A Kamloops-area archaeologist is taking issues with a proposal to rename a mountain in Wells Gray Park after Chester Lyons – a Caucasian man who the province says was instrumental in establishing and surveying a number of provincial parks, including Wells Gray Park.

Joanne Hammond says the proposed ‘Mount Lyons’ is in Simpcw territory, noting it’s similar to years past when Canada would name things after surveyors and colonial officials.

“Explorers and settlers went around renaming landscapes, many of which already had Indigenous names,” she said on NL Newsday. “It’s a kind of a colonial re-branding that really wipes out Indigenous history and ownership of the land.”

Hammond says she was hoping that the practice would have stopped after the province committed to reconciliation.

“This individual had a direct role in the dispossession of these lands into the parks system,” she added. “He was deeply involved in the conservation movement, which a lot of Canadians tend to think of as universally beneficial, and conservation is an admirable goal, but these things often occur, especially in the parks system, at the expense of Indigenous people.”

Among the groups in favour of the move are the Kamloops Outdoor Club and the Kamloops Naturalist Club, and Hammond says she found out about the proposal after the province reached out to local First Nations for feedback.

“We need to be doing the opposite, we need to be bringing Indigenous place names and nomenclature generally back into circulation,” Hammond noted. “It’s one way to make reparations, and I think these groups that are making this proposal need to step back and ask themselves how they can stop the damage of colonialism.”

In a letter, BC Parks says adopting the name ‘Mount Lyons’ will not ‘prejudice legitimate claims to the land’. They are also asking if there is a traditional name for the peak that they’re unaware of, and if there are any reasons why Mount Lyons would not be a suitable name.

The province has reached out to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District asking for feedback before March 6th on the proposed re-naming.