One of the CBC’s recent articles is entitled “Should British Columbia change its name? As we reckon with history, some say it’s time” (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-name-change-1.6126983).
As per this article, “B.C.’s name is derived, in part, from Christopher Columbus, who paved the way for colonization of the Americas.”
Related to this topic, the Government of Canada itself (https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/provincial-territorial-symbols-canada/british-columbia.html) informs us of the following origin of the name of this beautiful province: The southern part of the area now known as British Columbia was called “Columbia”, after the Columbia River. The central region was given the name of “New Caledonia” by explorer Simon Fraser. To avoid confusion with Colombia in South America and the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, Queen Victoria named the area British Columbia when it became a colony in 1858.”
The relatively short history of Canada is complex.
Sadly, Canadian politicians are not showing lucidity, courage, and maturity to encourage us to look at all our past and all the memory of the past, with its very dark and brighter days, with a sense of responsibility as well as hope and a commitment to a better future together.
Instead of building this kinder and just future, our elites seem to be complicit in the destruction of shared symbols from the past and present (monuments, street names, churches, statues, censorship of books or persons, etc.).
Can someone tell Bambi if this a healthy solution to the excesses and abuses of the past? how will the destruction of our collective memory help us heal and face future adversity?
So, why is the CBC pushing for all this in one way or in another?
Our own tax money is ironically serving to fund a public institution, calling once again to erase our memory?
When will we instead begin to focus on bringing us together to heal and truly progress, as a country, not to self-destroy endlessly?
I agree emphatically with the sentiment of Bambi’s editorial above. Though the CBC is one of the worst offenders, however, it is not alone. Columbia is not a dirty word and if we saw it distributed more evenly in other places equally suitable as British Columbia, the nation of Colombia would be called Spanish Columbia, parts of French Canada would be French Columbia, the United States would be American Columbia and Brazil would be Portuguese Columbia. Reworking the map should be done only when needed and must not produce an absurd situation.