Well we now know that the new Terrace hospital will be gifted a Tsimshian name, as today it was announced that it will be called the Ksyen (KUH-see-yen) Regional Hospital.
Local First Nations and municipal leaders had discussions together about the naming of the hospital. It was agreed that a Tsimshian name proposed by the Kitsumkalum First Nation would be the name submitted to be approved by the Northern Health Board of Directors and the Province.
Ksyen is the Sm'algyax name for the Skeena River. Northern Health also aims to recognize the contributions that Dr. Stanley Mills and others made to the region, and that Mills' name will be recognized in the facility with a history wall and will also have the ambulatory care unit named after him.
Northern Health concluded that the new name is to recognize the territory that the hospital was built in, and the region that it hopes to serve.
“With this new hospital we now have a significant and meaningful opportunity to recognize and honour the historic past, the first peoples and the Indigenous territory that this facility is on,” said Northern Health Board chair Colleen Nyce.
“I am grateful for the collective input and discussion that has brought us to this decision, and in particular I thank both Kitsumkalum and Kitselas First Nations for coming together to allow this very appropriate Tsimshian name to be used.” Nyce added,
“We will always hold the first Terrace Hospital, Mills Memorial, in our hearts with deep and lasting memory. I am so pleased that the new Ambulatory Care Unit will continue to carry the name of Dr. Mills.”
The new hospital is now undergoing the final preparations ahead of opening.
