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Nanaimo's Coal Tyee Elementary gets a new Indigenous name

New name is Syuẁén’ct, which means “our tradition, our history” in Hul’q’umi’num
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Coal Tyee Elementary School in Nanaimo will now be known as Syuẁén’ct. GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Coal Tyee Elementary School has a new Indigenous name: Syuẁén’ct, which means “our tradition, our history” in Hul’q’umi’num.

The Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools board voted unanimously in favour of the new name for the school, which opened in 1996.

It also agreed to name Nanaimo District Secondary School’s community field Q’unq’inuqwstuxw, which means “Pass it back” or “return.”

The pronunciation of the new names can be heard on the school district's website: Syuẁén’ct and Q’unq’inuqwstuxw.

The school district says it worked with the Snuneymuxw First Nation on the new names.

School district superintendent Scott Saywell told the board at its July 6 meeting that Indigenous scholars have pointed out there is a strong connection between the re-establishment of Indigenous place names and the revitalization of Indigenous languages and culture.

Diane Charles, principal of the school, said the idea for the name change came from students when they learned about the First Nations man nicknamed Coal Tyee. His real name was Ki-et-sa-kun and he was nicknamed Coal Tyee because he was responsible for bringing coal deposits near Nanaimo to the attention of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

These days, Coal Tyee is considered to be a tragic figure. His contributions led directly to colonization of the area and destructive resource extraction, said an earlier staff report to the district’s education committee.

Charles said the board is not “erasing anything.” “We are celebrating our shared history, our shared traditions, our shared ancestries.”

As for the name of the field, Q’unq’inuqwstuxw is something Snuneymuxw First Nations athletes would say to each other when playing soccer, according to a district report.

“Using q’unq’inuqwstuxw would not only honour the great legacy of SFN athletes in the community but also the concept of sharing and returning land natural state where possible,” it says.

Board trustee Jessica Stanley said much of the concern expressed in feedback about the new names was about how to pronounce them properly.

Board chair Charlene McKay said she would like to start with an education campaign in partnership with the Snuneymuxw Nation, where district staff could “help facilitate engagement with these words, understanding of these words, depth of knowledge of where they come from and the importance of place names in history and in the path of reconciliation.”

Of the 708 responses to a request for public feedback about the new names, 51.6 per cent said they were in favour of changing the school’s name.

As for the field’s new name, 54.34 per cent opposed it, but Saywell said some of the ­opposition came from the ­mistaken belief that the proposal was to change the name of ­Nanaimo District Secondary School.

cjwilson@timescolonist.com