stal̕əw̓asəm (Riverview) Bridge (Pattullo Bridge Replacement) | U/C

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by chowhou

...Yes, everyone loves Squamish, most people make fun of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. "The one with the 7"

Preferring an anglicized name is one thing. People who "make fun of" Sḵwx̱wú7mesh have some pretty serious issues that need addressing.

[Migrant_Coconut]

There is kind of a double standard after we've spent the last twenty years shaming people for spelling words with numbers (e.g. talk 2 u l8er)... and suddenly now it's heritage.

[ilikeredheads]

this pandering is getting ridiculous. You want to rename the bridge after first nations? fine. But the name should be written in standard english letters, for ease of legibility, since english is one of the official languages. It needs to be easy to read and understand. Have fun typing out "stal̕əw̓asəm" on your phone!

This is just pure stupidity.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

this pandering is getting ridiculous. You want to rename the bridge after first nations? fine. But the name should be written in standard english letters, for ease of legibility, since english is one of the official languages. It needs to be easy to read and understand. Have fun typing out "stal̕əw̓asəm" on your phone!

This is just pure stupidity.

Remember, Europeans came here and tried force the native people to assimilate. Force them into schools and take away their language. Took away their land and their culture. It's a real slap in the face to tell natives that their words or names should be more anglicized.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by logan5

It's a real slap in the face to tell natives that their words or names should be more anglicized.

That's... literally what the Squamish sign is? I don't think "Stalawasem/stal̕əw̓asəm" hurts the First Nations more than everybody just calling it "Riverview" and ignoring the Musqueam name entirely.

[Denscity]

That's true is Patullo pronounced as "Potello" correct lol?

[twoNeurons]

I thought I'd hate the new name, but I think "Stall O'Awesome" bridge is pretty hilarious. Definitely "Dude Chilling Park" vibes.

I can imagine the news...

Well, there's a stall on the stall-o-awesome today, so not so awesome.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

That's... literally what the Squamish sign is? I don't think "Stalawasem/stal̕əw̓asəm" hurts the First Nations more than everybody just calling it "Riverview" and ignoring the Musqueam name entirely.

Like the VAG North Plaza.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Indeed. "St'lanaq Hwtl'enk" at least has a chance of being adopted by the other 98.6% of the metro; "šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ" just relegates itself to obscurity.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by madog222

“Ə, or ə, is an additional letter of the Latin alphabet.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa_(letter)

"It was invented by Johann Andreas Schmeller for the reduced vowel at the end of some German words and first used in his 1820s works on the Bavarian dialects."

Cool beans.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by logan5

Remember, Europeans came here and tried force the native people to assimilate. Force them into schools and take away their language. Took away their land and their culture. It's a real slap in the face to tell natives that their words or names should be more anglicized.

Okay, if you want to go that route, then there shouldn’t be any written form for native languages at all, since any alphabets that use preexisting letters, punctuations, symbols, numerals from the old world, east or west in origin, are “colonial.”

So, whenever referring to native names we should just use blank spaces from now on.

I live in __________ and I commute to ____________ by car using the ______________ Bridge every day.

How’s that? Justice served?

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

There is kind of a double standard after we've spent the last twenty years shaming people for spelling words with numbers (e.g. talk 2 u l8er)... and suddenly now it's heritage.

Seriously?

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

...the name should be written in standard english letters, for ease of legibility, since english is one of the official languages. It needs to be easy to read and understand. Have fun typing out "stal̕əw̓asəm" on your phone!

This is just pure stupidity.

The sign they unveiled today has both "stal̕əw̓asəm" and "Riverview" on it. Either will work in a search. Even "stalowasem", as a random test, got the right location. EDIT: IN GOOGLE MAPS

As an aside, if we're focusing on "ease of legibility" and the need to be "easy to read and understand", "english" should be capitalized.

[Metro-One]

It's funny seeing a couple forum members on here perfectly representing the smug attitude that is now working against them with the majority of people.

