Canada 150+ : Place naming and re-naming, design principles, and commemoration

Earlier today, City Council discussed the idea of a new project to mark the Canada 150+ celebrations. It came in the form of a Council motion that touched upon place naming (and re-naming), indigenous design principles, mapping commemorative plaques and more. (You can read the full text of the motion here.) We wrote a letter in support of this initiative and are pleased to report that the motion was passed after some good discussion by councillors. This will have some very interesting implications for public space in the city.

Here’s an excerpt of our letter:

We are particularly encouraged by the motion to explore how better to incorporate indigenous place names throughout the city. Given Vancouver’s designation as a “City of Reconciliation,” we feel that this is long overdue. Other cities have undertaken, or are in the process of undertaking, similar naming processes – and it is a powerful way to respond to the type of cultural erasure that characterized much of Vancouver’s colonial history and relationship with local First Nations.

We would ask that the City also consider exploring the opportunity to designate new public spaces to honour the spirit of reconciliation itself. One example, which we proposed previously, was to look at designating the new 800-Robson plaza space in this regard. It’s just an idea, of course, but one that we think has some strong symbolic value, given its location.

We further support the exploration of street or asset renaming. We understand that there have been some challenges identified with this, but we think the conversation warrants a deeper discussion. We note that the City already has a number of precedents in this regard – which is why we call Vanier Park by that name and not senaqw (its Squamish name). It’s also why there’s no more Bismark Avenue, Electric Avenue or Tram Avenue any more (all of which were once the names of East Vancouver streets).