Isak Czervenatis
Staff reporter
Dewdney Trunk Road is getting a new name in light of the history of the individual after who the road is named.
A group of Grade 9 students from Charles Best secondary and their teacher Megan Leslie are behind the movement to change the name of the road. Edgar Dewdney, the person who the road commemorates, was a 19th century politician involved in the creation of residential schools in Canada, as well as relocating Indigenous peoples into reserves via withholding food supplies, leading to starvation and death.
People have been generally acting positively towards the movement, with a notable person supporting the movement being Port Moody/Coquitlam Parliament Member Bonita Zarrillo.
“Our MP, Bonita Zarrillo, has been incredibly supportive. She, on her own social media, talked about support. She also has written letters of support to the City of Coquitlam and the other MLAs in the area advocating for the name change,” said Megan Leslie
In sight of the recent events around residential schools, notably being the 215 unmarked graves found around a year ago at a former Kamloops Residential school, leading to more discoveries at other residential schools in the thousands, reconciliation is high on the minds of people, leading to movements like these.
“If it were to be changed, it should not be changed to erase a stain on our past, rather it should be used as an opportunity to replace it, with something that should represent the opposite of the anguish that this person may have brought at the time,” said Alexander Svirchev, Grade 11
SOURCES:
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/01/27/coquitlam-push-rename-dewdney-trunk/
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/01/27/coquitlam-push-rename-dewdney-trunk/