
#29
Trans Mountain Pipeline Spills Up To 50,000 Gallons of Oil on Indigenous Land in BC
https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-oil-spill-british-colum...
Let The Blockades Begin!
https://twitter.com/KanahusFreedom/status/1273703974114398216
Yes. Let's see just how anti-colonial and anti-racist Canada really is...
Tue, 2020-06-23 23:37
#30
BC is hardly alone
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rhode-island-moves-to-change-states-officia...
Wed, 2020-07-08 11:30
#31
Robert Jago tweeted:
"Swáyél (contact era Halkomelem for the world)
Téméw (modern Halk. for the world)
S'ohl Téméw (modern Halk. for 'Our Land')
Why? The colony of BC was proclaimed on Kwantlen land with us present, and those are the names we would have used. It's a cognate for 70%+ of langs in BC"
Thu, 2020-07-09 03:41
#32
If nothing else, they COULD modify the flag-just use the sunrise-and-symbolic-ocean waves part at the bottom, ditching the flattened-down-British flag with a crown in the middle part. Is there any reason to keep the "two for the price of one"flag design "Wacky" Bennett came up with just to keep an implied threat of secession in the mix?
Thu, 2020-07-09 21:24
#33
Lets not stop pipelines or stop arresting indigenous activists lets make cosmetic changes that are meaningless and absurd. We live in a country whose constitution is called the British North America Act and includes a section that makes Indians vassals of the federal government. But we want to change BC's name and flag.
Fri, 2020-07-10 01:59
#34
I wasn't saying the flag thing was a priority. With you on what actually should be done.