PEI Prime Minister Dennis King submitted the proposal on Friday, with the support of the leaders of the Official Opposition Green Party and the Liberal Party.
Epekwitk is the original name given by the Mi’kmaq to the land now known as Prince Edward Island.
In his remarks on the resolution, officially known as Motion 116, King thanked PEI senators Brian Francis and Percy Downe for their work on the resolution, as well as opposition parties for their support.
“It is of the utmost importance that indigenous languages be respected and recognized, especially as 2022 marks the beginning of the International Decade of the Indigenous Language, drawing attention to the catastrophic loss of the indigenous language due to colonialism and other factors.”
In discussions about the next steps
When the bridge was built in the 1990s, a committee and the provincial government of the day proposed naming it Abegweit Crossing (Abegweit is the English version of Epekwitk) based on public submissions. The other options were the Confederate Bridge and the Northumberland Strait Bridge. King says he was in talks with Federal Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc about the next steps. “Renaming the Confederation Bridge to the Epektwik Crossing is a way for Prince Edward Island and Canada to show commitment to defending the rights of Indigenous peoples, which are protected by the Constitution,” the proposal said. King said the name Abegweit is “ingrained in the lives of all of us without even knowing it.” Examples include the old Abegweit ferry, the old Charlottetown Abegweit Cub and the Charlottetown Abbies hockey team. “Thinking about how we can move this connection all these years into the future and bring this name back to the connection we have with the mainland where it’s worth so much, I think it’s … a very important step to use. of the process we have begun towards reconciliation, forgiveness and better understanding. “
