Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
On Wednesday night, Duck Lake town council made an announcement that shocked the entire community — voting in favour of selling the naming rights to the over 150-year-old community.
Residents say they were blindsided by the announcement, and couldn’t believe what they were hearing, during the Wednesday night meeting.
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Angel Lavovaz was there that night and described what was going through her mind.
“(I thought) what was he (Mayor Jason Anderson) smoking?” she said. “It just didn’t make sense to us and I don’t see it going through.”
Lavovaz says there are too many logistical issues when it comes to changing a town’s name and hopes that council will ultimately change their minds.
“It’s one thing if they want to buy the rights to name town hall or buy the rights to name the skating rink or something, but you don’t change the name of the town.”
If a winning bid is announced, Lavovaz said the successful company will have to have open conversations with the people in the town.
“They’ll have to,” she said. “This is not just a little thing, it’s really serious.”
Other residents are worried that the history Duck Lake has may be not be associated with the new town name.
“It’ll be less with people,” Candace Gardippie said. “People right away know about the rebellion and they know about Louis Riel or have heard about it.”
According to the town’s website, Duck Lake housed the Northwest Mounted Police during the Reil uprising.
Gardippie, who grew up in Duck Lake, disagrees with any potential name change.
“It takes away from (the pride). There’s just too much history, it’s stupid to me … I don’t think it’s a good idea to change (the name).”
Gardippie also agrees that whoever wins the bidding should it go through needs to talk to the people who live in the community to find a name that suits the history and the community today.
“There is a lot of Métis pride here,” she said. “The town should take it into serious consideration and talk to its members and its townpeople.”
Kobe Eyahpaise was caught off guard to hear about the decision.
“I’m actually kind of surprised,” he said, adding he won’t lose any sleep over the decision.
“That really isn’t disappointing,” he said. “I love the name. I love Duck Lake. I love the sound of it. If it’s going to be a different name, then it’s going to have to be better than Duck Lake.”
Eyaphaise believes if anyone will have their town pride hurt, it’ll be the elderly people who live in the community.
“I don’t think it’s actually going to hurt anyone more or less,” he said. “I think it’s going to affect the older generation.”
Eyaphaise isn’t for or against the name change and said this is the way of the new generation.
“I’m kind of indifferent to it at the moment,” he said. “We live in a new generation and everything is moving forward.”
— with files from CKOM News
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