Saskatoon begins process to rename John A. Macdonald Road

Change is coming for Saskatoon as officials begin consultations to renameJohn A. Macdonald Road, following the discovery ofunmarked graves by residential schools across the country.

Macdonald wasCanada's first prime minister anda key architect in the residential school system, which housed Indigenous children taken from their families from the 1870s to the 1990s.

Saskatoon willbegin consulting Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors andknowledge keepers in the coming months in order to determine a new name for the thoroughfare, the city said in a news release Friday. No one was immediately available to comment on it.

The residential school systemresulted in the neglect, abuse and death of thousands of children, and left survivors and their descendents dealing with the consequences. The 2015Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final reportdescribesthe schools as "a far-reaching system by which the federal government sought to regulate Aboriginal life."

In June, Saskatoon council voted unanimously torename John A. Macdonald Roadafter urging fromSaskatoon Tribal Council ChiefMark Arcand. He suggested a potential replacement:Reconciliation Road.

"[Macdonald]was instrumental in creating residential schools that, to this day, haveaffected our people in a negative way," Arcand said in June, when he called on the city to change the street's name.

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The unanimous vote came in thewake of recent discoveries of unmarked graveyards on the sites of former residential schools across Canada, including 751 at the former Marieval Residential School at the Cowessess First Nation, about 165 kilometres east of Regina.

The decision to rename the street is an attempt to recognize the "ongoing harm" experienced by those who attended the residential schools, the city said.

"The generations of the future will look back on this decision and believe it is the right one," Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said during the council meeting that saw the unanimous vote pass.

In additionto consultations, the city plans to holdpublic information sessions with those who live and own property alongthe thoroughfare in the west end of the cityand withthe broader community in Saskatoon.

The goal will be tolisten to community concerns and answer any questions there may be aboutthe renaming.

The consultation process is expected to take a few months with a report heading to city council in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The City of Saskatoon is looking at options to manage potential costs associated with the change of the street name as well as providing support where possible.

A web page centred on engagement regarding the street renaming will be available next week on the city's website.