B.C. pledges to change racist and sexist name of rural North Okanagan road

WARNING: This story contains offensive language

B.C.'s Ministryof Transportation is confirming it will change the name of a rural north Okanaganroad, after complaints from residents.

Former Westbank First Nations chief RoxanneLindley, who currently lives in Lumby, B.C., wasn'tone of the formal complainantsbut says she was "shocked" when seeing "Sq--wValley Road," a long and winding ruralroute near where she lives.

"I was angered and somewhat surprised considering theday and age that we're in that we still see derogatory racist road signs within our territory. [I'm] very upset,"Lindley told CBC Daybreak South'sChris Walker.

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"I can assure you when contact occurred 150 years ago ... people in our traditional territorywould have had a place name for that area. And I can assure you that it wouldn't have been called what it is today," she said.

Missed in provincial review

Lindley expects any number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents may have raised concerns over the years.

Twenty years ago, the B.C. governmentconducted a broad review of provincial place names and streetsand replaced dozens of racist, sexist, and derogatory terms.

"We are unable to confirm why this did not happen in 2001 but are committed to working through a name change now," the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure stated in a written response to CBC News.

"[The Ministry] takes the concerns put forth by local First Nations communities on this matter very seriously. We are taking steps to find a more suitable road name which involves consultation with the Splatsin, whose traditional territory this road resides within."

The government did not provide a timelineor deadline for the change of name.

Other jurisdictions acrossNorth America have replaced the term in recentyears.

This summer, aski resort that wasthe host site of the 1960 Winter Olympicsin Californiawill announce a new nameto eliminate the racist, sexist term.

Parks Canadarenamed a trail in Banff in 2020.

"It's long overdue," said Lindley, who welcomesthe local renaming.

"It's about education, about understanding, about getting rid of those old thoughts and it is an old thought."

Lindley hopes the Ministry will consider a Splatsin name, in consultation with the whole community.

Tap the link below to hearRoxanneLindley's inteview on Daybreak South: