This is the proposed new name for Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway

The NCC is closing the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway on weekends in May (Photo courtesy: Twitter: NCC_CCN)

The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa's west end will be renamed Kichi Zībī Mīkan, if approved by the National Capital Commission's board of directors.

In a letter to Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Chief Dylan Whiteduck, NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum says community members from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and the Algonquins of the Pikwakanagan First Nation have reached a consensus on a new name.

Nussbaum says he will recommend the board of directors approve the new name Kichi Zībī Mīkan at its meeting on June 22.

"I am thankful for the generosity of the participants, who shared views, stories and cultural references about the area, highlighting the profound connection the Algonquin Anishinabeg maintain with the river and surroundings," Nussbaum said.

"If approved by the board, NCC staff will work with both Algonquin communities to plan an unveiling ceremony this fall."

The letter was published in the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg weekly newsletter on Friday. An NCC spokesperson confirmed the proposed new name for the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway is Kichi Zībī Mīkan.

Kichi Zībī means great river in the Algonquin language, while mīkan is "road" or "path".

The NCC's board of directors voted in January to give a new Indigenous name to the road named after Canada's first prime minister, "Reflecting the longstanding and important relationship of the Algonquin Nation to the Ottawa River along which the parkway runs."

The NCC conducted consultations with Indigenous partners and the public.

The former Conservative government renamed the Ottawa River Parkway the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in 2012.

In 2021, three Ottawa councillors wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call on the federal government to change the name of the parkway following the discovery of a suspected mass grave at the site of a former residential school in British Columbia.