A photograph of Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus sign has prompted a blunt argument about language, reconciliation and whether public signs should be easy to read. The BetterBC Facebook post by Vinncent Kennedy calls the lettering random, offers a sarcastic “translation” and says an “ancient written language” was invented by white academics in the 1970s–90s.
The record is more specific. The names have published meanings and were gifted through a process involving four Host Nations. The photograph still shows “SFU BURNABY CAMPUS” in English. But SFU’s communications guidance also makes Indigenous names the preferred first reference, with English secondary. Both facts matter: English has not disappeared from this sign, and the university is making a genuine change in naming priority.
What the names actually mean
In its September 16 announcement, SFU describes a naming ceremony involving Kwikwetlem, Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam. The campus and four additional locations each received names in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh.
- hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓: xʷtatəl̕ləm ʔə ƛ̓ səltaɬ sme:nt — “Learning place of Burnaby Mountain.”
- Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Xwta7ltáw̓txw tl’a Lheḵw’lhúḵw’aytn — “Learning house of Burnaby Mountain.”
The other places are the First Peoples’ Gathering House, Indigenous Student Centre, Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre and Indigenous Garden. SFU says an Indigenous naming committee, the SFU Indigenous Naming Family, led the project. Its announcement credits Nation language and cultural participants, not merely university communications staff. The Facebook post’s supposed translation is political sarcasm, not a translation of either campus name.
English is retained—but is now secondary in the guidance
The photograph contradicts a literal claim that English was removed from the sign: the English campus label remains, in smaller lettering underneath. A photograph alone cannot establish what appears on every campus sign or how naming works across maps and services.
SFU’s editorial style guide, however, confirms a substantive policy choice. It instructs communicators to use both Indigenous names, putting hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ first, and to “Use English as a secondary reference initiated with a comma until audience is familiar with Indigenous names.” First mentions include both names, language indicators and English. Subsequent mentions may use Indigenous names or English depending on context, with Indigenous names preferred wherever possible.
That is not an English ban. Nor is it accurate to dismiss concerns by saying nothing changed. Readers can reasonably debate whether the new hierarchy works well for visitors, students, emergency access and people unfamiliar with either language.
Modern writing systems are real writing systems
The post specifically attacks an “ancient written language,” not the age of the spoken languages. Its modern-writing argument has substantial support. The First Peoples’ Cultural Council’s 2018 fact sheet says B.C. First Nations languages had no fully developed writing systems until after colonization, and most systems were developed by visiting priests, anthropologists or linguists. That finding concerns writing systems, not an absence of cultural symbols.
FPCC also documents an Indigenous-created counterexample, Dave Elliott’s SENĆOŦEN alphabet, and recognizes trade-offs: English-like alphabets are generally easier to learn and type, while phonetic systems offer precise sound-symbol correspondence. Neither this history nor the sources reviewed establish the post’s exact 1970s–90s range or exclusively white authorship for these sign conventions. Modern development does not make a writing system fake; community adoption and meaningful sound distinctions matter.
Musqueam’s language department says Musqueam formally adopted North American Phonetic Alphabet symbols after consideration, for documenting and teaching hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. It dates its revitalization work to the 1970s; that is not an origin date for the spoken language. Squamish Nation likewise describes language work guided by Elders and speakers.
Earlier documentation makes the distinction tangible. Aert H. Kuipers’s 1967 Squamish grammar credits speakers Isaac Jacob, Alex Peters and Louis Miranda for material collected in 1951–54 and 1956. That does not date today’s spelling conventions, but it records Indigenous speakers contributing language knowledge before the post’s proposed period. NewsForBC has not established one exact adoption date for every convention displayed on this sign.
The marks tell readers how sounds work
Musqueam explains that apostrophe-like marks can distinguish ejective consonants or glottalized resonants; superscript ʷ indicates lip rounding, and ʔ represents a glottal stop. These are not interchangeable decorations.
For Squamish, language specialist Aaron Williams explained in Global News reporting in 2021 that 7 represents a glottal stop, comparable to the interruption in “uh-oh,” rather than the spoken number seven. Learning the conventions takes instruction. Unfamiliarity is not proof that the writing is meaningless.
Accessibility and cost deserve evidence, not invented numbers
The assertion that “99%” of students, staff and visitors will never pronounce the names comes without a survey or method in the captured post. NewsForBC found no supporting measurement in the reviewed sources. It should be treated as rhetoric, not a statistic.
There are practical supports: SFU’s naming page provides Listen buttons, pronunciation videos and a copy-and-paste document. Its typography guidance explicitly acknowledges varying digital-tool and keyboard limitations and recommends Arial, November or Lava for displaying the characters.
Those resources do not prove that every visitor can readily navigate the campus. Useful accountability questions concern readable letter sizes, map and search compatibility, screen-reader performance, emergency directions, implementation costs and user testing. No sign price, procurement breakdown or accessibility-test results were established in this review; no interviews or outreach were conducted.
The fair conclusion is narrower than either slogan: SFU has elevated Nation-gifted names while retaining English on the photographed sign. The language symbols have functions and community authority behind them. Whether the rollout delivers clear, accessible wayfinding remains a question for evidence—not a sarcastic translation or an unsupported percentage.
Source trail
Source note and links · Claim table · Orthography evidence · Pruned social-caption record · Original BetterBC post