Old name, new look

You may have noticed that things look a little different these days on our website, social media pages, and maybe even trail signs. As of June 1, 2021, the name of The Great Trail of Canada has changed back to its original name, and is once again known as the iconic Trans Canada Trail.

The background

Back in 2016, we decided to separate the name of our organization (Trans Canada Trail) from the name of the physical trail (The Great Trail), as a way to celebrate and highlight the significant milestone of connection in 2017.

Charting our course for the future

Post-connection, we began the process of charting a course for our future. In order to build on this historic achievement, we undertook significant consultation and research with our partners, donors, funders and stakeholders to secure their input on our future direction.

Part of this outreach included focus groups and research into the name change. As good stewards of our brand, understanding how our name and our work resonate is valued feedback. We were also looking to respond to lingering concerns and confusion about the name change.  To address this, we conducted extensive polling and focus group research to find out exactly what Canadians know about us, and what they think of our name.

What we heard

The research showed that the Trans Canada Trail name was the preferred option. Almost all participants told us that they favoured the original name for the physical trail. And, the majority (70%) supported returning to the original name.

When we asked them why, the reasons included an emotional connection to the name and a strong sense of pride in a name that identifies the Trail as uniquely Canadian.  The other piece of information that the research yielded was the low level of awareness of The Great Trail name. The Trans Canada Trail name surpassed that of The Great Trail by a factor of 10:1.

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