Hello folks of the blogging world! Sorry for a post later than usual, but honestly this past week, I had nothing I felt motivated to write about, thats why this post is being posted a little later. I mean don’t get me wrong, we did lots this week. Finally, we now have an almost final draft of our podcast episode 8’s! Get ready for that to be published by the way! So far in school, we’ve talked about the Canadian life after the war, 1950s and up. 
In class, we talked about the creation of social programs in Canada, immigration progressing and the literally just how the life became a little bit more tolerable for the working class at the time. Speaking about the working class, did you know minimum wage in British Columbia is going up to $15.20/hour!? 
June 1st is when this new change will be put into effect, and it so happens that I have a shift on June 1st. I’m very excited to see this change, because every addition to the minimum wage is a step forward, and I’m sure this has been a long awaited transition. However, this change is only happening in the province of British Columbia. The rest of Canada’s minimum wage was updated between the years of 2018-2020. Here are the specifics for your personal interest.
Now can you believe Saskatchewan only pays $11.45/hour?
But that actually depends on their economy, and cost of living. I mean, $20 in groceries will get you a lot more in Saskatchewan than it would here in BC. But I did honestly expected Ontario’s wage to be a little higher than $14.25, I mean thats where the literal federal government building is! Madness, I tell you, madness. Lots of changing is happening in todays world, as we are finally adjusting our gears to make this world a liveable, better place. Now, something that perked my ears up about making this world a better place, was the fact that there is a consideration to open the discussion to change the name “British Columbia”. Now this is interesting, and I did some further research on this. Almost all, or the majority of the Canadian provinces and territories have Indigenous, French, and British culture fused together in their respective names. But the name “British Columbia” is purely and entirely constructed from the British culture, and has not been changed since the creation of Canada as a country.
The name “British Columbia” comes from, unsurprisingly, the Queen. The southern part of what is now known as BC, was named “Columbia” after the Columbia river that snakes from the Rockies, to BC. But, to avoid confusion from Colombia in South America, and the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, the Queen named this area “British Columbia” when it became a colony in 1858, says the Huffington Post.
In the recent event of the territory dispute with the Wet’suwet’en First Nations Tribe in northern B.C, there was talk of the Indigenous lands and names. In February 2020, there were lots of movements that showed it was maybe time to reconsider the name British Columbia for this province. Crawford Killian, a reporter for “The Tyee”, said if there was ever going to be a time to rename BC, it is now.
So what do you think? Is it time to change this very colonial-named province? Why? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll have a chat!
Sources!
Minimum Wages – Retail Council of Canada
More about the Wet’suwet’en protests – CTV News Canada
Should BC change its name? – Huffington Post Canada
BC name change? – Vancouver Sun
We should change BC’s name. – The Tyee
June 6, 2021 at 9:11 pm
Interesting to see where your thoughts led you this week Malaika! Maybe I’ll get the discussion started here on your blog. It’s a thought provoking question – to change the name of a place. I know there have been name changes over the world, but has there been one here in Canada? I’d be interested to know if there could be a translation of BC – but than again, to what language? There were over 34 different languages along the coast of what we now know as BC.
In my opinion, I would be interested in some traditional territories being recognized by their traditional names – but not sure I’d be up for a vote on renaming the entire province.
Thanks for your thoughts!
June 6, 2021 at 9:25 pm
Hey Ms. Maxwell!
Yeah, I think you make a really good point. Changing the entire name of a province could start a debate that maybe would not be best for the world, right now. But in my opinion, I think it might be something we could look at in the future. It would be interesting just to hear some of the ideas, because I know that some people would be very interested and passionate about this subject.
I don’t believe there has been any changes to the names of any provinces or territories, in the recent past. There were name changes to the provinces/territories, before confederation, but after Canada was created, I don’t think there has been major provincial or territorial name changes. But if BC opens this possibility, I think it would be interesting to see how it would play out.
Thanks for commenting!