Having two names is stupid. It should be just one name, Stalowasen written in phonetics that 99.9% of people can readily understand.

Having one native name that most can't read and one English name just means everyone is going to call it Riverview Bridge or just continue using Pattullo.

It's very self defeating in the quest for upmost moral purity.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Even "stalowasem", as a random test, got the right location.

Searching for exactly that gives me... one Reddit post about the bridge, the Stalew/stɑl̓əw̓ Arts & Cultural Society in Fort Langley, STALAM the radio manufacturers, and the Ståle collection of snowboards.

[giallo]

Count me as someone that thinks giving it two names is totally stupid. Just have it as Stal̕əw̓asəm/Stalawasen (sic) Bridge, and dump Riverview.

Like, what are we doing here? I didn't grow up in Kelowna and.......Sandy Lake or whatever. It was just Kelowna.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Searching for exactly that gives me... one Reddit post about the bridge, the Stalew/stɑl̓əw̓ Arts & Cultural Society in Fort Langley, STALAM the radio manufacturers, and the Ståle collection of snowboards.

Sorry, in Google Maps.

[Metro-One]

Best comment I have seen so far on line: “stal̕əw̓asəm” pronounced “New Pattullo”

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by logan5

Remember, Europeans came here and tried force the native people to assimilate. Force them into schools and take away their language. Took away their land and their culture. It's a real slap in the face to tell natives that their words or names should be more anglicized.

I didn't see anyone say that their names or words should be anglicized. Transliteration of a word. Just like no one is telling the Japanese that they pronounce Mt. Fuji wrong, but Mt. Fuji is a transliterated version of the Japanese name 富士山. Fuji is just one way to transliterate it into the roman alphabet. I don't doubt there's a cyrillic and a Korean Hangul version as well.

No one is insisting that Japanese restaurants must only label items in Japanese... but have a translation beneath. Imagine seeing 味噌汁 /Fermented Soybean paste soup, when you can just write Miso Soup and it's understood.

I think one news article accidentally illustrated the point:

The new Pattullo Bridge will have a name in the Indigenous halkomelem (hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓) language when it opens in coming weeks, with the bridge deck connected and final paving underway.

The Surrey-New Westminster span is now known as Stal̕əw̓asəm, in recognition of “First Nations’ deep historical and current connections to the area,” according to B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit.

Read more at: https://abbynews.com/2025/12/08/pattullo-bridge-renamed-stalwasm-replacement-span-to-open-soon/

Notice what language it says the bridge is in. I don't think it's a slap in the face to the halkomelem language to be represented that way, do you? Imagine if the name of the bridge was Stawloawsum (Stal̕əw̓asəm) or some other transliteration. I don't think that's insulting.

I dunno about you, but at this point, calling it Riverview bridge is weak... hey we might as well call it "Fermented Soybean Paste Bridge."

[Metro-One]

In Japan English and other foreign words are transliterated into katakana.

These of course do not sound exactly the same as they do in English, for example Brad Pitt becomes ブラッド・ピット which is roughly pronounced as “Buraddo Pitto.” Similar transliteration is done for my name that I have now been using for the last decade.

It’s not exactly correct in pronunciation, but 99.9% of Japanese people can read it.

Demanding English names to be written in a new phonetic system that 99.9% of Japanese can’t read just to ensure they are pronounced correctly would be a very very stupid idea, as is presenting native names in a phonetical system the vast majority can not and never will read on public projects / place names.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by logan5

Remember, Europeans came here and tried force the native people to assimilate. Force them into schools and take away their language. Took away their land and their culture. It's a real slap in the face to tell natives that their words or names should be more anglicized.

Since 99.99% of the population of the region doesn’t speak that language and on a road sign the “politically correct” spelling it will just look like gibberish. It’s not a slap in the face, it’s common sense. It has Zero to do with reconciliation and more to do with political pandering by the hapless NDP government.