Five names will be on the ballot when residents in the Grand Bay-Westfield region choose a name for their soon-to-be-amalgamated community.
The names were unveiled during a special meeting of the Naming Committee of Entity 51 on Wednesday night.
Entity 51 is the temporary name given to Grand Bay-Westfield and part of the Westfield West local service district (LSD), which will amalgamate later this year.
The names up for consideration include Grand Bay-Westfield, which was pre-determined, along with Hillandale, Nerepis Valley, Three Rivers, and Westfield.
Committee members received 369 name submissions consisting of 116 unique names for the new community’s governing body.
Members used a matrix to narrow the 116 names down to 15. That list was sent to the province, which eliminated any names that did not meet provincial requirements.
From there, the remaining 10 names were provided to the committee, who voted on them using ranked ballots.
Voting will begin next week and the winning name is expected to be announced in early May.
In a recent interview, committee chair Jon Taylor said even if residents choose a name other than Grand Bay-Westfield, each community will retain its identity.
“We’re selecting the name of the governing body for the new town, so it’s the name of the government itself rather than what you write in your address,” said Taylor.
Meanwhile, the committee also recommended the council of the future community determine a ceremonial Indigenous name for the municipality to accompany the legal name.
The ceremonial name could be used in conjunction with the formal, legal name for things like welcome signs and land acknowledgments.
“The importance of developing a ceremonial name was reinforced after discussion with both our transition facilitator and our toponomy expert from the provincial government. Both have informed us that the time left to us to determine a legal name is simply too short, to include proposed Indigenous names that are not already in local use on the ballot,” said Taylor.
“While the town has engaged in consultation with Wolastoqiyik representatives to educate us all on potential Indigenous names for the municipality, the Province has told us that this consultation does not meet the standard of full and proper consultation.”
