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According to students from grade 9 of the Dr. Charles Best Secondary are urging the government of Coquitlam to change the name of Dewdney Trunk Road, which was named after the famous Canadian politician Edgar Dewdney, who lived in the 19th century and was responsible for thousands dead Indigenous people who mostly starved to death due to his policy against Indigenious people.
He served as the lieutenant-governor from 1881 to 1888 in the Northwest Territories of British Columbia and was known for his racial attitude against Indigenous people and his brutal policy to force the Indigenous people in reservoirs where they had to live a life in poverty.
Because of this infamous history of Edgar Dewdney, the students want to rename the street to do another step towards the reconciliation of Indigenous people.
The opinions of the students of the Gleneagle Secondary school are mixed.
“I think it‘s a good step in the right direction,“ said student Saida Hoxhoxhan, grade 11.
One had already tried to forget what happened too long and education is needed.
On the other side, student Jaqueline Utermark, grade 11 said that “it isn‘t that important for me. What happened, happened and it cannot be changed so why should we care about this?“
But most of the people want streets name to be changed because of the crimes and the genocide Dewdney caused. He justified his actions with the fear of what the young generation of indigenous people would do after the Northwest rebellion of 1885.
Ava Vukovic, a journalist also writes that “Changing the name of the road would be a small step in the right direction for truth and Renconciliation in Coquitlam.“