Some Islanders say the Confederation Bridge name should not change 

A Summerside woman says she doesn't want the Confederation Bridge renamed.

Susan Adams feels so passionate about the issue that she started a Facebook group calling for the bridge name to be left alone. 

Within days she had more than 600 members.

Adam said there are more pressing matters facing the province than renaming the Confederation Bridge, which links P.E.I. with New Brunswick.  

"I was very upset with the renaming of the bridge, that's basically why I started the group, leave the bridge alone, basically leave the name of the bridge alone ... it's been the same name for 27 years — just leave it," Adams said, as she walked along a park in Borden-Carleton overlooking the bridge.

"As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter if they do happen to change it — I hope they don't — as far as I go I'm always going to call it the Confederation Bridge." 

Nearly two years ago, the P.E.I. legislature voted unanimously to urge the federal government to rename the bridge Epekwitk Crossing, pronounced ehb-uh-gwihd. That's the original name given by the Mi'kmaq for the land now known as Prince Edward Island.  

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King put forward the motion, with the support of all parties in the legislature. 

Senator Brian Francis, a former chief of the Abegweit First Nation in Prince Edward Island, has repeatedly called on the federal government to "get on with" the renaming of the bridge. He said he knows the renaming has sparked some opposition. 

"I respect everyone's right to express their views, but I am deeply troubled by the creation of an online page featuring a range of discriminatory and racist comments about First Nations and other Indigenous people in Canada," Francis said in a statement to CBC News. 

"However, while incredibly hurtful and harmful, I know that these comments do not reflect the values of the majority of Islanders and Canadians who are committed to establishing respectful relationships with the Mi'kmaq and all Indigenous people and communities."

Francis said after the P.E.I. legislature passed the motion in 2022, he heard from many who "embrace the renaming of the Confederation Bridge."

"The current name of the bridge highlights Confederation as the beginning of a unified nation while disregarding how the Mi'kmaq and all Indigenous people were completely excluded from these negotiations and suffered lasting and ongoing consequences since 1867, which remain widely unknown," the senator's statement goes on to say. 

"As a result, many of us are now urging the federal government to rename the bridge to Epekwitk Crossing, as a small but significant act of reconciliation which would encourage locals and visitors alike to have more honest conversations about our shared past, present and future."