An Ottawa thoroughfare currently named after CanadaB次元官网网址檚 first prime minister is expected to receive a new Indigenous name later this year, the National Capital Commission said Thursday.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 fully supportive of this decision,B次元官网网址� Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said Thursday after the commissionB次元官网网址檚 board of directors unanimously approved the recommendation to move forward with renaming the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
B次元官网网址淚 think this is something that Canadians and residents of Ottawa can be proud of once this process is complete,B次元官网网址� Sutcliffe said.
In June 2021, three Ottawa city councillors sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging the federal government to facilitate an Indigenous-led consultation process to rename the parkway.
They wrote the letter after ground-penetrating radar located some 200 suspected unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C., saying there was an B次元官网网址渦rgent needB次元官网网址� for Canada to commit to projects of reconciliation.
Macdonald authorized the creation of the residential school system while he was in power in the 1880s. It is estimated that more than 150,000 First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit children were forced to attend the government-funded, church-operated schools, where many suffered abuse and some died. The last such school closed in 1996.
On Thursday, the National Capital Commission, a federal Crown corporation, said it will engage with Indigenous communities and the public to discuss a new name and to encourage storytelling and sharing with the community.
It will propose a new Indigenous name for the road by June 2023.
The new name for the parkway will be shared at a ceremony and public event on Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who was one of the three city councillors who wrote the letter to Trudeau, called the discovery in Kamloops an B次元官网网址渁bsolute turning pointB次元官网网址� and a B次元官网网址渞eality check.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 moving at a snailB次元官网网址檚 pace, but IB次元官网网址檒l take it as a sign of hope,B次元官网网址� Kavanagh said ahead of ThursdayB次元官网网址檚 update. B次元官网网址淚 hope that this means that theyB次元官网网址檝e been doing some consultation with the local First Nations communities.B次元官网网址�
CEO Tobi Nussbaum had told the commissionB次元官网网址檚 board last October that the renaming project was B次元官网网址渦nderway.B次元官网网址�
And last April, the commission had said in a press release that it provided its board of directors with an updated policy on toponymy B次元官网网址� or the study of place names B次元官网网址� to provide B次元官网网址渁 more transparent decision-making process for naming and renaming NCC-managed assets.B次元官网网址�
It announced that a new advisory committee on toponymy was being formed that included members of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nations, along with other local experts.
B次元官网网址淭he committeeB次元官网网址檚 first order of business will be to consider an existing request for the renaming of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway,B次元官网网址� said the press release.
The parkway has carried the first prime ministerB次元官网网址檚 name for just over a decade.
The Ottawa River Parkway was renamed in his honour in 2012, under the government of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. At the time, the NCC said it cost $60,000 to change the four major signs along the roadside.
B次元官网网址擟indy Tran, The Canadian Press
