qathet

 There is much talk these days about reconciliation. So what is reconciliation? The Cambridge dictionary has it about right, I think: it is “the process of making two opposite beliefs, ideas, or situations agree.” So, given two positions, if one wins out and the other loses, that’s not reconciliation. For two opposing parties to be reconciled, a situation has to come into being that has at its heart some give and take. This view of reconciliation, I think, offers a clear solution to the current predicament in Powell River: should its name be changed or not? Yes, say the Tla’amin people, asserting their thousands of years of unrecorded history; no, say the non-indigenous people, asserting their rights as residents. True reconciliation is not likely to come out of these entrenched positions. A referendum would resolve the issue; but the Tla’amin people are opposed to this fundamentally democratic tool, fearing that (as sometimes happens to minority groups) they may not be treated fairly. So, Powell River is clearly at an impasse.

Fortunately, there is a way out—that leads straight to reconciliation. Here it is:

Just now I am reading an article in yesterday’s Peak, according to which the Tla’amin Nation lays claim to the Powell River Mill and, apparently, to much of the surrounding land as well. I know a little about the recorded history of Powell River, but, like most of us, nothing at all about its unrecorded history, on which the Tla’amin claim appears to be based. So I’ll let that rest. What really interests me about the article is the use of terminology that evidently comes straight out of the Tla’amin language. The mill itself is no longer the Powell River mill; it is instead the Tis’kwat mill. The river (that has been known as the Powell River for over a hundred years) is referred to as the Tis’kwat River. As for the lake, formerly know as Powell Lake, it is now, according to the article, the Thah yetl lake. (There is no mention in the article of Lois Lake or Haslam Lake, though I’m sure that the current names of these lakes have their days pretty well numbered.)

If to these we add the term Hegus (= Chief) and the newly adopted name of the district (qathet), then what we see glaring at us is the solution to the reconciliation predicament. Powell River need not bother at all to go through any name changing process: all it has to do is to add the aboriginal name to every road sign or letterhead, thus: Powell River / Tis’kwat , Powell Lake / Thah yetl lake, etc.

Reconciliation accomplished. 

(Incidentally, it is wonderful that the Tla’amin people are trying to resurrect or preserve their language. They would hardly do honour to their language, though, by wishing to cancel any other language. And by the way, whatever other names the Tla’amin nation come up with, I do hope they avoid names like “qathet” and their unfortunate connotations.)