Do away with Discovery Day: Burton
Name ignores Indigenous history in Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s councillor says
St. John’s Coun. Maggie Burton says Discovery Day needs renaming, as the current name is offensive to Indigenous people.
At Monday evening’s St. John’s city council meeting, Burton put forward a notice of motion saying the city needs to pressure the province to rethink the holiday.
“When we use the words Discovery Day, we’re basically saying John Cabot discovered Newfoundland and Labrador, when in reality we know there were people here before that,” Burton said.
“It’s an offensive phrase for everybody right now. I think history is going to be in favour of renaming Discovery Day and I would like to get out ahead of that.”
Discovery Day was first recognized by the province in 1997, to mark the 500th anniversary of Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) and his crew landing at Bonavista and “discovering” Newfoundland and Labrador.
The holiday is currently celebrated on the Monday closest to June 24.
Burton says the issue came to her attention during the 2017 municipal election campaign, where residents she spoke to raised concerns over the day.
“My motion will be to call on the provincial government to rename it something more appropriate,” she said.
For now, Burton wants to call it “St. John’s Day,” until the province comes up with something more specific.
Burton says she’s heard of rumblings within the provincial government about changing the day, so she decided to hold off on her call until after this year’s Discovery Day holiday.
Burton says she spent this year’s Discovery Day holiday in Labrador with Indigenous women, which she says opened her eyes to the issue.
“Nobody wants Discovery Day to be called Discovery Day, not a single person that I personally have talked to,” she said.
“I think this is the right thing to do.”