Two-in-five respondents believe Canada has “gone too far” in accommodating to Aboriginal peoples.
Most Canadians oppose the recent proposal to either amend or change the name of Vancouver’s Stanley Park, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
Last week, a hereditary chief from the Squamish First Nation suggested changing the name of Vancouver’s Stanley Park to Xwayxway (pronounced kwhy-kway).
Stanley Park opened in 1888 and is named after Lord Stanley, who at the time served as Canada’s Governor General. Xwayxway was the name of an Aboriginal village located inside what is now Stanley Park.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,009 Canadian adults, 61 per cent of respondents think the park should retain its current name.
About one-in-four (23%) would rename the park as Stanley Park – Xwayxway, and six per cent would change the park’s name to Xwayxway.
Ontarians (74%) and British Columbians (73%) have the highest level of opposition to any name change.
In British Columbia, the names of specific areas have been changed recently to showcase Aboriginal culture and history. The Strait of Georgia was renamed Salish Sea, and the Queen Charlotte Islands were renamed Haida Gwaii. Canadians are split when assessing these two cases, with 43 per cent agreeing with the name changes, and 44 per cent disagreeing.
Albertans (58%) and British Columbians (50%) are more likely to disagree with the Salish Sea and Haida Gwaii name changes.
Two-in-five Canadians (43%) believe Canada has gone too far in accommodating to Aboriginal peoples, while 31 per cent think the situation has been handled correctly, and 18 per cent say more should be done.
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
CONTACT:
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
Methodology: From July 5 to July 6, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,009 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
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Clare is absolutely right about the apalling ignorance shown by the 43% who think that Canada has gone too far in accommodating Aboriginal peoples. The question should have been whether First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples had gone too far in accommodating the others who have settled in what is now called Canada (a Wendat name, by the way).
OH give me a freaking break. I am sick to death with native this, native that, hard done by, or whatever the current whining is. I am all for the melting pot theory. If you want to be a Canadian BE a Canadian. Keep your customs as long as it doesn’t interfere with the masses. IF YOU DON’T, THEN GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY. I don’t demand everyone speak my language, adopt my customs just because I feel somewhat slighted by the circumstances life has dealt to me. Stop being a victim and be a citizen.
Renaming Stanley Park, a park that is two years newer than the city of Vancouver itself, is ludicrous. Renaming the park is just another sympton of the rebranding craze and has nothing to do with honouring Native Canadians who had a seasonal village within what is now the park environs. I don’t know how corporations get talked into renaming already built stadiums and concert halls because most people continue to refer to those facilities by their first incarnations. Call the park anything you want – it will still be known as Stanley Park for at least fifty years!
The rational thing to do is to name something within the park kwhy-kway – perhaps a recreated long house village, maybe rename the zoo or aquariam (which are just generically named), or give the seawall walk or the parkway that divides the park into two the name ‘Kwhy-Kway’.
It’s important to remember history but not at the expense of obliterating an existing history. Renaming Stanley Park only panders to a loud minority of do-gooder guilt-riden white people who think that talking away a European name in lieu of a Native one solves disputed land clains and settles incomplete treaties when in fact its actually a disgusting appeasement meant to keep the Native people quiet. I guess the firewater didn’t work!