The PEI legislature voted unanimously to urge the federal government to change the name of the Epekwitk Crossing Confederation bridge.
PEI Prime Minister Dennis King presented the proposal on Friday with the support of leaders of the official opposition Green Party and the Liberal Party.
Epekwitk is the original name given by Mi’kmaq to the land now known as Prince Edward Island.
In his remarks on the proposal, officially known as Motion 116, King thanked PEI Senators Brian Francis and Percy Down for their work on the proposal, as well as opposition parties for their support.
“It is crucial that indigenous languages are respected and recognized, especially since 2022 marks the beginning of the International Decade for the Local Language, drawing attention to the devastating loss of the local language due to colonialism and other factors,” the proposal said. .
In conversations about the next steps
When the bridge was built in the 1990s, the commission and the provincial government of the day recommended that it be named Abegweit Crossing (Abegweit is the English version of Epekwitk) based on public statements. Other options were the Confederate Bridge and the Northumberland Strait Bridge.
King says he is in talks with Federal Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs Dominique LeBlanc about the next steps.
“The renaming of the Confederate Bridge to Epektwik Crossing is one way Prince Edward Island and Canada have shown a commitment to protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, which are protected by the Constitution,” the proposal said.
King said that the name Abegweit is “fixed throughout our lives, without even us knowing it.”
He cites the old Abegweit ferry, the old Charlottetown Abegweit Cub and the Charlottetown Abbies hockey team as examples.
“To think about how we can carry this connection through all the past years into the future and bring that name back to the connection we have with the continent, where it deserves to be so well, I think it’s … a very important step in using the process,” which we have begun towards reconciliation, forgiveness and better understanding. “
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