Name change

 Re Lauren Collins article of May 5/24

Hi.

I come from a region of Italy called Friuli, which is called Friuli for historical reasons: a couple of thousand years ago the land (an outpost of the Romans) was called “Forum Iulii,” and has been called Friuli ever since. Located as it is at the foothills of the Alps next to Slovenia and Austria, this land was very likely occupied and used as a sort of buffer zone to ward off the “barbarians” and keep them from coming south into the Italian peninsula. (Needless to say, the native Friulians very likely saw the Romans themselves as barbarians!) Since Roman times, this same land has been ruled by, among other powers, the Venetian Republic, which, I’m afraid, used its forests for underpinning the city of Venice itself. Then, until very recently, much of Friuli was under the dominion of the Austro-Hungarian empire. All along, Friulians had to adapt themselves to the whims and ways of many ruling powers. Yet they all along kept the name of Friuli. In fact, Friulians hang on to their name (and language) with a good deal of stubborness and pride: the name of Friuli, after all, is a reminder, to them, of the good parts of their history—as well as of the bad parts.

I am writing this, of course, in response to what is happening in Powell River. First Nations people want to replace the name Powell River with some other name, presumably an indigenous name, so as to erase from history a name associated with attitudes and acts which they find distasteful. First Nations people will probably get their way and the name will be changed. And their initial reaction will be one of satisfaction, even exuberance. But what will they really have gained other than a refusal to accept the reality of their past? 

Shouldn’t the better part of wisdom (the heart of truth and reconciliation) be to compromise?—that is, to let the name be, and maybe pair it with the name of a beautiful thing, in the native language if so wished, that highlights one of the many positive features of Powell River?

Ermes Culos,

Ashcroft, BC

(former resident of Powell River)