One family’s 13-month battle to have their son’s name accurately represented on his birth certificate may make it easier for Indigenous families in the future.
14-month old λugʷaləs K’ala’ask Shaw has become the first child in BC to have his birth certificate feature Kwak̓wala characters.
Vital Statistics had initially refused to accept the name when λugʷaləs was born in January, stating that only Latin characters could be used.
That prompted his parents to take to the BC Supreme Court, claiming the refusal to use Indigenous characters violated their rights.
After being referred to as Baby Boy Shaw by government and health workers for over a year, λugʷaləs finally has official documentation of his name.
It means the place where people are blessed in the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw language, and is a reference to a mountain on the traditional territory the Wei Wai Kum First Nation.
λugʷaləs’s father is a member of the Nation, and his mother is from the Haisla and Ts’msyen Nations.
According to the Ministry of Health, the ability to claim Indigenous names will be open to all Indigenous people going forward, though a timeline is still up in the air.
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