The Comox Valley Regional District and the K’ómoks First Nation have teamed up to create new directional signage for Seal Bay Nature Park.
The upgrades will be coming this spring and the CVRD says the decision was made after park users said they wanted to see new signage as a top priority.
The new signage includes new trail names that reflect a variety of natural park elements, animals and cultural references with an emphasis on the traditional Ayajuthem language.
Ayajuthem is a Coast Salish language shared between the peoples of K’ómoks, Tla’Amin, Homalco and Klahoose First Nations.
To help visitors learn and pronounce the Coast Salish names, the signs will also feature phonetic pronunciations.
CVRD Electoral Area B Director Arzeena Hamir says not only will the signs help visitors know where to go, but they are a great way to honour the first nation history we have in the Comox Valley.
“Promoting understanding of the cultural heritage, language and values within Seal Bay Park is an important part of building cultural awareness in our community. We are so pleased for the opportunity to work together with KFN on these signage improvements, which will really help to enhance the overall park visitor experience through the learning and discovery of language,” explains Hamir.
The CVRD says Xwee Xwhya Luq (prounounced zway-why-luck) is the traditional name for Seal Bay Park and the area is very culturally significant to the K’ómoks First Nation, as generations of indigenous peoples visited the Seal Bay area for resource harvesting and to camp when travelling through the area by canoe.
For more information on the new signage coming to the park this spring, visit the Comox Valley Regional District website.
