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Jack said in the letter that a proposal had been received to rename the body of water Hucuktlis Lake, meaning “place way inside” in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. The lake holds “very special and spiritual” meaning to the Uchucklesaht, which hold lands around southeastern and northern parts of the lake, she wrote.

There are more requests in the offing.

The Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation of Fort St. James has asked to change Witch Lake to Onjo Lake. The lake drains into Chuchi Lake, which is part of a canoe chain, Nation Lakes Provincial Park.

And the Tsilhqot’in National Government has asked to formally name six unincorporated communities: Tl’esqox, ʔEsdilagh, Yuneŝit’in, Tl’etinqox, Tŝi Deldel, and Xeni.

John Jack (no relation to Carla), chair of the regional district and councillor with the Huu-ay-aht First Nation in Bamfield, said that part of a treaty (effective 2011) that the Uchucklesaht negotiated with the former Liberal government included a future look at renaming geographic sites important to the First Nation.

He said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more come to light under the NDP.

“I think we could see more of them in the future,” he said, adding that it’s unlikely that bridge and building names would be affected.

While he acknowledged there may be public opposition to renaming some high-profile geographic sites, he said it might be possible to keep the English name as well as recognize the First Nation name in some cases.