Four First Nations 'gift' SFU Burnaby indigenous names

PENTICTON — Delta school-trustee candidate Jim McMurtry posted a photograph of a new Simon Fraser University and Burnaby Mountain roadside sign Friday that has left many expressing disbelief..The Friday post shows a sign placed in front of the SFU campus that reads, "ʷtatəl̕ləm ʔə ƛ̓ səltaɬ sme:nt" in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and "Xwta7ltáw̓txw tl’a Lheḵw’lhúḵw’aytn" in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. The bottom plank still reads "SFU BURNABY CAMPUS." By Saturday morning the post had passed 1.2 million views.According to the post-secondary institution, four "Host Nations" — kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) — "gifted indigenous place names for the Burnaby campus" and four other sites on the mountain at a Wednesday ceremony..SFU translates them as "learning place of Burnaby Mountain" and "learning house of Burnaby Mountain."SFU's own naming page instructs staff to use both indigenous names, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ first and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh second, separated by a slash, "going forward." The order, the university wrote, follows the count of Host Nations on the Burnaby campus that speak each language: three for hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and one for Sḵwx̱wú7mesh.President Joy Johnson called the names "gifts" and said she looked forward to "hearing these names spoken all across our campus moving forward.""At the opening of SFU’s Burnaby campus in 1965, the Host Nations were not engaged or consulted; thus, their history and connection was not recognized," the university said in its Wednesday release. "Today, the university seeks to redress that history.".Chris (Syeta’x̱tn) Lewis, SFU's indigenous executive lead, said he had not seen a naming process involving four nations before. "Names are earned and not given lightly," he said. "This is a testament to the relational work the university has done with the Host Nations over the last decade or so."Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said the names "carry meaning and responsibility" and should push students and staff "to learn more about the lands they are on." Squamish Nation chairperson Sxwíxwtn Wilson Williams said the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh name is there "so that every person who steps onto this campus understands whose territory they stand on."Tsleil-Waututh Chief Justin George said Burnaby Mountain is known in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ as səltaɬ and is "of immense cultural significance" to his nation. An SFU video on the project says the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh mountain name Lheḵw’lhúḵw’aytn refers to the peeling of arbutus bark..Replies under McMurtry's X post regarded the new lettering as unreadable. In the overwhelming majority of cases, that take would be accurate.The scripts are not English spellings of the same words and do not use a shared writing system. hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ is written in the North American Phonetic Alphabet, which Musqueam formally adopted in 1997 and which does not use capital letters. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh uses a separate practical orthography that includes the digit 7 for a glottal stop.The two systems are not interchangeable and training in one does not confer the other. As such, almost nobody walking past the Burnaby entrance could sound out both planks.Those writing systems are recent tools for languages that were originally transmitted orally. Even orally, first-language fluency is scarce in both.Musqueam's own language page says that because of colonization "there are no longer any fluent hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speakers," though the nation has spent decades on revitalization and UBC has taught students to speak, read and write the language since 1997. First Peoples' Cultural Council community figures list Musqueam at zero fluent speakers, five semi-speakers and 67 learners; Tsleil-Waututh at zero fluent, eight semi-speakers and 11 learners; Kwikwetlem at zero fluent, three semi-speakers and 15 learners..SFU's communicators' guide nevertheless instructs staff to treat the gifted names as "co-existing official names" and to put the English campus name after them, introduced by a comma, until audiences know the new forms. The guide says not to drop the English name into parentheses, because that can make the indigenous names "look like translations rather than names in their own right."McMurtry is a former Abbotsford school teacher who was walked out of a classroom in May 2021 after a discussion of unmarked-grave claims at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and was subsequently let go in February 2023.He is running for Delta school trustee in the October 17 civic vote and also stated an intention to run for MLA under the OneBC banner.

Four First Nations 'gift' SFU Burnaby indigenous names

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