The City of St. John's has decided to stop naming streets and city buildings after people.St. John's City Cllr. Ron Ellsworth presented this motion to city council last week, and it passed unanimously.Ellsworth explained the reason for this policy: "Naming streets after people carries a number of risks — [There could be] problematic legacies, political polarization, disparity in representation and cultural marginalization." Current street names and applications submitted before the policy change will not be affected by the new rule..Cllr. Tom Davis also commented on the topic."People can have history that comes out after the fact. There was also the reflection upon colonialism and potentially the use of some names. But the main driver was new names that might be brought forward that could end up having criminal or some sort of negative connotation, that would end up being a mistake."Ellsworth added the city will still consider surnames.Similarly, many street renaming decisions have occurred recently in Western Canada, such as the street renaming in the City of Vancouver. Trutch St. in Kitsilano will be renamed šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm, written in the language of the Musqueam indigenous people..Another example in B.C. is the Pattullo Bridge, which will be renamed in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, a collaboration between the Musqueam and Kwantlen indigenous people. Back in 2023, the City of Ottawa voted to rename the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to Kichi Zībī Mīkan, in the language of the Algonquin people.
