CKPG Poll

Renaming public facilities and roadways unpopular according to CKPG poll

Mar 6, 2020 | 2:05 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — What’s in a name? Apparently a lot when it comes to changing the names of public facilities and roadways in Prince George.

CKPG’s latest poll question on the issue garnered thousands of responses. All of this following the controversy around the proposed name change at Kelly Road Secondary School.

Our poll question read: Do you support the renaming of public facilities and roadways? The answer? 2,500 people voted with roughly 75 per cent against the idea.

It’s all rather ironic, with Dayi Clay Pountney of the Lheidli T’enneh pointing out this isn’t the first time a public facility has been renamed.

“No, not at all. We did have the Nusdeh Yo, which changed from Carney Hill,” he told CKPG Today.

“We also had Connaught which changed to Ron Brent and I believe even historically PGSS was the Duchess Park I went to which is no longer in existence. And so there’s been a lot of name changes historically to schools that still exist. This (Kelly Road) is actually a brand new school. So, we see it as an opportunity to work together to make sure there’s a new history that honours both pasts.”

One person who’s been down this road before is Prince George City Councillor Murry Krause, who proposed renaming Fort George Park to the park’s current, name, Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.

“I can still remember when it came forward, there was a lot of upset people. They didn’t want the name to change. They wanted it to remain the same,” he says.

“They talked about the history of the park. But I think one of the things that was most reassuring for me was that when those people who took the time to come and see me and have a conversation about the name and why we were renaming it that we got some really solid support.”

Krause, who happens to be a graduate of Kelly Road Secondary, says it’s also important that we honour First Nations culture.

“Prince George has a significant Indigenous population. Both people from local nations but also all across Canada. And I think it’s really important that that get reflected in who our community is.”

The debate over the name change isn’t over yet though as the Prince George School District has formed a working group with Kelly Road students, staff and members of the Lheidli Tenneh to discuss the matter.

Further public consultation is expected to continue this spring.

*The CKPG Today poll, which gathered answers from its website ckpgtoday.ca and its Facebook page, was not scientific.*