The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board will wait to hear from its advisory planning commissions (APCs) in Pender Harbour and Roberts Creek before responding to proposals to give Madeira Park and Wilson Creek new official names.
Changing the name of Maderia Park to salalus and Wilson Creek to ts'uḵw'um has been proposed as part of the Foundation Agreement between the province and the shíshálh Nation.
Letters went out Jan. 27 from the province’s Geographical Names Office to the District of Sechelt and the SCRD asking for input on proposals.
The names office is also assessing proposals to rename Wilson Creek itself and Saltery Bay.
The Geographical Names Office also sent copies of the letters to several First Nations on eastern Vancouver Island, the qathet (Powell River) Regional District, BC Parks and Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue.
The names office has asked for responses by April 23.
Ian Hall, SCRD general manager of planning and development, said the letter will be included as correspondence on the March 12 planning committee agenda, and staff is referring it to the two APCs.
Once the APC comments come in, staff will bring a report to the April meeting for directors to review before drafting a response for the Geographical Names Office.
Some residents of the Pender Harbour area have already come out strongly against renaming Madeira Park, and Area A director Leonard Lee asked about seeking comments from the Pender Harbour Chamber of Commerce and the Pender Harbour and Area Residents Association (PHARA), which was heavily involved in discussions around the Dock Management Plan.
Hall said the usual practice is to the send referrals to the APCs, and added that the Geographic Names Office is accepting input directly from the public and other groups. “If other groups have input they would like to share with the province, the province is open to that,” Hall said.
Lee also cited the Foundation Agreement’s section committing to local government and stakeholder engagement. “If we had that table it would be, probably, the appropriate place for discussions, but I don’t think that table exists yet,” Lee said. “My thoughts on the whole thing are, aren’t we a little bit early on this stuff?”
Sechelt council discussed the issue briefly Feb. 5, when the letter was included on the night’s agenda. At the time, Sechelt Mayor Darnelda Siegers, who also sits as a Sechelt director at the SCRD, said that council should have a conversation with the shíshálh Nation and the community before making a formal response.
PHARA president Peter Robson told Coast Reporter that the association is drafting a response to the province, but it hasn’t been finalized.
The group has also launched an online survey asking people if they agree with the proposed name change for Madeira Park, if they agree with the installation of dual-language highway signage and if they think the dual-language signs should have English on top with the shíshálh place names below.
The Davis Bay-Wilson Creek-Selma Park Community Association said it plans to discuss the possible renaming of Wilson Creek at its March 11 AGM.
The SCRD’s effort to put together a response for the names office was also somewhat confused by the coincident timing of the renaming proposals and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s (MOTI) plan to begin installing dual-language signs featuring shíshálh place names on Highway 101.
The sign initiative is also part of the Foundation Agreement.
The confusion included the question of whether MOTI had even approached the SCRD about the signage, or sought input.
Siegers said to her knowledge there had been no correspondence about changing highway signs, and Holl said staff could confirm “no correspondence has been received on highway signage.”
Other directors, including Lee, said they did see a letter dated Jan. 9 and Lee even read from it.
Chair Lori Pratt said the letter, addressed to her and interim CAO Mark Brown, had been distributed to directors but had not been included in any meeting agendas.
The MOTI letter does not ask for formal input from the SCRD, but a motion from Siegers to request a joint meeting with MOTI and the shíshálh Nation council to discuss the signage plan “as soon as possible” was adopted unanimously.
Roberts Creek director Andreas Tize said he was disappointed that the Squamish Nation does not appear to have been included by MOTI in the signage project. “It would be great to have this Coast-wide,” he said.
Lee said when it comes to the signs he’d like to see consistency. “These signs are for travellers, not for us, and travellers don’t just travel on the Coast... I would be very happy to see dual-language signs on the Sunshine Coast, but to a common standard. I’m thinking without consultation you’re going to end up with fragmented signage.”
