The likely renaming of the small British Columbia community of Okanagan Falls exemplifies the toxicity, unworkability, and power of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) and “decolonization” more broadly. It is a top-down, legally binding process, not an organic or democratic one.
DRIPA, passed by the B.C. NDP government in 2019, requires the province to align its laws with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which includes recognizing and restoring traditional Indigenous place names. The mandate to rename Okanagan Falls stems from these legal obligations.
A dual name has been proposed by the province as a compromise, in both the English and local Indigenous Syilx language, partially to appease the Osoyoos Indian Band, whose leadership is resolute on the matter. The potential Syilx name remains undetermined.
Chief Clarence Louie said, “When it comes to reconciliation and land claims and Indigenous people having rights, those aren’t up for a vote.”
Okanagan Falls is seeking to become B.C.’s newest municipality. However, through the incorporation process, the very name of the community itself has become subject to a higher dispensation.
This is the South Africanization of B.C., in which an ideology of historical accusation, and the causes of “reconciliation” and “decolonization,” are turned into a permanent regime of racial political privilege, with undemocratic renamings only part of it. Unlike South Africa, Canada has no legacy of apartheid, and there is no reason for us to conduct our politics as if such a legacy exists.
What we call a place matters greatly. If it did not, those on the political left and radical Indigenous activists would not devote so much time and energy to changing place names.
Read the full article at the National Post: The South Africanization of B.C.