{"id":101389,"date":"2026-01-21T13:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=101389"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:06:17","slug":"tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Tofino, BC \u2013 Following the official renaming of Tofino\u2019s Mackenzie Beach back to its traditional name tinwis (pronounced ti-nu-wis) in the fall, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) has applied to the BC Geographical Names Office to change three additional place names: North Chesterman Beach, Kennedy Lake and Meares Island. Tofino Mayor Dan Law and council expressed unanimous support for the name change proposals during the Jan. 20 regular council meeting. \u201cJust a reminder, we are not renaming necessarily, these placenames have been named these names for millennia,\u201d said Law. He directed district staff to confirm their support to the BC Geographical Names Office. While in support of the proposed name changes, councillor Sarah Sloman raised concerns about safety when it comes to response… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Tofino, BC \u2013 Following the official renaming of Tofino\u2019s Mackenzie Beach back to its traditional name tinwis (pronounced ti-nu-wis) in the fall, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) has applied to the BC Geographical Names Office to change three additional place names: North Chesterman Beach, Kennedy Lake and Meares Island. Tofino Mayor Dan Law and council expressed unanimous support for the name change proposals during the Jan. 20 regular council meeting. \u201cJust a reminder, we are not renaming necessarily, these placenames have been named these names for millennia,\u201d said Law. He directed district staff to confirm their support to the BC Geographical Names Office. While in support of the proposed name changes, councillor Sarah Sloman raised concerns about safety when it comes to response... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Tofino, BC \u2013 Following the official renaming of Tofino\u2019s Mackenzie Beach back to its traditional name tinwis (pronounced ti-nu-wis) in the fall, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) has applied to the BC Geographical Names Office to change three additional place names: North Chesterman Beach, Kennedy Lake and Meares Island. Tofino Mayor Dan Law and council expressed unanimous support for the name change proposals during the Jan. 20 regular council meeting. \u201cJust a reminder, we are not renaming necessarily, these placenames have been named these names for millennia,\u201d said Law. He directed district staff to confirm their support to the BC Geographical Names Office. While in support of the proposed name changes, councillor Sarah Sloman raised concerns about safety when it comes to response\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":863,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/21\\\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Tofino, BC \u2013 Following the official renaming of Tofino\u2019s Mackenzie Beach back to its traditional name tinwis (pronounced ti-nu-wis) in the fall, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) has applied to the BC Geographical Names Office to change three additional place names: North Chesterman Beach, Kennedy Lake and Meares Island. Tofino Mayor Dan Law and council expressed unanimous support for the name change proposals during the Jan. 20 regular council meeting. \u201cJust a reminder, we are not renaming necessarily, these placenames have been named these names for millennia,\u201d said Law. He directed district staff to confirm their support to the BC Geographical Names Office. While in support of the proposed name changes, councillor Sarah Sloman raised concerns about safety when it comes to response","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names","datePublished":"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/"},"wordCount":863,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/","name":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-21T18:06:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/tofino-council-supports-tla-o-qui-ahts-bid-to-change-some-bc-geographical-names\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tofino council supports Tla-o-qui-aht\u2019s bid to change some BC geographical names"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101390,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101389\/revisions\/101390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}