CHARLOTTON –
Members of the Prince Edward Island Legislature voted unanimously on Friday to ask the federal government to change the name of the Epekwitk Crossing Confederation bridge.
Epekwitk is the word Mi’kmaq for “something lying in the water”, and it is the traditional name that the people of Mi’kmaq have long used to describe the island.
“This is a very important step for us in the process we have begun towards reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding,” said Prime Minister Dennis King, who submitted a proposal backed by Peter Bevan-Baker, leader of the opposition Green Party.
“It’s about Mi’kmaq wanting to reconnect with this sense of place that has been taken away from them for too long.
The proposal says that “it is crucial that local languages are respected and recognized”, adding that 2022 is the International Decade for the Local Language.
“The renaming of the Confederate Bridge to Epekwitk 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 also cites the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which in its landmark 2015 report on the country’s scandalous housing school system recommended that the federal government promote indigenous languages as a “fundamental and valuable element of Canadian culture”.
King said the original idea for the renaming came from PEI Senators Brian Francis and Percy Down. Francis is the former leader of the nation Abegweit Mi’kmaq and the first man of Mi’kmaq descent from the PEI to serve in the Senate.
“Prince Edward Island is recognized and celebrated as the birthplace of the Canadian Confederation,” Francis said in a statement issued Friday.
However, few acknowledge that this project has cost the indigenous people a great deal …. Renaming the bridge … would serve to honor the strength and resilience of the mikmak, as well as to promote greater awareness and understanding of our separate identity and culture. “
Meanwhile, the Tory Prime Minister said that he had already asked the Federal Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs Dominique LeBlanc to determine the next steps to change the name.
In Charlottetown, several members of the legislature stood in the House of Commons to speak in support of the proposal, saying the new name would reflect the province’s commitment to reconciliation.
“At Epekwitk, we take reconciliation seriously,” said Carla Bernard, a member of the Charlottetown-Victoria Park Greens. “This is a really special opportunity and I want to thank the three leaders in this house for bringing this forward.”
Lynn Lund, a member of the Summerside-Wilmot Greens, said there had once been a systematic effort to erase the history and language of the island’s first nations.
“If you unpack the history of the Mikmak people of the PEI and the indigenous people across the country, you will see that they have gone through a history of watching everything be renamed,” she told the legislature.
“Indian agents even had the power to rename people if you can think about it … We need to remember what was taken. We need to remember that ancestral names are lost.”
The 12.9-kilometer bridge connecting PEI to New Brunswick was completed in 1997 after four years of construction. The Mikmak people have lived on the island for 12,000 years.
In the early 1990s, a commission sought public opinion and recommended that the federal government name the bridge the Abegweit Crossing, which is the English colonial term for Epekwitk.
But the commission also provided two alternatives, the Confederate Bridge and the Northumberland Strait Bridge. Ottawa elected the Confederate Bridge on September 27, 1996.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 29, 2022.
“From Michael MacDonald to Halifax.”
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