A spokesman for a Powell River citizens’ group says city council needs to make a decision on the name change issue sooner than later.
Robin Murray with Concerned Citizens of Powell River presented results of a survey they conducted showing nearly 93 per cent of respondents don’t want the city’s name changed.
The group says it sent out over 5,200 surveys, simply asking if the recipient was in favour of a name change. They received 2,056 responses.
Murray says 19 were void because they were from “out of town,” while 125 said “yes” to a name change and 1,912 said “no.”
“From the Community Charter, it says councils are established and continued by the will of the community. A lot of the people in the community don’t want this name change and we believe it needs to be dealt with sooner than later because it’s causing so much division,” Murray told councillors.
“We’ve been watching council and a lot of people have been very disappointed with how it’s been handled and wanting something to be done about it,” he said.
City councillors didn’t ask any questions Tuesday night after Murray’s presentation.
Tla’amin Nation already rejected the notion of the survey last month when it was distributed in the community, calling it a “fake poll” from a “local activist group.”
The name change issue has been going on since 2021 after Tla’amin Nation asked the city to consider a new name given the background of Israel Powell.
Council meeting agendas in recent months have been peppered with correspondence from people on both sides of the debate.
