Should we be renaming places and things in Ottawa-Gatineau?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by stolenottawa

Yeah, I gotta disagree with you. You're making very broad statements that may be the case for you anecdotally, but the kids that I know who go to Catholic School speak French perfectly well and aren't making the grammatical mistakes that you're attributing to them.

You're entitled to your opinion.

There are always exceptions to every rule. This guy is from Manchester, New Hampshire. Born and raised. Only moved to Montreal as an adult.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=387689838995975

BTW I have no idea of your language skills so I have no way of knowing (either way) if you're apt to judge the quality of their French.

But just so you know I'd be qualified to work as a French teacher or as a translator (into French from English).

[stolenottawa]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You're entitled to your opinion.

There are always exceptions to every rule. This guy is from Manchester, New Hampshire. Born and raised. Only moved to Montreal as an adult.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=387689838995975

BTW I have no idea of your language skills so I have no way of knowing (either way) if you're apt to judge the quality of their French.

But just so you know I'd be qualified to work as a French teacher or as a translator (into French from English).

That guy's French is fantastic. I'm always amazed at people who become so fluent learning later in life. It always make me wonder what's different for them. Sort of the same idea as people who can actually speak French who went to French Immersion. (My wife and I know a number of people who teach in Immersion who do make the grammatical mistakes you mentioned previously, which I figure doesn't help the students in the least.)

Lol, I was thinking the same thing, I had no clue about your level of French. Anyways, I'm no French teacher (much to my French teacher mother's chagrin) but I'm Francophone born and raised in Ottawa. I've also lived in Montreal and Switzerland.

I'm not big on saying that one version of spoken French is correct or superior to another.

Written French, different story for sure. I will say, the worst written French I've seen is from some of the people I work with in the blue collar sector in Gatineau. Just unbelievable. It's joual in written form.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by stolenottawa

That guy's French is fantastic. I'm always amazed at people who become so fluent learning later in life. It always make me wonder what's different for them. .

Yeah, he's really good. He also writes really well. I read him in social media sometimes.

Of course, even if he is American born and raised, his name is still Rémi Francoeur. Obviously he didn't start learning French from scratch in Montreal. Though in New England even people named Rémi Francoeur generally don't speak French that well these days. If at all.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by stolenottawa

Lol, I was thinking the same thing, I had no clue about your level of French. Anyways, I'm no French teacher (much to my French teacher mother's chagrin) but I'm Francophone born and raised in Ottawa. I've also lived in Montreal and Switzerland.
.

I am a francophone born and raised outside Quebec, and lived in the "rest of Canada" for the first half of my life into my mid-20s. A decent chunk of that was in Ottawa so I do have lots of friends and even family there.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by stolenottawa

I'm not big on saying that one version of spoken French is correct or superior to another.
.

I don't either but there still are minimum standards. Especially in a professional setting.

Stand-up comedy or watching "the game" with the boys is a different story.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by stolenottawa

Written French, different story for sure. I will say, the worst written French I've seen is from some of the people I work with in the blue collar sector in Gatineau. Just unbelievable. It's joual in written form.

Definitely. My kids always lash out when they read stuff like that: "Il/elle écrit au son!"

Though in my observation (anecdotal, but I've done a lot of observing over the years), francophones from that same demographic in Ottawa (or Ontario in general) don't even try writing in French. They just write in English.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Acajack

My wife and I, with many friends and relatives both as clients and teachers in the Ontario French system, have long had a theory that there is some fudging going on when it comes to their test results.

Especially when it comes to tested skills in the main language of instruction. In Ontario, pan-Canadian and international testing, kids' reading, writing skills are assessed in the language that learn in. For Franco-Ontarian schools, that language is French. (Whereas for most Ontario students, that test measures English competency.)

I find it extremely hard (actually impossible) to believe that most students in Ontario French schools do as well on *equivalent* tests as francophone kids in France, Switzerland or Belgium. Or even Quebec, which while not perfect, still produces francophone kids with a noticeably higher baseline French proficiency than the other provinces.

