B.C. municipality changes name to ancestral First Nation name

In a first for British Columbia, a municipality is changing its name back to its ancestral First Nation title.

The Village of Queen Charlotte on Haida Gwaii has officially changed its name to the Village of Daajing Giids, pronounced daw-jean geeds, which is its ancestral Haida name.

The municipality began looking into the name change in 2019, after village council received a letter from the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program asking for the name to revert to its ancestral Haida name.

More recently, in May, a local survey found that about 60 per cent of respondents supported changing the name.

On Wednesday, the B.C. government said the name change had become official.

"The names of places hold significance, which is why I commend city council for working in partnership with the Haida Nation to bring this important act of reconciliation forward," said Nathan Cullen, B.C. Minister of Municipal Affairs, in a statement.

The province says restoring the community's historic name is a step towards reconciliation under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The municipality's mayor, Kris Olsen, said the move was "an opportunity to make things right and show respect to the Haida Nation" in a statement Wednesday.

Haida Nation president Jason Alsop, also known as Gaagwiis, composed a poem to mark the announcement, which can be read below: