P.E.I. asking Ottawa to change name of Confederation Bridge

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CHARLOTTETOWN — Members of the Prince Edward Island legislature voted unanimously Friday to ask the federal authorities to alter the title of the Confederation Bridge to Epekwitk Crossing.

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Epekwitk is the Mi’kmaq phrase for “one thing mendacity on the water,” and it’s the conventional title the Mi’kmaq individuals have lengthy used to explain the Island.

“It’s a vital step for us within the course of we’ve launched into in the direction of reconciliation, in the direction of forgiveness and understanding,” mentioned Premier Dennis King, who tabled a movement seconded by Peter Bevan-Baker, chief of the Opposition Inexperienced get together.

“It’s concerning the Mi’kmaq eager to be reconnected with that sense of place that has been taken from them for a lot too lengthy.”

The movement says, “it’s of the utmost significance Indigenous languages are revered and acknowledged,” including that 2022 is the Worldwide Decade of Indigenous Language.

“The renaming of Confederation Bridge to Epekwitk Crossing is a method for Prince Edward Island and Canada to point out a dedication to upholding the rights of Indigenous individuals, that are protected below the Structure.”

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The movement additionally cites the Fact and Reconciliation Fee, which in its landmark 2015 report on the nation’s notorious residential college system, advisable the federal authorities promote Indigenous languages as a “elementary and valued aspect of Canadian tradition.”

King mentioned the unique concept for the renaming got here from P.E.I. senators Brian Francis and Percy Downe. Francis is the previous chief of the Abegweit Mi’kmaq Nation and the primary individual of Mi’kmaq descent from P.E.I. to serve within the Senate.

“Prince Edward Island is acknowledged and celebrated because the birthplace of Canadian Confederation,” Francis mentioned in an announcement launched Friday.

“But, few acknowledge that this undertaking got here at nice price to Indigenous Peoples …. The renaming of the bridge … would serve to honour the energy and resilience of the Mi’kmaq in addition to to advertise better consciousness and understanding of our distinct identification and tradition.”

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In the meantime, the Tory premier mentioned he has already requested federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc to find out the following steps for the title change.

In Charlottetown, a number of members of the legislature stood in the home of meeting to talk in favour of the proposal, saying the brand new title would replicate the province’s dedication to reconciliation.

“On Epekwitk, we take reconciliation critically,” mentioned Karla Bernard, the Inexperienced member for Charlottetown-Victoria Park. “This can be a actually particular alternative, and I wish to thank the three leaders on this home for bringing this ahead.”

Lynne Lund, the Inexperienced member for Summerside-Wilmot, mentioned there as soon as was a scientific effort to erase the historical past and language of the Island’s First Nations.

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“In case you unpack the historical past of the Mi’kmaq individuals on P.E.I. and Indigenous individuals throughout the nation, you’d see that they’ve gone by means of a historical past of watching every part be renamed,” she informed the legislature.

“Indian brokers even had the authority to rename individuals, in the event you can wrap your thoughts round that …. We have now to recollect what was taken. We have now to keep in mind that ancestral names have been misplaced.”

The 12.9-kilometre bridge linking P.E.I. with New Brunswick was accomplished in 1997 after 4 years of development. The Mi’kmaq individuals have been dwelling on the Island for 12,000 years.

Within the early Nineties, a committee sought public enter and advisable the federal authorities title the bridge Abegweit Crossing, which is the anglicized, colonial time period for Epekwitk.

However the committee additionally provided two various selections, Confederation Bridge and Northumberland Strait Bridge. Ottawa selected Confederation Bridge on Sept. 27, 1996.