Prince Edward Island is back on the map after series of oversights

CHARLOTTETOWN — Prince Edward Island is back on the map.

A map at Vancouver’s airport has been amended to include Canada’s smallest province, after an earlier version overlooked it.

“The new map has been updated to reflect new routes from YVR and of course now includes P.E.I.,” Christopher Richards, spokesperson for the Vancouver Airport Authority, wrote in an email. “We sincerely apologize for the omission and are happy the map has been updated to be more accurate.”

The snub received national attention after Islander Marie Gilchrist cried foul in March.

Gilchrist says the airport authority alerted her of the change, and she was pleased to see P.E.I. restored on a “big and bright” world map as she travelled through YVR en route to Charlottetown.

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“It’s very bright, and it’s certainly where everybody can see it,” says Gilchrist.

The airport authority is the latest institution to atone for overlooking the Island.

The Hudson’s Bay Company recently pulled a line of T-shirts and onesies featuring an incomplete map of Canada, and the Canadian Automobile Association’s magazine plans to showcase the Island after forgetting to label the cradle of Confederation in a feature map of Canada’s prime historic destinations.

Gilchrist says she is blown away by the recognition P.E.I. has received in the wake of the controversy — including a spoof on This Hour Has 22 Minutes in which a peeved Island politician holds a press conference over the indignity. It ends with a “potato drop.”

Gilchrist says when she saw the skit, she knew P.E.I. had “arrived.”

“I think it’s finally been recognized that we’re not going to leave out a small little island,” says Gilchrist. “We’re going to make sure this is a very important part of Canada … and we do deserve the recognition that’s expected of every province.”

The 65-year-old retiree had planned to start a campaign in the style of “Where’s Waldo,” encouraging people to fill in maps that snubbed P.E.I. by drawing in the province with magic marker.

Gilchrist says that is no longer necessary, because being wiped off several maps may ultimately have boosted the province’s prominence.

“I think that P.E.I., from now on, everybody will make sure we’re on the map,” says Gilchrist. “I don’t think anybody’s going to ask ‘Where’s P.E.I.?’ anymore.”

–By Adina Bresge in Halifax

The Canadian Press

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