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

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Strongly disagree with this. Regardless of what impact renaming the parkway will have, SJA's legacy is already completely dominated by the image of a racist, genocidal figure.

You can't name anything for him or honour him anymore.

As a francophone I am actually not a big fan of SJA personally but these facts cannot be denied.

The funny thing is that SJA's record regarding indigenous peoples was not entirely negative.

The North West Mounted Police was founded not just to protect Canadian sovereignty in the west but also to protect indigenous peoples from American attacks.

SJA's government also gave millions of acres of land to the Metis when Manitoba was founded. It was not SJA's fault that they sold most of the land.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Definitely, the Aviation Parkway should be returned to its original name, the Eastern Parkway.

Streets should not be renamed except when we want them renamed.

Yes of course. Since "Eastern" is a name of great historic significance for Ottawa and Canada.

Remember, Peter Lougheed once said "Let those eastern bastards freeze in the dark!"

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

The funny thing is that SJA's record regarding indigenous peoples was not entirely negative.

The North West Mounted Police was founded not just to protect Canadian sovereignty in the west but also to protect indigenous peoples from American attacks.

Are people even allowed to say this type of thing in 2022, without say a lightning bolt coming down from the sky to strike them dead?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Are people even allowed to say this type of thing in 2022, without say a lightning bolt coming down from the sky to strike them dead?

Oh my, how dare I?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Oh my, how dare I?

Don't worry, I won't tell on you!

[SidetrackedSue]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Definitely, the Aviation Parkway should be returned to its original name, the Eastern Parkway.

TIL it was originally called the Eastern Parkway. I had no idea, probably because I didn't have any reason to go east of the Rideau River (except to take the Queensway to the St. Laurent Shopping Centre or to go to the Science Museum) while it was called that.

I was going to say the SJAM should become the Western River Parkway with the GEC being the Eastern River Parkway but your piece of history now nixes that idea.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by SidetrackedSue

TIL it was originally called the Eastern Parkway. I had no idea, probably because I didn't have any reason to go east of the Rideau River (except to take the Queensway to the St. Laurent Shopping Centre or to go to the Science Museum) while it was called that.

I was going to say the SJAM should become the Western River Parkway with the GEC being the Eastern River Parkway but your piece of history now nixes that idea.

Originally, the Aviation parkway only ran from Ogilvie Road to Montreal Road. This was before even the first version of the Aviation museum was built at the Rockcliffe airport. The parkway was renamed when the new museum opened and the parkway was extended north of Montreal Road.

The 'Eastern Parkway' was the first phase of an ambitious project to build a ring road across the south tier of the city and connecting to the west end of the SJAM parkway at Carling. Parts of that corridor still exist undeveloped while other parts have been sold for housing. The transitway running south from Carling is the west end of this corridor. My family was expropriated in 1949 for this project at Bank Street where the railway overpass is today. Ledbury Park is where my family lived up to 1949 and an extension of the Eastern Parkway was to run through that park.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Arcologist

For starters, I don't know why we have to rename absolutely everything with an Algonquin name!?! I understand and appreciate and wholeheartedly support measures for reconciliation, but renaming everything to me is not the solution. There are other ways to honour indigenous history and culture. I liked Nepean Point, but oh well.

Yeah, I have to agree. I feel there's been an over compensation on certain aspects such as renamings for Algonquin elders or words, along with consultations that seem heavily based on the Indigenous perspective, while other, more important things like access to clean water is still dragging, with no final resolution in sight.

Renaming the SJAM to honour the Algonquins made sense as the timing for the first renaming was puzzling (during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and after Harper apologized for the residential school system), and it was to be re-named due to SJAM's role in the residential school system. I'd argue the same for the PoW Bridge (we already have a PoW Drive, though named for a different PoW + link between French/English/Indigenous), but this one seemed unnecessary. That said, I won't lose any sleep over it.

[Kitchissippi]

I completely agree with renaming the point. Too many things in this area including a whole section of the city are named after Evan Nepean, a colonial figure who had very little to do with Canadian History. There's also Nepean Bay out by LeBreton Flats. I'm glad a prominent geographic feature of the area has a more meaningful unique name.

[zzptichka]

At least we didn't rename the country and the city like New Zealand did. Oh wait.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I completely agree with renaming the point. Too many things in this area including a whole section of the city are named after Evan Nepean, a colonial figure who had very little to do with Canadian History. There's also Nepean Bay out by LeBreton Flats. I'm glad a prominent geographic feature of the area has a more meaningful unique name.

That's a good point. Nepean is overrepresented. Sort of strange how the City/Feds named so many things after a handful of figures in a city that was relatively small at the time.

We're still doing that now, with half the urban west end named Kitchi Sibi, using various spellings. Chief William Comanda got a bridge and a street, nowhere near one another, in the same year (same day?)

[zzptichka]

Didn't realize Kichesippi Beer has their unique spelling too.

I don't actually mind it. Fun little Ottawa quirk. Hope every Kichi-place has their own way to spell. We just need a Kitchi-registry.

[Badyouken]

Obviously, it should be named Rideau Point. Gotta be consistent with the street, canal, river, hall, centre, and club.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

At least we didn't rename the country and the city like New Zealand did. Oh wait.

Thankfully both the country and its capital already have Indigenous names.

[Acajack]

I've always found it interesting that the denizens of Ottawa in the middle of the 1800s (not known for being a pro-Indigenous era) chose to rename their city Ottawa, replacing the very properly British Bytown name.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've always found it interesting that the denizens of Ottawa in the middle of the 1800s (not known for being a pro-Indigenous era) chose to rename their city Ottawa, replacing the very properly British Bytown name.

Agreed. Same for much of the typology of Canada. It's amazing how much Indigenous words and names of places were adopted for centuries of European colonization.

[Marshsparrow]

Similar change from York to Toronto.

[Andyvc10]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Thankfully both the country and its capital already have Indigenous names.

And province. The word “Ontario” comes from the Iroquois word “kanadario”, meaning “sparkling” water.

[Uhuniau]

There was also a romanticism attached at the time to words and names in, or derived from, Indigenous languages. It's also why a bunch of the proposed new states that the United States kept creating west of the Appalachians ended up with euphonious and appropriate names like "Wisconsin" and "Minnesota" rather than some of the alternatives.

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/24...ns-countrymen/