A point on a small island off Saturna will no longer be known as Savage Point, according to the BC Geographical Names Office (BCGNO) — and, for now, won’t be known as anything.
In a letter sent to the Islands Trust Council in late March, BCGNO provincial toponymist Trent Thomas said the name for the smaller of two eastern points on Tumbo Island had been officially rescinded March 25, in a joint decision with Parks Canada, due to its derogatory nature.
“Governments and organizations consistently expressed that official names with derogatory connotations are unacceptable,” wrote Thomas, who also serves on the Geographical Names Board of Canada. “The name in question was described [in a request to rescind] as having ‘offensive, derogatory and racist meaning.’”
During a meeting in November 2025, the Islands Trust Executive Committee had expressed broad support of the recension, ultimately asking staff to respond via letter to advise the BCGNO office they had no concerns with dropping the name. Thomas said BCGNO had invited all local and First Nation governments nearby to comment on the proposal, and had received no objections or concerns regarding the rescinding of Savage Point as an official name.
Notably, the proposal to rescind the name did not include ideas for a replacement, according to BCGNO, so for the time being the point will likely be referenced only by its GPS coordinates or in relation to nearby named locations. The name will no longer appear on provincial and federal maps, Thomas said, or be distributed in any lists of official B.C. place names.
Tumbo Island lies just north of the east end of Saturna Island — missing out on being the easternmost Gulf Island by some 500 metres — and the former Savage Point points northeast into the Strait of Georgia. According to BCGNO’s records, the name was first established on British Admiralty Charts in 1859, and officially adopted in 1946 — although the significance or origin of the name was not recorded.
Local lore that the point was named for an explorer’s vessel is unsubstantiated by the historical record; the Royal Navy did have several ships named HMS Savage, but none are recorded as having served near the Gulf Islands during the primary period of coastal surveying.