A couple of things going on here. One is I think there is a prejudice to Franco Ontarians. Their accent is horrible. This is not what is being tested though. Nor is their grammar directly. Secondly the French and especially French Catholic system has very different demographics. It's a solidly middle class urban population. This dramatically reduces the below standard tests. Finally the test is standardized so it seems to reward more difficult languages as these schools spend more time on the subject and it doesn't test this last mile knowledge.

[RuralCitizen]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Their accent is horrible.

Vraiment? Je ne suis pas d'accord avec toi et je trouve ces propos très insultants. J'ai grandi dans l'Est ontarien, dans Clarence-Rockland précisément et ai fréquenté les écoles du Conseil Scolaire de District Catholique de l'Est ontarien.

Classifier l'accent Franco-Ontarien d'horrible est très simpliste car on retrouve plusieurs variantes. On peut rapidement le voir en comparant l'accent de Timmins avec l'accent d'ici. Par contre il faut mentionner que l'accent d'Orléans est bizarre car elle se donne un air anglais qui n'a pas lieu d'être.

Vivre en Ontario et grandir sur une ferme n'empêche personne de bien parler et écrire en français.

But I think we are wandering quite far from the subject of this page.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

A couple of things going on here. One is I think there is a prejudice to Franco Ontarians. Their accent is horrible. This is not what is being tested though. Nor is their grammar directly. Secondly the French and especially French Catholic system has very different demographics. It's a solidly middle class urban population. This dramatically reduces the below standard tests. Finally the test is standardized so it seems to reward more difficult languages as these schools spend more time on the subject and it doesn't test this last mile knowledge.

Yes, there is definitely some prejudice against Franco-Ontariens and the way they speak French (accent, vocabulary, grammar).

That wasn't at all what I was referring to, though. A lot of people equate speaking with an accent to speaking a language properly, but I've always pushed back on that.

I actually used to speak with a variant of the Franco-Ontarien accent, and still have some subtle remnants of it today. It's even more audible in my wife's speech, and I am with her every day.

I still maintain that even with controlling for socio-economic status and a few extreme individual outliers, francophone students in Ottawa and Ontario in general tend to be quite a bit weaker in French.

A few anecdotes that I have hesitated to share until now:

- Kids from Ottawa francophone schools go automatically into remedial French when they transfer to my kids' Gatineau high school. This is true even of kids who went to Lycée Claudel which teaches the French system (from France). A friend of one of my kids transferred from the Lycée and initially had 90s in all subjects except French, where the marks were more in the 70s. Much to the chagrin of the parents. As the kid is extremely smart, by the next year, the marks in French were up into the 90s as well.

- It's not really publicized but first-year kids from Gatineau and Quebec (and I assume France) are exempted from mandatory French courses in numerous programs at the University of Ottawa. Kids from Ottawa and Ontario must take these courses as they're actually part of the program. But the Quebec kids get "independent study" status for these classes and must simply produce self-directed writing assignments from time to time. I have had a "one degree of separation" experience with this BTW, so it's not a friend of a friend of a friend who told me this.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by RuralCitizen

Vraiment? Je ne suis pas d'accord avec toi et je trouve ces propos très insultants. J'ai grandi dans l'Est ontarien, dans Clarence-Rockland précisément et ai fréquenté les écoles du Conseil Scolaire de District Catholique de l'Est ontarien.

Classifier l'accent Franco-Ontarien d'horrible est très simpliste car on retrouve plusieurs variantes. On peut rapidement le voir en comparant l'accent de Timmins avec l'accent d'ici. Par contre il faut mentionner que l'accent d'Orléans est bizarre car elle se donne un air anglais qui n'a pas lieu d'être.

Vivre en Ontario et grandir sur une ferme n'empêche personne de bien parler et écrire en français.

But I think we are wandering quite far from the subject of this page.

Je suis d'accord qu'aucun accent n'est "horrible".

Par contre, je trouve que les divers accents franco-ontariens ont tendance à converger.

Quand j'étais jeune les ados de l'est d'Ottawa et Orléans avaient un accent qui ressemblait beaucoup plus à celui de l'Outaouais québécois, et qui était très différent de celui de Timmins-Sudbury-North Bay. Ce n'est plus le cas aujourd'hui et pas mal partout à Ottawa et Orléans les jeunes ont beaucoup de relents d'anglais dans leur accent, comme leurs cousins partout ailleurs en Ontario.

