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Joint Indigenous and Local Government Initiatives and Relations
| A collection of resources related to initiatives, agreements, arrangements, partnerships, and the provision of services between Indigenous governments and organizations, and local governments in British Columbia. |  Service Partner |
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Bill Inspired by B.C. Teen would see Indigenous Characters, Symbols on Provincial ID
A private member's bill introduced in the British Columbia legislature last week would see the use of proper Indigenous names on provincial identification, something the government says is impossible with the current software.
If passed, Bill M209 would ensure that the numbers, symbols and characters that are part of some Indigenous names would appear on driver's licences and other forms of ID.
Called the Indigenous Names Statutes Amendment Act, the bill was inspired by a Grade 12 student who lives in Golden, B.C., Opposition MLA Doug Clovechok said.
Clovechok, who spoke the week before the one-year anniversary of an announcement that sparked investigations across the country, said part of the residential school system was to strip children of their Indigenous names. Monday marked that anniversary. The discovery of what a First Nation believes to be the remains of hundreds of children was announced in Kamloops in May 2021.
The preliminary results of an investigation on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School prompted similar ground-penetrating radar searches at other school grounds in Canada.
Clovechok said last week during its first reading that the bill responded to one of the 94 calls of action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.