----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Having attended McGill University in Montreal and knowing a great number of
people named Bob, I have been following this story for some time. Here's an
article that gives most of the story.
****Please note the date of this article is 1996, the deadline for voting
for a new name has long past! Also, it looks like the web page is now
defunct. For a website on Nunavut that even contains a map there is
http://www.nunanet.com/~nunat/pages/nunavut.html or
http://natsiq.nunanet.com/~nic/
--Rebecca Aaronson
Rotch Library
M.I.T. rm 7-238
[log in to unmask]
This article was taken from the Wed 17 Jul 1996, Ottawa Citizen
Northwest Territories discomBOBulated by search for new name
By: Jack Aubry
Ontario. Quebec. Alberta. Yukon. Bob.
Bob?
Bob is a suggested new name for the Northwest Territories put forward by a
group of anonymous northerners.
The tongue-in-cheek campaign is an attempt to generate interest in renaming
what remains of N.W.T. after the new territory of
Nunavut splits off April 1, 1999.
There is a growing debate in the non-Nunavut area of N.W.T. about taking
control of the future with a new identity.
A committee of MLAs from the Western Arctic is looking for name suggestions
from across Canada and has set July 31 as the
deadline. A plebiscite -- a non-binding vote -- will likely be held this
fall on the most popular suggestions.
So far, the overwhelming choice is ... N.W.T.
But N.W.T. Economic Development and Tourism Minister Stephen Kakfwi is
campaigning against the status quo. He said the
old name is colonial and demeaning.
``Northwest is just a direction and to keep calling ourselves a territory is
just accepting an inferior relationship with Ottawa.''
He pointed out the Northwest Territories once referred to all lands north
and west of Lake Superior. Since Confederation its
land mass has slowly dwindled with the creation of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Kakfwi, a Dene, favors a more original name such as Denendeh, which is Dene
for ``land of the Dene,'' or Nahendeh, which
means ``our land'' in Dene. Nunavut, the new territory being created from
the eastern part of N.W.T., is ``our land'' in Inuktitut.
But about 60 per cent of the 45,000 residents of the remaining territory
will be non-aboriginal.
So far, before the Bob campaign got under way, 106 people have voted for
Northwest Territories. Denendeh has just five
supporters. Other suggestions include: Arctic Polar, Westervut, Anything but
N.W.T., Fox Territory, Goodland, Motherland,
Tundraland and Freedom Territories.
Business, which favors the status quo because of the cost of change, have
collected 2,063 signatures in favor of N.W.T..
Jane Groenewegen, the MLA chairing the name committee, says the old name is
favored because of a ``tremendous fear that
changing the name will set us back.''
She said some people, including aboriginals, fear a loss of recognition will
come with a new name and that it is the wrong time
to be spending money on such an issue.
But that argument holds no sway with the `Bob' campaign. It's centred on an
off-the-wall website on the Internet. It includes
the top 10 reasons why the post-1999 N.W.T. should be renamed Bob.
It also has sound clips of how to pronounce Bob in the territories' nine
official languages such as French, Cree and Dogrib.
And how is it pronounced? In every case, the answer is ``Bob''.
Some suggestions so far . . .
Nahendeh
Denendeh
Arctic Polar
Westervut
Fox Territory
Goodland
Tundraland
These are among the names submitted to a committee of MLAs. It is receiving
suggestions until July 31.
Suggestions can be submitted:
By phone: 1-800-661-0784
By fax: 1-403-873-0276
By mail: Western Caucus, c/o Legislative Assembly of the N.W.T., PO Box
1320, Yellowknife, N.W.T. X1A 2L9.
By e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Top 10 reasons why the residual Northwest Territories should be named Bob
10. Government would no longer be `big brother,' because `Bob's your uncle!'
9. Millions of parents -- both aboriginal and non-aboriginal -- can't be wrong!
8. `Bob says ...' sounds better than `The Government of the Northwest
Territories says ...' in news reports.
7. Politicians could take junkets to Bob's twinned jurisdictions of
Bobcaygeon and Zimbobwe.
6. `Kurszewski-stan' is too long.
5. The official sport could be bobsledding, the official hairdo could be
`the Bob,' the RCMP could be renamed `Bobbies,' etc.
4. Bob is dyslexic-friendly.
3. Allow parents to show pride in their territory by naming their children
`Jim Bob,' `Billy Bob' and so on.
2. Bob sounds the same in each of the nine official languages of the
residual Northwest Territories.
1. The Bob & Doug Mackenzie River flows through it.
Source: http://www.web.net/~votebob/