Prescott-Russell demeure l'exception... pour l'instant.

L'accent dans cette région ressemble encore pas mal à celui de l'autre côté de la rivière. Surtout à mesure qu'on se déplace de plus en plus vers l'est.

[Tesladom]

I'm born and raised franco-ontarien, so I can speak from my experience what what I see:
All of my adult friends speak French at home, but most, with the exception of myself and one other in our group of 5 couples/friends has an English speaking parent. This is very common in Orleans, and leads to households speaking both French and English at home. While we converse in French informally, we may switch back and forth in English for a sentence or two. My wife's father is English, yet follows a conversation in French but will typically answer in English for example
To us this is perfectly natural. Once of my friends was raise Arabic and when he converses with his mother over 3rd word in English, so we basically understand what he says. All of our kids speak French and attend French school.

The biggest difference when comparing Orleans French for example with any part of Quebec is the ability to live/work/play and converse outside the home in French - this is very limited even in Orleans. My son played high level hockey and everything was done in English, from a very early age as well. Luckily with my daughter we here able to enroll her into French programs for Dance and Gymnastics. But general rule, once you leave the house in Orleans, you are speaking English
I hardly ever write or have professional conversations in French, due to the nature of my work. Again, living in Quebec you are much more likely to live in French not only in your house (more often with 2 French speaking parents), but all outside social activities and most professional interactions are also done in French, this reinforces the language.

I get quite upset at people knocking any regional French dialect as not "proper", I personally love Acadien French for example. Don't bash the people who speak what you may consider "improper" French, and understand the huge challenges of maintain French even in a more traditionally French speaking area like Orleans

[Kitchissippi]

Looks like the SJAM Winter Trail will be changing its name https://fb.watch/6jcqn5fLrX/

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

I'm born and raised franco-ontarien, so I can speak from my experience what what I see:
All of my adult friends speak French at home, but most, with the exception of myself and one other in our group of 5 couples/friends has an English speaking parent. This is very common in Orleans, and leads to households speaking both French and English at home. While we converse in French informally, we may switch back and forth in English for a sentence or two. My wife's father is English, yet follows a conversation in French but will typically answer in English for example
To us this is perfectly natural. Once of my friends was raise Arabic and when he converses with his mother over 3rd word in English, so we basically understand what he says. All of our kids speak French and attend French school.

The biggest difference when comparing Orleans French for example with any part of Quebec is the ability to live/work/play and converse outside the home in French - this is very limited even in Orleans. My son played high level hockey and everything was done in English, from a very early age as well. Luckily with my daughter we here able to enroll her into French programs for Dance and Gymnastics. But general rule, once you leave the house in Orleans, you are speaking English
I hardly ever write or have professional conversations in French, due to the nature of my work. Again, living in Quebec you are much more likely to live in French not only in your house (more often with 2 French speaking parents), but all outside social activities and most professional interactions are also done in French, this reinforces the language.

I get quite upset at people knocking any regional French dialect as not "proper", I personally love Acadien French for example. Don't bash the people who speak what you may consider "improper" French, and understand the huge challenges of maintain French even in a more traditionally French speaking area like Orleans

That sums it-up quite well from a Franco-Ontarian perspective.

What gets me is how non-Quebec French is so widely criticized (think Denise Bombardier) when the absolute worst French I've ever heard was from stereotypical Quebecers I know, which accounts for around 25% of people I know from La Belle Province.

[J.OT13]

Julie Payette High School in Kanata will be renamed. They did do a survey amongst parents. Can't find the news article online.

This is an interesting case, where the school was named for her due to her accomplishments as an astronaut, but her name is being removed because she's a terrible manager.

[Tesladom]

So we really need to reconsider naming roads, places, monuments etc after people, since humans are basically all flawed, next thing you know we'll find a recording of Terry Fox at 17 using the N-word.
Or we come to a consensus and agree that we name these things after people regardless of what history (or most importantly the changes in societal beliefs over time) demonstrates in the future.

