Calls to remove Canada’s first prime minister’s name from the park are renewed this month, as people plan to march along the road in protest but also in memory of children who died while forced to attend the residential school system of Canada. “There has been no progress. Zero,” said Albert Dumont, an Algonquin Anishinābe spiritual adviser from Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg near Maniwaki, Que., who called on the federal government to rename the parkway in June 2021 because of Macdonald’s role in concentration and expansion of the home school system. “It’s very upsetting.” The park is managed by the National Capital Commission (NCC), a Crown corporation that manages many roads, trails, parks and other spaces in Ottawa and Gatineau, Que. It is a four-lane road that runs west from downtown Ottawa along the shoreline of the Ottawa River — formerly the Ottawa River Parkway before being renamed Macdonald in 2012. The Ottawa River is reflected in a sign for the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa on June 2, 2021. That month, councilors and community members petitioned the NCC to rename the park, but it has not yet been done. (Jean Delisle/CBC) “McDonald was a hollow, cold politician. He really went out of his way to erase a segment of the population of this country forever,” Dumont said. Dumont said he spoke with an NCC staff member last week, who informed him the process is “complicated.” The NCC declined an interview, but said in an emailed statement that its work “on a proposed revision of the name of SJAM Parkway is ongoing.” A spokesperson said the NCC has updated its toponym policy and will include Indigenous perspectives in its framework to reflect the diversity in the region. In an email CBC obtained to another concerned Aboriginal resident earlier this summer, the NCC said it would eventually consult with the public on the park’s renaming request. “An action plan was created to guide the team’s work and outlines an approach to public consultation and Indigenous participation,” says this email from an NCC director. Dumont, an Anishinābeg spiritual advisor, says he doesn’t see the need for “a long process” full of consultations and action plans about whether or not to rename the park. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC) Dumont said he doesn’t see the need for “a long process” full of consultations and action plans on whether or not to rename the parkway. “It’s kind of ridiculous that they say those things,” Dumont said. “It just goes to show what white supremacy is… Apparently they think John A. MacDonald’s decision to commit genocide was a good one and they’re okay with his name being there.” Dumont plans to walk across the park on the morning of Sept. 30, which is the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, from the Canadian War Museum on Parkdale Avenue. He hopes about 200 school survivors and their families will join him. Monique Manatch, a knowledge keeper from the Barriere Lake Algonquins, will walk with Dumont and said renaming the park is “vital.” “Macdonald should not be celebrated. Not when he was the architect of cultural genocide,” Manatch said. “I’d like to see them move faster on the name change.” Pamela Naymark also plans to attend the walk and said renaming the park is “such an easy act of reconciliation.” “We can do better,” he said. “We can send a message as Canadians that we don’t honor this man … It’s not a question of guilt or responsibility.” WATCHES | The professor explains the move to disassociate from certain historical figures:
Many want to “look to the future” by renaming Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, the professor says
Veldon Coburn, who teaches aboriginal studies at the University of Ottawa, says people are rethinking which historical figures really represent Canada, leading to the renaming of buildings and streets. Veldon Coburn, who teaches indigenous studies at the University of Ottawa, said there has recently been “a lot of navel-gazing” about Canada’s colonial past, and many are finding that Macdonald is “probably not the best figure to represent the ideals and the vision them for Canada”. In recent years, McDonald’s statues have been removed from parks and city centers, and several schools across the country have decided, or are considering, removing McDonald’s name from their institutions. “I think the time has come,” Coburn, a member of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation in Golden Lake, said of the Ottawa park’s name change.
Chief urges NCC to make public commitment
Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg Chief Dylan Whiteduck told CBC that people from his community and Pikwàkanagàn are scheduled to meet with the NCC this week to discuss this request. He hopes this will be the first of many meetings involving both nations. Whiteduck says Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg members will meet with the NCC about renaming the park this week, for the first time. (Jean-François Poudrier/Radio-Canada) “[Our] people have historically gathered along these borders [parkway]”, he said. “That’s why we need to be part of those conversations.” Whiteduck said the NCC should make a public commitment to change the name of Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and post it on its website. “We still strongly believe that the name should be changed again,” he said, adding that he has written a formal letter to the NCC in the past and did not receive a “favorable” response at the time.
March will happen despite pushback from NCC: elder
Dumont suggests naming the road Kichi Zibi Parkway, the Anishinābe name for the Ottawa River. He said the peaceful march on September 30 is to pressure the NCC to act quickly to rename the park, but more importantly, in memory of the children who suffered and died in residential schools. Dumont shared an email from the NCC in early September stating that his team should not proceed with the course. NCC’s operations coordinator cites “accounting and health and safety reasons” as reasons why he cannot approve the team’s ride across the park due to another large-scale event taking place at LeBreton Flats adjacent to the park section which Dumont plans to walk on. The staff member offered to discuss alternative dates for the ride. “The NCC is not going to stop us,” Dumont said, calling his position disrespectful. He plans to walk the length of the park on September 30 every year until it is renamed. “I’m 72 years old and if I live to be 172, I’ll do it every year.”
