British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission has decided against a name change for the North Island-Powell River federal riding.
According to a written decision from the commission, Rachel Blaney, MP for North Island-Powell River, suggested the electoral district be named North Island-qathet to reflect usage of the Indigenous word qathet in the Powell River area.
The commission found that the name of the electoral district currently identifies its most easterly city in its name.
“We are conscious there has been a name change in the regional district, but by precedent, most district names are not based on regional district naming, nor remove identifying municipal names,” the commission stated. “For this reason, we leave the name unchanged.”
Blaney said she was disappointed with the decision.
“I put forward a recommendation to the electoral boundaries commission but it’s their call at the end of the day,” said Blaney. “We sent them the relevant information and they made a decision that they like to keep the names of municipalities in ridings, instead of regional districts, which I think is unfortunate, because, of course, the name qathet would have been more representative of that region of the riding.”
Blaney said it’s important to know the whole region. She said there is not another electoral boundary review for another 10 years, so it will remain North Island-Powell River for at least a decade.
“I was hoping the electoral boundaries commission would consider the change,” said Blaney. “I think the name change represents the riding a lot better to have the title of the region as opposed to one municipality. It’s also important to use Indigenous names. There are multiple ridings across Canada that have used Indigenous names based on regions and municipalities.
“It’s unfortunate that ours is not one of them. Hopefully, we’ll see that change in 10 years.”
Tla’amin Nation hegus John Hackett said it’s disappointing that the commission ignored the request to remove the name Powell from the riding name.
“Under the guise of bureaucratic process and precedent, the commission has delayed an important reconciliatory act for another decade, leaving it to their descendants to do the hard, but correct thing,” said Hackett. “We thank MP Blaney for bringing our voice to Ottawa, as well as residents of qathet who have spoken up in support of this change.”
Tla’amin people did not achieve the right to vote federally until 1960.
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