Oh my science....what's wrong with this city? Do they not realize that Stanley Park is already a great brand????
Tourism Vancouver likes Xwayxway name for Stanley Park
By JEFF LEE, Vancouver Sun July 2, 2010 5:02 PM
Renaming Stanley Park to Xwayxway Park – or even creating a new double-barrelled name – would expand Vancouver’s appeal around the world, the head of Tourism Vancouver said Friday.
While public reaction to changing the name of the city’s iconic park has been mostly negative, Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson said he’s in favour of the idea.
“I think it is a wonderful name, and the opportunity to be a part of taking that name internationally to help introduce it would be just a wonderful, though challenging, opportunity,” he said. “There is nothing to lose by doing this and much to be gained.
“I can see ourselves as Tourism Vancouver as being advocates for this additional name. This will be something quite comfortable to take on to the world stage as part of the Vancouver story.”
The idea to rename or add an aboriginal name to Stanley Park is being promoted by the Squamish First Nation, which noted the park was once the ancestral home to a number of Coast Salish people. Provincial Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger enthusiastically said he would entertain a name change.
The park is owned by the federal government, but has been leased to Vancouver for 99 years. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson suggested the name Xwayxway (pronounced kwhy-kway) should be considered and that the park could bear both names. But some of his Vancouver council colleagues have cautioned to proceed carefully.
Vision Vancouver Councillor Tim Stephenson said he’s already received a number of e-mails from residents opposed to the idea, although he noted that Queen Charlotte Islands had been renamed Haida Gwaii and Georgia Strait is now the Salish Sea.
“My feeling is that there are a lot of people who hold very strongly to the name Stanley Park and that this is coming really as a surprise. We therefore need to discuss it openly and honestly with aboriginal people,” he said. “I was quite surprised that some said automatically, yes, we should do it.
“For most people it is coming right out of the blue. In the end it may turn out to be something Vancouverites would like to have, to happen for all kinds of historical reasons such as the Salish Sea and Haida Gwaii.”
Geoff Meggs, another Vision Vancouver councillor, said that while he doesn’t oppose the name change, it doesn’t resolve deeper issues around aboriginal reconciliation and title.
“I think a lot of these symbols are easier to do than actually resolving the whole outstanding issue of reconciliation with first nations. I think that is the real challenge in front of us,” he said. “So I am interested in the debate and the fact there can be more than one name is all fine, but the critical issue is the hard one about finding either a treaty settlement or some kind of enduring reconciliation. That’s the real issue in front of us that we are skating around a little bit.”
Kerry Jang, also a Vision Vancouver councillor, sees an opportunity for the park to have dual names.
“As far as I am concerned it’s Stanley Park and will always be known as Stanley Park but I have no problem with it having two names,” he said. “It’s like me having an English name and a Chinese name. I go by both. Chinese media call me my Chinese name (Jang Man Yee, Cantonese, and Zheng Wen Yu, Mandarin) and English media call me by my English name (Kerry Leslie Jang).
“For me, it is an issue of being able to acknowledge the first nations in it. But it will always be known as Stanley Park in the hearts and minds of Vancouverites because that’s the name it has had forever. “
Suzanne Anton, the lone NPA councillor, said she’s not opposed to having a discussion but is also cautious.
“These discussions can be interesting and sometimes fruitful, but I think you have to proceed very cautiously on this one,” she said. “You have to be careful about pushing history aside. Sometimes these names can be changed very readily and nobody cares, but when you have an iconic park you have to be very careful about it.”
Vision Vancouver Councillor Raymond Louie sees the proposal as a way toward resolving aboriginal land claims.
“I think as we move forward we should try to find that opportunity to meld both our history and our present day situation,” he said. “Stanley Park may present some of that, of providing some level of understanding and ultimately hopefully closure and agreement to proceed on with our many disputed lands that aren’t settled yet in British Columbia.
Antonson said he talked to Squamish Chief Ian Campbell Friday to discuss the idea, and liked what he heard from a marketing perspective.
“I think true and honest good would come from this if the undertaking is done with good planning and timing and everybody gives it their best communications skills,” he said. “This isn’t something that is intrusive or presumptuous in any way. This is about doing something that can be seen as just but also brings with it a true recognition of what was and can be in the future.”
jefflee@vancouversun.com
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