I have no relationship to a prince named George. He has never walked on the same soil, paddled the same waters or stared at the same cut banks as I have. I do, however, have one with all those who have ever come to live at the confluence of our two rivers throughout history.
Because of this I enthusiastically add my name to those citizens who would like our city's name to be Lheidl, T'enneh.
A place name serves as a valuable reservoir of great information about a place and a past. Or it should. A name especially chosen by the residents can unlock confidence, integrity, insight and knowledge. A name chosen that does not have cultural or historical relevance such as our present name also provides insight into the history of the place. These usually will not elicit feelings of being proud or unique.
If our present-day lives here at this confluence are to pay any homage and respect to the area's first citizens and its past history and if we want to proceed into the future with a sense of having a unique history the suggested name change would serve both purposes.
We will all learn to spell and pronounce it. Some of us have missed many opportunities to learn from our First Nations' neighbours and their ancestors and to have created better relationships with them. It is never too late to be the city we want to be. We have taken many recent and positive steps in that direction. Lets take one more. At a recent "idle no more' gathering I came to believe that a small step in changing our relationship with these very first inhabitants would be to restore the original and rightful place name for this great city.
2015 would be the perfect year with the spot light upon us to introduce the rest of Canada to our new name. And to our growing sense of pride, confidence, respect and uniqueness.
Charlie Grove
Prince George
