OTTAWA -- An Ottawa Councillor is supporting a push by residents of a Lindenlea street to rename the street named after a man considered a key architect of the residential school system.
Rawlson King tells CTV Morning Live he is renewing the survey of residents on Langevin Avenue about possibly changing the name of the street. The street off Beechwood Avenue is named after Hector-Louis Langevin, one of the father's of Confederation.
“In 2018, residents on Langevin Avenue actually approached my predecessor, Councillor Tobi Nussbaum, to change the name,” said King on Wednesday morning.
“Obviously that was disrupted by the (2019 municipal) byelection, but there was renewed interest, so obviously we decided to follow up.”
In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renamed the Langevin Block building, across the street from Parliament Hill. The building is now called the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council.
“It was the residents who actually called for the change of name. They were actually really excited by the prospect of refreshing this process, going forward with this process after my byelection ,” said King on Wednesday morning.
“I think they might have been slightly disappointed because of the interruption with the byelection, but we made the commitment that we would continue with the process. We are refreshing the survey of the street to determine the different name options and to demonstrate that we are committed to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in the city.”
King says the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition community forum has made three suggestions for a new name for the street: Commanda Way, Wabano Way and Anishinaabe Mikan.
Commanda Way is named after Algonquin elder William Commanda. Wabano is the Ojibwe word meaning “new beginnings.” Anishinaabe is the word for “original person”, while Mikan is the Algonquin word for road.
King says residents will be asked for input on the names.
