Regina's City Council has decided not to change the name of Dewdney Avenue. The street is named after Edgar Dewdney, a historical figure who many indigenous people say caused harm to their ancestors.On Wednesday, the city council voted 7-3 against changing the name. Councillors Andrew Stevens and Dan LeBlanc wanted to change it because of Dewdney's actions in the past.LeBlanc said Dewdney harmed indigenous people. He used hunger as a way to make them agree to treaties and supported residential schools."Naming a street after someone is not simply a way of remembering in the City of Regina, it's a way of celebrating," LeBlanc said at the meeting.Some council members worried about the cost of changing the street name. "If this was a one-kilometre street or a bay or a circumstance like that, there’d be no hesitation in my mind whatsoever. It's the actual physical characteristics and the outcomes and the number of addresses and the number of people put to a type of displacement in their everyday life that is going to cause me not to support this," said Coun. Jason Mancinelli.Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway, who wanted the name changed, was upset by the decision. "I think there is a lot of talk around Truth and Reconciliation, but when it comes to action Regina is lagging behind many of the cities in Canada," BigEagle-Kequahtooway told 980 CJME, a Regina radio station.BigEagle-Kequahtooway thinks the cost is a bad reason not to change the name. "I think when there's political will and determination for something that they value or want, whether it's a stadium, or whether it's a town square, or whether it's a glockenspiel clock, then there's money to be found. But when it's something that indigenous people want, then there's no money," said BigEagle-Kequahtooway.Mayor Sandra Masters said there might be other ways to work on reconciliation. She suggested teaching people about history could help. "Doing some historical contextualization for how we ended up being where we are with how the founding of our city happened but also all those negative impacts of the execution of those federal policies," said Masters.BigEagle-Kequahtooway wanted to rename the street Buffalo or Tatanka Avenue. She explained that Tatanka means Buffalo in the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota languages. Even though the council said no, she plans to keep trying to change the name.
