Canada's Strait of Georgia may be renamed

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 9 (UPI) -- An Indian group recommends that the Strait of Georgia on the west coast of Canada be changed to Salish Sea to honor the tribe that lives in the area.

The strait was named after King George III of Britain in 1792 by Capt. George Vancouver. The strait is the passageway between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia.

At the First Nations Summit Saturday, George Harris, a representative of the Chemainus First Nation on Vancouver Island, suggested a new name, The Toronto Globe and Mail reported. He said giving the strait the name of the Coast Salish Tribes would recognize that "we're the original inhabitants, the indigenous people of our land."

Mike de Jong, the provincial aboriginal relations minister, said he would urge the rest of the cabinet to approve the name change.

"I think it's a hell of an idea," he said. "I think the notion of reaching back into the province's true history, a history that actually extends far beyond 150 years ... is an idea whose time has come."