Kudos to both the local school board, and to mayor Ron Woznow and City of Powell River Council.
The school board has changed its name from Powell River to qathet, reflecting both its region-wide mandate and respect for the wish of our Tla’amin neighbours to drop the name of an architect of the residential school system and a painful symbol of colonialism [“Powell River Board of Education changes its name,” September 25]. This is not an “erasure” of history but a correction.
Israel Powell apparently never set foot in the region, and there are far better ways to recognize both the community-building work of settlers and the injustices inflicted on Indigenous peoples over the past century.
As unanimously mandated by council, mayor Woznow issued a strong statement reaffirming the city’s commitment to inclusivity in the wake of a vandal’s removal of the rainbow flag from city hall this past summer and the more recent targeting of our city and others by anti-2SLGBTQ+ demonstrations and actions [“Powell River mayor stands up for inclusiveness,” September 28].
These are two separate occasions, but they indicate that our town is evolving in a positive direction.
Robert Hackett,
Marine Avenue
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