Saskatoon city council approves renaming of John A. Macdonald Road

Saskatoon’s John A. Macdonald Road will soon be no more.

A motion to rename the street in the Confederation Park area was unanimously approved at Monday’s city council meeting.

The decision comes just weeks after Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand made a public call to have the street renamed to acknowledge the ongoing harm of the Indian residential school system and the role John A. Macdonald — Canada’s first prime minister — played in that part of history.

Arcand addressed council before the vote, saying the name change is a step in the right direction.

“People that are 60, 70, 80 years old that are reliving the horror of residential schools — it’s destroying people, it’s destroying families and it’s destroying partnerships and relationships and that has to change,” Arcand said.

“I think we have to do the right thing here and that’s making sure we change the systems that have been negative to Indigenous people.”

The renaming process, which will take place over the coming months, will include consultations with residents on the street and the Indigenous community, as well as options to manage the cost of renaming the road.

Coun. David Kirton, who initiated the motion, said he realizes education will be needed to win over some people.

“I’m asking the residents of Saskatoon, but most explicitly the residents of this particular road, to open their hearts to our Indigenous neighbours,” Kirton said. “That’s one thing we can do. That’s the simple message I will take with me when I go door to door in a few weeks.”

The discovery of unmarked graves near former residential schools in Kamloops and Cowessess First Nation has helped further the movement to remove symbols of colonialism in Canada.