{"id":11038,"date":"2026-03-03T00:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T05:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=11038"},"modified":"2026-03-03T00:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T05:34:15","slug":"isnt-this-hate-speech-white-people-are-subhuman-says-tlaamin-leader-as-powell-river-name-change-poll-now-set-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=11038","title":{"rendered":"Isn&#8217;t This &#8220;Hate Speech&#8221;? \u201cWhite people are subhuman,\u201d Says Tla\u2019amin Leader as Powell River Name Change Poll Now Set for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cWhite people are subhuman,\u201d Says Tla\u2019amin Leader as Powell River Name Change Poll Now Set for 2026<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newwesttimes.com\/users\/profile\/Editor\">Editor<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Feb 13, 2024 Updated Feb 13, 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newwesttimes.com\/news\/white-people-are-subhuman-says-tla-amin-leader-as-powell-river-name-change-poll-now\/article_b7da5af4-ca27-11ee-998d-87691206bb00.html#comments\">21<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/newwesttimes.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/f\/6e\/f6ee59a0-ca97-11ee-b8b2-7baf8f46a54f\/65cbacab799f5.image.jpg?resize=400%2C156\" alt=\"PR\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A public square in the Westview area of Powell River, British Columbia has signage with two place names.&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe white people in Canada are subhuman because of what they&#8217;ve allowed to happen,\u201d said former Chief Councillor of the Tla\u2019amin First Nation KWAST-en-ayu (Maynard Harry) in a 90 minute phone interview with The New Westminster Times about the City of Powell River&#8217;s controversial name change proposal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-81.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4\" height=\"3\" src=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-81.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11039\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tla&#8217;amin consultant and public speaker KWAS-en-ayu (Maynard Harry). Photo: from Indigenous Insights webpage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>KWAST-en-ayu reached out to The New Westminster Times following our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newwesttimes.com\/news\/unreconciled-veteran-powell-river-paramedic-forced-out-of-his-job-for-opposing-city-name-change\/article_987cc13a-b701-11ee-adec-7fbe44231014.html\">story about veteran Powell River paramedic Ted Vizzutti<\/a><\/strong>, drummed out of his job after 39 years and called \u201cracist\u201d by BC Emergency Health Services for opposing his City\u2019s proposed name change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-81.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4\" height=\"3\" src=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-81.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11040\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Powell River paramedic Ted Vizzutti. Vizzutti was muscled out of his job by his employer for opposing the City&#8217;s name change.&nbsp; Contributed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>KWAST-en-ayu is the founder of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indigenousinsight.ca\/\">Indigenous Insight<\/a><\/strong>. He runs a seminar called \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indigenousinsight.ca\/colonizer-rehab\">Colonizer Rehab<\/a><\/strong>,\u201d and is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/could-this-be-the-model-for-a-citys-name-change\/#more-97051\">credited<\/a><\/strong> with shaping the City of Powell River\u2019s \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/civicinfo\/public_files\/First%20Nations\/Community_Accord--Sliammon_First_Nation_and_Powell_River--2003.pdf\">Community Accord<\/a><\/strong>\u201d through collaborative work with former Powell River mayor Stewart Alsgard. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2003 Community Accord, which laid the groundwork for Powell River\u2019s ongoing engagement with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tlaaminnation.com\/\">Tla\u2019amin First Nation<\/a><\/strong>, states: \u201cParamount is the respect for and appreciation of each other\u2019s diverse backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If KWAST-en-ayu is any indication, Tla\u2019amin respect for people outside their community has dwindled to near zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhite people need to acknowledge their culture is lost,\u201d said KWAST-en-ayu bluntly. \u201cWhite settler culture is a lost culture because nothing good defines white people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If I insult white people, I don&#8217;t give a sh-t,&#8221; admitted KWAST-en-ayu.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judging from KWAST-en-ayu\u2019s recent comments to this paper, and the strident vitriol of other Powell River activists, many proponents of the name change are also seeking to further a hard-left ideological agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Latest Developments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 30<sup>th<\/sup>, 2024, Powell River City Council passed a motion whereby the City will engage in public consultation on the name change, leading to an official vote on the question coinciding with the next municipal election in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhite people are subhuman,\u201d Says Tla\u2019amin Leader as Powell River Name Change Poll Now Set for 2026 \u201cThe white people in Canada are subhuman because of what they&#8217;ve allowed to happen,\u201d said former Chief Councillor of the Tla\u2019amin First Nation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=11038\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3221,6240,6241],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11041,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038\/revisions\/11041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}