A motion to name a bridge in Wakamow Park in honour of the Lakota people failed to pass at City council Monday, but the idea to name the bridge may still have legs.
The city’s Heritage Advisory Committee recommended that the Seventh Avenue S.W. bridge be named the “Lakota Bridge” in honour of the First Nation that once lived in the area.
“It is the only bridge in that part of the city that does not have a name,” said Scott Hellings, chair of the Heritage Advisory Committee. “All of the other bridges are named after the Aboriginal peoples who inhabited the area, such as the Blackfoot Bridge, the Saulteaux Bridge, etc. Also, there is currently no bridge named after the Lakota people.
“I am not aware of an official bridge-naming policy within the city, but I certainly welcome any feedback and discussion to get the ball rolling.”
While City administration didn’t believe there was a policy regarding naming bridges, there are involved processes to name or rename almost everything else and Coun. Dawn Luhning felt council needed more background and information before considering naming a bridge.
“I am aware that there are some parks in the city that have requested that they be renamed and it’s quite a process to go through and I believe that the same type of process should happen for this,” Luhning said. “I don’t believe that we should just... willy-nilly name a bridge”
While the bridge is used extensively as a pedestrian bridge in the summer months, its road has seen better days. Coun. Heather Eby was concerned that naming it the Lakota Bridge could be seen as dishonouring the Lakota people.
“That is a defunct bridge and I know it’s become unofficially a pedestrian bridge, but it doesn’t look so great and there’s some pretty awful graffiti on it during most of the summer,” Eby said. “I was wondering if that is an honour to put the Lakota name a bridge that is not functional for what it was meant to be.”
Coun. Crystal Froese, the councillor who sits on the six-person Heritage Advisory Committee, argued that the bridge is still well-used and the naming would be appropriate and fit with the naming of the other bridges in the Wakamow area.
“The Lakota people haven’t really been recognized even though they have a very significant history in that park and in and around that area,” said Froese who noted that other First Nations throughout the whole park have had bridges named after them.
The Heritage Advisory Committee meets every month and will discuss how to proceed with the naming project at their next meeting.