Its a difficult argument over time to really figure out, is Winston Churchill a hero? Or a racist? But then again, should we judge him on our current moral standard or the standards of the day?

These are all serious questions we should ask...

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

So we really need to reconsider naming roads, places, monuments etc after people, since humans are basically all flawed, next thing you know we'll find a recording of Terry Fox at 17 using the N-word.
Or we come to a consensus and agree that we name these things after people regardless of what history (or most importantly the changes in societal beliefs over time) demonstrates in the future.

Its a difficult argument over time to really figure out, is Winston Churchill a hero? Or a racist? But then again, should we judge him on our current moral standard or the standards of the day?

These are all serious questions we should ask...

I agree.

[rocketphish]

Failed Wellington St. renaming proposal highlights sensitivities around Indigenous reconciliation
As council considers passing its cultural protocol and implementation plan, a failed proposal to rename Wellington St. is a reminder that sensitivity is crucial

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Apr 08, 2022 • 40 minutes ago • 4 minute read

Wellington Street was on the road to becoming “Reconciliation Boulevard” earlier this year, but Mayor Jim Watson pulled his proposal after receiving mixed reviews from local Algonquin leaders.

The mayor pitched the renaming of arguably the capital region’s most important street — one that the City of Ottawa is trying to unload on the federal government — two months before a the city released a major policy on a civic cultural protocol with the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

Until recently, the proposal was kept under wraps.

The idea was first broached during a virtual meeting between Watson and Algonquin community leaders on Jan. 17. It was met with suspicion from one of the leaders in attendance.

During a recent community and protective services committee meeting, Dylan Whiteduck, chief of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, told councillors that he challenged the mayor at that January meeting, asking Watson what reconciliation meant to him.

According to Whiteduck, Watson didn’t have an answer, and the chief urged councillors not to be “caught empty-handed” when someone asks about the significance of reconciliation.

“If we can’t even answer that simple question, then we can’t move forward,” Whiteduck told the committee.

The mayor pulled the naming proposal on Jan. 23, six days after his meeting with the Algonquin leaders, and just a short time before trucks started occupying Wellington Street and surrounding roads as part of the Freedom Convoy.

The failed proposal highlights the sensitivity and mindfulness with which the city must approach initiatives that it believes are actions of reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

It’s something for councillors to keep in mind as council debates the cultural protocol and implementation plan next Wednesday, an historic policy that would improve consultations with Algonquin communities and welcome more influence of Indigenous elders and leaders in the business of city governance.

The protocol would guide consultations with the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation, make sure the nation’s people are involved in municipal cultural initiatives and educate Ottawa residents about the nation and its history.

The protocol also attempts to keep open lines of communication between city hall and the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

Part of the protocol’s four-year implementation plan calls for an ex-officio member of city council to be named from the Indigenous community, a proposal from the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation accepted by city staff.

Dan Chenier, the general manager who oversees the city’s cultural programs, said the member would act as an “honourary advisor” in matters that concern the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation, “and to bring the knowledge, expertise and experience of Anishinabe Algonquin elders to members of city council.”

The city would work with elders, the Anishinabe Algonquin Consultative Culture Circle and with Anishinabe Algonquin Nation organizations to determine a member selection process, Chenier said.

Despite having a seat at the council table, the intention is not to give the member a vote on council business.

“Details of ex-officio elder duties, responsibilities, expectations, rights and limits will be the subject of further discussions before implementation,” Chenier said.

The city is unaware of another Canadian municipality that has appointed an ex-officio council member from the Indigenous community.

The protocol implementation plan also includes actions related to archeology, archiving records and artefacts, commemorations, heritage, cultural funding, mapping, art, libraries, research, language and municipal facilities.

For example, the city’s recreation, culture and facilities department will be tasked with removing Indigenous-themed mascots, symbols, names and imagery related to non-Indigenous sports organizations.

A five-year plan for arts, heritage and culture and the 2018 city reconciliation action plan set the groundwork for a protocol recognizing the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation, whose territory on which the City of Ottawa is built. It has been under development since 2016.

Since then, the city has woven acknowledgements of the Algonquin host nation into municipal facilities and new projects. There are Anishinabe Algonquin Nation flags at city hall and those chairing council and committee meetings often read an honouring statement at the beginning.

