Restoring indigenous names
Thousands of academics have gathered in Calgary this week for the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, presenting papers on everything from the linguistic minutiae of cattle brands to narrative inquiries into the erotic lives of the disabled. In this weeklong series, the National Post showcases some of the most interesting research. Here, Jen Gerson speaks to Gunter Schaarschmidt, a retired professor from the University of Victoria, about the trend of place names reverting to indigenous antecedents.
Q How would you sum up your paper?
A I got interested in the local indigenous languages, especially the Salish languages that are spoken on the Spanish peninsula on Vancouver Island. I gradually became more and more interested in First Nations’ desire to revitalize their languages, and to improve on them and to modernize them. Then, I began to study how places were named in British Columbia, and what happened to all those indigenous names that existed 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. I became more interested in (the campaigns) to change those place names — not to necessarily replace the names of the colonizers, but to be used alongside them. To First Nations people, languages are important. When they went to residential schools, they had those languages taken from them. By regaining those languages, they regained their confidence as well.
Q Your paper focuses on the return of traditional First Nations place names. Is that a trend you see accelerating on the West Coast?
A It is. B.C. has the highest number of individual languages, and they are all very small. If there is nothing done, languages that have five to 50 speakers will be gone within a generation. And with them will go the culture.
Q So the return of the place names has coincided with people re-learning some of these traditional languages?
A Yes. There have been campaigns to rename Mount Newton (on Vancouver Island. Its traditional name was Lau, Welnew in the Sencoten language) and Mount Douglas (now Pkols). First Nations were in favour of renaming that mountain as a symbol that they’re needed here and they’re not unnecessary, and as a result of that, slowly but surely, there were a lot of name changes. This started with the Queen Charlotte Islands, which were renamed to Haida Gwaii.
Q How do non-First Nations tend to respond to that?
A I don’t think they’re against it, but I don’t think they’re keenly for it. For them, it will always be Mount Douglas, and that’s OK. But you can also restore the original name.
Q This strikes me as a move toward reconciliation as well — a move away from the colonial past and the tabula rasa notion of North America.
A Yes, and it recognizes First Nations’ contribution to building the country. It’s never appreciated, what they have done. Starting with the earliest people who came, they were guided through the Rocky Mountains by the First Nations people. They would never have found their way to the ocean. So they always had a role to play, but it was subdued because the cultural differences were so great.
Q It seems this trend is particularly potent in B.C., but as you move farther east, it’s less prevalent. Why do you think that is?
A In B.C. there are more natives, more indigenous people. On Vancouver Island as you go north, there are more and more First Nations names and it’s a very small territory. In the east, in Ontario for example, it’s a huge province and they have not been so keen on renaming. In the Prairies, many native names were kept — they didn’t change it. Wetaskiwin for example. It’s not a very populous area so there was no need to change the name because Europeans and First Nations accepted it. In B.C., when explorers came around in their ships, they named everything according to their admirals, ships’ names, queens and their friends sometimes, and that was not very pleasing to First Nations. This process, it cannot be stopped anymore. People will say we should rename this town, this mountain and that will begin discussions.