Prince Edward Island is a special place. Most people elsewhere in the world know of it as a place with nice beaches (true), a place that grows good potatoes (true), or the place from the Anne of Green Gables books (true).

It has been called Prince Edward Island (or P.E.I. as we call it) since it was renamed by British colonists in 1798. Before that was was called Île Saint-Jean (St. John’s Island) by French colonists. Before that, it was Epekwitk.

The name Epekwitk is from the language of the Miꞌkmaq People who have lived here for thousands of years. Epekwitk is pronounced ehb-uh-gwihd and has been anglicised as Abegweit.

Despite having watched every episode of The Crown, I don’t know much about His Royal Highness The Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, after whom our island is currently named. To be clear, we’re talking about the Duke of Kent and Strathearn born in 1767, not the Earl of Wessex who was born in 1964. There’s little risk of a British Royal Family member being forgotten by history or lacking in honours. Prince Edward has a whole section for “Titles, styles, honours and arms” on Wikipedia (along with a section on mistresses).

Unlike the legacy of His Royal Highness, the history and legacy (and the present and future) of the Miꞌkmaq People is at risk.

Thanks to efforts by the L’nuey group, PEI has been adding the Miꞌkmaw names for communities to the official signage (for example, Cape Egmont is Mntuapskuk). I’ve appreciated these new signs and would like to see us go much further.

Let’s restore the original name of our island. Let’s rename Prince Edward Island to Epekwitk.

It is worth noting that I’m not an expert on the etymology of PEI. I’m just a white man who was born here and read the Wikipedia page. I do not think we should take back the name as though it belongs to us. It really belongs to the Miꞌkmaq People of Epekwitk. Renaming this Canadian province is something I think we should to do honour the Miꞌkmaq People, but that honour should be theirs to accept or reject and to own and control.

It’s only worth making such a change if we’re also willing to make more substantial moves to respect the rights and cultures of indigenous people. A name change is a gesture. Gestures can be helpful and gestures can be hollow. To learn more about what else we can do, follow L’nuey on Twitter.