Dr. Charles Best secondary school’s grade 9 students are asking government officials to rename Dewdney Trunk Road which was named after the 19th century politician Edgar Dewdney due to his contribution to Indigenous residential schools and genocide, who is also known as a late 19th century BC politician.
According to Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia and Tri-City News “Is it time to rename Dewdney Trunk Road?” by Kyle Balzer, Edgar Dewdney, who was one of the supporters and operators on the acts of residential school by suppressing the Indigenous people and Métis by adopting them into agriculture and compelled them to settle on reserves, which result thousands of deaths from starvation. Kyle Balzer also stated that Dewdney claims residential schools will turn the Indigenous people into “model citizens” to justify his action according to historians from his research.
The movement about changing the name for the road was first brought up by Dr. Charles Best teacher Megan Leslie, and her grade 9 social studies class. They believe it’s important for people to know the truth and start to reconciliate to the crime that Edgar Dewdney had committed in the past. They also demanded to rename the road to something that either honors or represents the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation.
“I think raising awareness is important, since we live on the land that belongs to the Indigenous people, so it’s important to let the young generation know all these things,” said Sam Zhang, grade 11. “It’s not a great history but remembering these kinds of mistakes will help us to avoid it in the future.”
On September 30, 2021, the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was introduced for people to honor the lost and survivors of the residential school system because of the discovery of 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops Residential School. “Remains of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school, First Nation says” published by CBC News’s reporter Courtney Dickson and Bridgette Watson pushed Canadians to rewind the hateful act towards the First Nation people that is being committed by the ancestor of the Canadian.
Changing the name of the road will certainly be a great challenge because it requires the local government to update the city map, changing the sign on the road which will all be costing a great fortune. But still, the Grade 9 students believe it’s the right thing to do.
Dewdney Trunk Road is not the only road with a controversial background, but the change is slowly happening and being demanded. According to Tri-City News “Riverview Hospital is renamed ‘səmiq̓wəʔelə’ as master planning starts on the Coquitlam site” by Janis Cleugh, Riverside Hospital has changed its name to ‘səmiq̓wəʔelə'(Suh-MEE-kwuh-EL-uh) to honor the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation and its bond with their ancestral land. With more people supporting this movement, Canadian will start to understand the purpose of Truth and reconciliation in the future.
Is it time to rename Dewdney Trunk Road? A group of determined Coquitlam students say ‘yes’
Letter: Reviewing the names of Coquitlam streets — is it that too hard of a task?
Remains of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school, First Nation says
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia-Edgar Dewdney
Riverview Hospital is renamed ‘səmiq̓wəʔelə’ as master planning starts on the Coquitlam site