A few writers sarcastically suggest that even the name “Victoria” is a possibly offensive relic of colonialism and by the same logic, it, too, should go. Well, yes, it should.
Those who “cleared” this land for us did atrocious harm, material and cultural, to First Nations people. That harm includes not just taking their land, but taking their languages and names.
Nearly no one, and that includes most Indigenous people, thinks we can or should give all the land back — though there are credible arguments to back that idea. But we can and should try to undo as much of the cultural damage done as possible.
That not only includes making city hall welcoming to members of First Nations who walk in the front door. It might also mean reverting to Indigenous names for places, mountains, rivers, islands and other features of the natural world.
It’s time to decolonize our public spaces and places.
We can live very well without names such as “Victoria” or “Blanshard,” statues of racists, streets named after profiteers and land speculators, etc.
The small amount of adjustment we would have to make would be a drop in the bucket compared to the affirmation of Indigenous identity and sense of belonging in a new and more just Canada that a thorough renaming project would provide. The past is never over or gone: It lives on, below the surface, and we ignore its power at our own peril.
Andrew Gow, PhD
Professor of history
University of Alberta
