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About Us

The Name Matters is a team of Tla'amin and non-Tla'amin volunteers who advocate for the use of respectful and inclusive place names in Tla'amin territory.

Together, our aim is to:

1: Promote, with compassion and understanding, a more respectful and inclusive community, through education, awareness-raising, and uplifting Indigenous voices. 

2: Share a more accurate history of the area, along with the need for long-term reconciliation work (including but not limited to: City name change, geographic place name reclamation, anti-racism, decolonization).

3: Create educational materials about colonization (past and present), decolonization, reconciliation, local histories, the TRC, UNDRIP and DRIPA, and other related areas.

The Name Matters does not publish the names of the people involved in the work behind the scenes - deliberately.  

 

At this time, there is a great deal of racism surfacing in relation to conversations around place names. Understanding that 'transparency' is often seen as a foundational commitment in a lot of public work, The Name Matters has made the considered strategic decision to center the safety of those involved as a paramount to transparency in this regard.

 

This is an effort to ensure those who are doing the heavy lifting of this work are safe and well, and to reduce experiences of being targeted with hate and racism - and the stress this (and even its possibility) brings. 

 

Maintaining a collective voice enables us to work in a way that upholds our responsibilities to center one another's wellness.

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This work takes place on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin People. We strive to uphold Tla'amin self-determination in all we do. 

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