A federal electoral boundaries commissioner is defending the addition of indigenous names to Canadian ridings after the Liberal government introduced legislation that would strip indigenous references from two constituencies renamed ahead of the 2025 election.Peter Loewen, a member of Ontario’s Electoral Boundaries Commission, told the House affairs committee that including indigenous names in riding titles was intended to recognize Canada’s history and advance reconciliation efforts.“There are good reasons for including more indigenous names in our constituencies,” Loewen testified.He pointed to communities and regions across the country whose names already originate from indigenous languages and history, including Mississauga, Nanaimo, Skeena and Temiscaming.“These names derive from indigenous languages, indigenous peoples and indigenous history,” said Loewen. “They are familiar to Canadians. They are understandable to their communities and they remind us our political geography did not begin with Confederation.”Loewen said commissioners believed Parliament should better reflect indigenous communities and histories through electoral district names.“The second reason is reconciliation itself,” he said. “My fellow Commissioners and I believed it was important to better recognize indigenous peoples and histories in constituency names.”The debate comes as MPs study Bill C-25, legislation that would amend the Canada Elections Act and remove indigenous references from two ridings renamed before the last federal election: Cariboo-Prince George-Omineca in British Columbia and Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong in Ontario..Loewen opposed removing the names, arguing Parliament should incorporate more elements of Canada’s indigenous past rather than erase them.“Parliament is an institution for all the peoples of Canada,” he said. “It becomes more fully Canadian when it incorporates more of the histories and traditions of this place.”Loewen also argued adding indigenous names differs from efforts to erase historical figures or rename streets associated with controversial legacies.“My old hometown of Toronto is going through this with Dundas Street and other things,” he said.“When we add names to things rather than taking them away, we add to our history,” Loewen added. “I think we spent a lot of time in the last number of years thinking we could cleanse ourselves of things that have gone wrong in the past by removing names rather than just coming to terms with what happened.”The commissioner said the goal was to acknowledge both historical and modern indigenous communities that are represented in Parliament.Other riding names changed by boundary commissioners will remain untouched under Bill C-25, including Kenora-Kiiwetinoong in northwestern Ontario and Taiaiako’n-Parkdale-High Park in Toronto.
