Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Canada's Strait of Georgia may be renamed

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 9, 2008 at 11:38 PM

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."

Topics: George III, King George III
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visited in Washington
View Caption
Veterans etch the names of their friends inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 26, 2012 in Washington, DC. More than 58,000 names of the servicemen who were killed or missing in the war are engraved on The Wall. UPI/Pat Benic
fark
Photoshop this swooping cyclist
For sale: Fixer upper. 48 bedrooms, no bath. $4 million. No HOA
Woman recognizes image of God in mixing bowl -- probably because it resembles all the pictures she...
Online petition for Diane Tran has reached 20,000 signatures and almost $30,000 has been raised...
Brain surgeon hides engagement ring in the sand at the beach for his girlfriend to find, then can't...
Submitter needs suggestions for a House Fly home remedy - anyone got something better than this?...