What’s in a name?

A lot, when it comes to the body of water stretching from northern Vancouver Island through Puget Sound.

That area, encompassing the Strait of Georgia and Juan de Fuca Strait, is on a fast track to be rebranded as the Salish Sea, acknowledging that the adjacent land was occupied by First Nations before white settlers named the geographical features.

The name has been approved in Washington state and has approval in principle from Ottawa.

The change will go to the U.S. federal geographic-names board Nov. 12 and to the B.C. cabinet later this month.

“I would be really, really surprised if this didn’t happen now. The four branches of government are working collectively,” said Washington biologist Bert Webber, who, along with First Nations, has been pushing the idea for decades.

The change demands approval from a range of bureaucratic bodies, from the Washington State Board on Geographic Names to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the Geographical Names Board of Canada and the B.C. Geographical Names Office.

For years, the concept failed to pick up steam.

“It has been sporadic since 1985. It had a burst of energy when I had the idea and it was reviewed by the [Washington] board at that time and found lacking,” said Webber, professor emeritus with Western Washington University.

The name Salish Sea recognizes the water body as an ecological entity, said Webber, who hopes the name will heighten awareness of problems facing the Salish Sea, ranging from pollution to disappearing salmon runs. “It’s an ecosystem of incredible proportion, tied together by the Fraser River.”

Caleb Maki, executive secretary to the Washington board, said the vote was five-to-one in favour of the name.

Initially, there were rumours the change would wipe out names such as Puget Sound and Juan de Fuca Strait, but parts of the sea will retain their own names, he said.

The name is already used by the local and scientific communities, Maki said. “It doesn’t make sense to outlaw it.”

Lou Yost, executive secretary of the U.S national board, said the 20-member board usually goes along with local wishes.

If the name change is approved, it means all federal maps and documents will refer to the Salish Sea, but cartographers will also label individual bodies of water, he said.

George Harris of the Chemainus First Nation, who has been instrumental in the Salish Sea push, noted there are Coast Salish nations on Vancouver Island, on the mainland and in Washington state. The name Salish Sea will reinforce that feeling of family, Harris said.

“With that name, people from around the world will know which waters they are coming to,” he said, adding the name was pro-bably not used originally

by Coast Salish people,

who speak different dialects.

Some Puget Sound tribes used the name Whulge for the area.

Harris’s daughter, Danielle Harris-David, said the new name acknowledges that Coast Salish people have used the territory for many thousands of years.

Hul’qumi’num chief negotiator Robert Morales suggested the name change could boost morale among First Nations.

“It’s a good symbolic gesture. It doesn’t resolve the other issues we are dealing with, but it recognizes Salish people’s contribution in the area.”

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com