The city has encouraged Indigenous artists to submit works to be included in the city art collection. More recently, the city has issued expressions of interest for works by Algonquin and Inuit artists at the future Ādisōke super library on LeBreton Flats. (The city and its development partner Library and Archives Canada chose the Algonquin word, which refers to the telling of stories, as the facility’s name).

The city also changed the name of an interprovincial rail bridge that is being converted into a multi-use path over the Ottawa River near Lemieux Island, to Chief William Commanda Bridge in honour of the late Algonquin elder. A pedestrian bridge over the Rideau River that opened in 2015 is named Adàwe, an Algonquin term meaning “to trade.”

A consultation circle of elders and other representatives of the 11 federally recognized Anishinabe Algonquin First Nations will monitor the protocol and provide guidance to city departments.

The new protocol received the endorsement of Algonquin leaders who attended the community and protective services committee meeting last month.

McGregor said the protocol “sets the bar to future working relations and that is key to moving forward in a good way that truly honours the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.”

Grand Chief Lisa Robinson of the Algonquin Nation Programs and Services Secretariat called it “a momentous day” and a “start of something good.”

Whiteduck also supported the protocol

Ottawa residents should know “this is a one good stop toward reconciliation,” Whiteduck said.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling



City of Ottawa’s honouring statement

“Ottawa is built on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory.

The peoples of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation have lived on this territory for millennia.

Their culture and presence have nurtured and continue to nurture this land.

The City of Ottawa honours the peoples and land of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

The City of Ottawa honours all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and their valuable past and present contributions to this land.”

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...gonquin-nation

[rocketphish]

I think I've said it before... I'm all for naming things after deserving people, First Nations or not, but not if it means unnaming it from somebody else deserving of it.

Find a new place or thing to honour them with. Otherwise you're just causing a big headache for any residences or businesses on that street and messing with people's wayfinding abilities.

[rocketphish]

NCC's new naming committee — the many whys in modern toponymy

Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Apr 08, 2022 • 0 minutes ago • 3 minute read

The National Capital Commission is striking an advisory committee on “toponymy” — a fancy word and process that asks: “Have we put the wrong names on things?”

We can only wish them luck. It is work fraught with emotional mines and, with 1,600 properties and dozens of parks and trails and such, there are just so many names, so many ways to misstep. (Is it not unlike renaming your own children in middle-age?)

The NCC has signalled its motive and direction. The committee has nine members, including two who represent Indigenous communities — the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation.

In a presentation Wednesday to the board of directors, one of the slides said any new names “must be done in both official languages and in consideration of the Indigenous Languages Act” and the discussions must “include a reconciliation lens.”

One of its first items is the possible renaming of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, which hugs the Ottawa River in the western part of the city.

Given Sir John’s re-examined role in the residential schools debacle, the resulting removal of his statue (in a couple of places), we can safely predict the giant eraser is coming for this Father of Confederation. Not only was his name added to this road late (2012) but it had ill-fitting clang from the start: why him, why there?

(Furthermore, his winding stretch of asphalt skirts Indigenous focal points in the LeBreton Flats area — witness Pimisi Station on LRT, Pindigen Park and our new central library branch, called Ādisōke.)

So dropping Sir John A. will be easy work. But what of others?

Though the committee is not yet fully constituted (it will have five NCC employees, four outsiders) the process says it can either review names on its own or accept requests from the public.

What of Jacques Cartier Park? Through the lens of reconciliation, is he a justly honoured French explorer or a great European colonizer who is very much a part, if not the start, of the problem?

What do we do with the memory of Samuel de Champlain, the famed explorer of the Ottawa River? Well, Wednesday’s meeting offered an illustration at how 100-year monuments can be recast for modern sensibilities.

Champlain once strode like a colossus, high on a plinth, at Nepean Point, overlooking the Ottawa River, with an aboriginal “scout” kneeling far below him. It was very easy to interpret the scout as being subordinate to the great European, who was busy with his astrolabe and jaunty chapeau “discovering” the river they had known for centuries.

