qathet Regional District will not be using the location name of Indian Point on Savary Island in regional district documentation.
At the July 29 regional board meeting, city director George Doubt made a motion that stated: that the Savary Island marine service asset management plan, which was being considered by the board, to be amended to strike out the words Indian Point boat launch wherever they occur in the plan and replace it with Savary Island west boat launch, and that this term be used to describe the asset in all regional district documents going forward.
Doubt said he mentioned at the regional district’s committee of the whole meeting that every time he hears Indian Point boat launch referred to, he feels uncomfortable. He said it is a colonial name and it’s far past the time when it should be changed.
“The regional district doesn’t have the authority to change geographical names or map names; there’s a whole process that has to be gone through to do that,” said Doubt. “We can change the way a regional district refers to it.”
He said there are two boat launch/barge terminals on Savary Island and referring to the one in question as the Savary Island west boat launch seems to him to be a quick way to make a difference.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he gets where Doubt is coming from, but he said the regional board is a room full of white people.
“We’re potentially making a decision about whether or not the term Indian is offensive,” said Gisborne. “I’m going to suggest that any of us who are interested in the debate over whether the term Indian is offensive to please go and watch CGP Grey’s video called Indian or Native American.
“Personally, I believe reconciliation comes from effort and hard changes,” said Gisborne. “Simply changing the name is easy; it lets us put a feather in our cap, but are we actually changing our ways, are we fixing the systemic problem, or is this just a hey, we did something, we can go back to business as usual?
“It’s a complicated thing. I’d rather hear from First Nations leaders about what their thoughts are before erasing Indian Point and calling it Savary Island west boat launch.”
Board carries motion
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said his understanding is that the board is not trying to change the geographic name of Indian Point. He said there may be a process to change it.
“We’re basically saying in our reference to that regional district asset, we are not going to use that geographic name; that we would choose to call it something else,” said Fall. “I would assume that if there came a name change process later for the geographic place, we might consider a change then. In the short term, I think this is a reasonable thing to do.”
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said she thought it is logical to make the change.
“It’s a very small thing in the scheme of things but it’s something we have the authority to do,” said McCormick. “This is a good change to be made and I support it.”
Board chair and Electoral Area A director Patrick Brabazon said the recommendation is within the board’s jurisdiction to use any terminology it wishes to use. He said if the regional district wanted to change the name at this point, it would not only be dealing with the province, but also with the federal government.
“We’re not contemplating anything of that nature,” said Brabazon.
The board carried Doubt’s motion, with Gisborne opposed.
The board then carried an amended motion reflecting the change to receive the asset management program progress update and Savary Island marine service asset management plan – state of assets report for information, that the board approve the template of the state of assets report, and that the board direct staff to proceed with writing state of assets reports for all other regional district services for which assets are required, based on the template.
