Closest to home, Saskatoon renamed John A. Macdonald Boulevard, while the most expensive change was Toronto’s $12.7-million price tag to remove the name of Henry Dundas.
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With talk of renaming Dewdney Avenue set to resume at Regina City Hall next week, here are a few examples of other cities that have recently renamed major streets or landmarks in the spirit of reconciliation, and what it cost.
Saskatoon
In 2021, Saskatoon city council agreed to consider a new name for John A. Macdonald Boulevard, an idea that eventually came to fruition in 2023 as miyo-wâhkôhtowin Road. The phrase is Cree for “good relationship,” and is meant to acknowledge the harm caused by the residential school system developed under the leadership of Canada’s first prime minister.
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New street signs were installed this winter, with the full scope of the changeover estimated to ring in at about $35,000.
Winnipeg
The City of Winnipeg agreed to foot a $215,000 cost to rename two streets that memorialized Roman Catholic priest and bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, a key figure in the campaign for the residential school system in Canada.
In 2023, council approved a name change from Bishop Grandin Boulevard to Abinooji Mikanah, or “children’s way” in Ojibway. New signage went up in May.
Council also endorsed renaming Grandin Street to Taapeweewin Way (meaning “truth” in Michif or Cree) and changing Bishop Grandin Trail to Awasisak Mēskanow (“children’s road” in Cree).
Edmonton
In 2020, the City of Edmonton renamed all of its municipal wards using words in various Indigenous languages from the area: Cree, Inuktun, Dene, Anishinaabe, Michif, Blackfoot, and Mohawk.
The change was in tandem with a planned ward boundary review ahead of the 2021 election — and after a 2020 movement began to rename the Oliver neighbourhood. The namesake, Frank Oliver, was a politician and journalist who banned non-white immigrants and passed legislation that sold off Indigenous land in Alberta in the 1880s.
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The community name change was OK’d in 2024. It will be transitioned to Wîhkwêntôwin (Cree for “a circle of friends”) next year at a cost of $680,000 for the replacement of signage on city assets, light rail transit (LRT) stops, and in internal city departments and emergency response systems.
Edmonton Public Schools also renamed Oliver School in 2020 while Oliver Square was changed to Unity Square in 2021, and the city removed mention of Bishop Grandin from a downtown LRT station, mural and elementary school.
In 2016, the city renamed a portion of 23rd Avenue as Maskêkosihk Trail (meaning “people of the land of medicine”) to represent Edmonton’s connection to the Enoch Cree First Nation.
Ottawa
Ottawa also removed mention of Canada’s first prime minister from a major thoroughfare in 2023, changing John A. Macdonald Parkway to Kichi Zībī Mīkan. It’s from the original Algonquin name for the Ottawa River, meaning “great river road.”
Previously called the Ottawa River Parkway, it was renamed after Macdonald in 2012, then reversed back to its original name in 2021 amid continued opposition. The cost was tagged at $60,000, and the new Algonquin name was finalized last year.
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Toronto
In 2021, the City of Toronto agreed to rename Dundas Street and all other civic properties carrying the name. It was an effort to distance the city from Henry Dundas, a politician who delayed the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, including its colonies, in the 1790s.
In 2023, city council settled on the name Sankofa Square to replace Yonge-Dundas Square, a concept from the West-African country Ghana meaning “the act of reflecting on and reclaiming teachings from the past.”
Total work has been estimated at $12.7 million, including changes to the street, subway stations and the Jane/Dundas branch of the Toronto Public Library.
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