As a compromise, its eastern elevation is named Eisenhower Peak. Today, naming is a provincial or territorial responsibility, often after investigating and authenticating names proposed by the public. The committee, of 25 federal, provincial and territorial members, meets at least annually to discuss shared issues. The federal secretariat, headed by Kerfoot, keeps the growing database of 350,000 names, used for gazeteers, maps and charts. Its lively Internet sites include maps, names and their origins.
Users can calculate distances between any two points in Canada.
Personal names, once a popular claim to immortality, are rarely added today, except in exceptional cases and usually posthumously. An exception is Hansen Township, south of Sudbury, named in 1986 after wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen. Local acceptance and historical integrity are guiding principles. B.C. Such riotous exceptions are part of the joy of naming names. History is rarely neat or nice.