Earlier this week, petition signatories may have seen Mayor Brian Bowman’s post regarding the Bishop Grandin Greenway by now. Note: This is not yet a commitment to rename the boulevard and greenway. His statement only mentions adding a historical marker on the Bishop Grandin Greenway, does not mention the “Boulevard”, and alludes to resolving the absence of Indigenous perspectives. 

As well, we’ve come to learn that the Welcoming Winnipeg initiative and committee was born in 2019 after a robust city-wide public engagement process. The marker which Mayor Bowman mentioned above, was proposed and moved in 2018 by Councillor Brian Mayes (as per CTV News). This work began about 3 years ago. This petition was created 2 years ago. Now, with the uncovering of the 215 undocumented remains of Indigenous children in Kamloops, we are seeing the concerns previously voiced being expedited. 

Momentum must be kept on this issue, to ensure that the city continues this work in the way that they promise and consults Winnipeggers (especially Indigenous leaders and the concerned signatories of this petition). Please keep sharing this petition widely and continue to email your elected officials with your concerns.

After reading this update, you may also be thinking about why the renaming of Bishop Grandin Greenway and Boulevard has yet to see a formal commitment. From conversations with a few elected representatives, our small team has learned that there are concerns over cost and legalities for any businesses/properties that will need to change their addresses. Our team is not satisfied with this response and stated that: in the process, appropriate and wide community consultation with Indigenous leaders to determine what the most appropriate step towards reconciliation would be is essential. In the meantime, we will be reaching out directly to those whose addresses primarily use “Bishop Grandin Boulevard” as opposed to say “Dakota” “St. Mary’s” and “St. Vital” etc... Provided that reasoning alone, it would not be fair to allow renaming to be taken off the table completely without learning about the true impact this would have.

Currently, we are in the process of compiling a document to send to the city and reflect the wishes of this petition. If anyone has information that may be helpful to this process, please do not hesitate to e-mail jelynnan@gmail.com and reaganspence@hotmail.com. 

This update has been provided by Jelynn and Reagan.