In the mid-1990s, offended native groups demanded the depiction be removed and the scout, after much hand-wringing, was moved to a different location.

(Even the great thinkers on the Citizen editorial board thought this was the wrong decision. “Dismantling Champlain’s statue belies history,” read the headline from, not 1899, but 1999.)

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board approved a redesign of Nepean Point that, literally, knocks Champlain off his pedestal, and puts the kneeling scout in a more prominent location. As the scout — finally given a name, Zibi Annini — was an add-on to the original 1915 unveiling, there is a certain elegance to the solution.

With holdings as large as those of the NCC, there will always be something to “complain” about, or recast in modern light.

What of the royal-linked names, the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, the Alexandra Bridge, to mention but two? Will someone say these are terrible reminders of our colonial past, our continued subservience to a kooky family across the ocean?

Capt. John LeBreton — and isn’t he still rolling in his grave — is recorded to have acquired the land around today’s Flats by trading on insider information and succeeding with a quick-flip, get-rich land deal with the Crown. But to this day, his name in lights.

Or the Mackenzie King Estate, named for a late prime minister known for his war-time service and being extra weird.

Meech, Leamy, Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Vincent Massey, Colonel By — quite shocking the breadth of historical names the NCC has attached to one thing or other — so many targets for our digital darts.

Lest we think public renamings are only about reconciling European-Indigenous grievances, board member Mireille Apollon, a former Gatineau councillor, made a good point.

She asked the advisory committee to keep in mind the enormous contributions made by immigrants to Canada since our founding. Have they been forgotten, it is to wonder, in this 21st-century reckoning over historical names?

Toponymy, really. Must it have so many whys?

To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...odern-typonymy

[J.OT13]

Renaming public parks and infrastructure for the sake of renaming is the "in" thing to do right now in the name of reconciliation. It's an easy "win" for politicians. Good on Dylan Whiteduck for recognizing Watson's pandering and empty gestures.

Rideau and Wellington Streets are were built and named by Colonel John By when Bytown was founded in 1826. They are a small piece of our early municipal history that is otherwise dominated by our history as Canada's Capital.

Nepean Point, Nepean Street and Nepean the former city, were named for a guy probably most people don't even know. We can find it now with a quick Google search, but the fact that he's not a household name is probably an indication he's not a controversial figure. Why do we need to rename the Point which has had its name for 150+ years?

I agree with renaming the SJAM as its renaming to honour Macdonald was recent, and at a time when we were already well aware of his involvement in one of our Canada's darkest legacies. G.E.C. might not have been involved in that, as far as we know, but having his name on the Rockliffe Parkway was a symbolic bookend with SJAM, so might as well rename it while we are at it. Both men are already well represented throughout the city, and the parkways have few street addresses and thus, renaming won't be a major inconvenience.

Looking at a few other possible renamings in the article:

Alexandra Bridge - with the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge, it presents a good opportunity for change.
Mackenzie King Estate - it would quite an egregious act to rename the Estate built by our longest serving Prime Minister, he would led us through WWII and gifted his property to the Canadian people and was responsible for the creation of Gatineau Park.
Colonel By - The man who led the construction of the Rideau Canal and founded the City should remain in the city's lexicon.
LeBreton Flats - He was kind of an ass from the get-go. Maybe wouldn't be a big deal to rename it with an Indigenous name to continue the theme of the area.

As rocketphish, we can name new things after deserving people, Indigenous or not. We have plenty of opportunities to do so in central areas quickly redeveloping like LeBreton, Zibi, parts of Hull, Federal office campuses (keep the area's name, but future parks and streets can offer new naming opportunities), but renaming long standing streets, parks and buildings is often an empty gesture that causes a lot of headaches for many people. Trying to please one group (the Indigenous, who often see right through pandering) while alienating another group (those of European decent who usually supports reconciliation but might be getting frustrated at the astounding changes tot he landscape) is not the way forward. We need to find a better balance.

A National monument to the victims of residential schools and smaller monuments at individual sites. A monument to the victims of colonialism. Funds to eliminate all drinking water advisories once and for all. A national museum of the Indigenous on Victoria Island. Drafting a new Indian Act (with a less offensive name). These are things that might bring true reconciliation.