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CJC says Swastika’s name is OK

By · March 19, 2008

 

The Canadian Jewish Congress is comfortable with an explanation of the origins of the name of the Ontario community of Swastika.

 

The community will celebrate its centennial this summer. The planned festivities prompted the CJC to request information on the community’s name.

Swastika’s name is not affiliated with the Nazi symbol, community historian Carolyn O’Neil told the Ontario’s Northern Daily News on Tuesday.

O’Neil said the community’s name may have derived from the language of Northern Ontario’s Cree Indians, in which “swas” means joining and “ika” means water.

“It was never the CJC’s intention to wipe Swastika off the map,” CJC spokeswoman Wendy Lampert told the News.

 

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