Council votes to rename Vancouver street honouring architect of racist historical policies

Vancouver city council has voted to rename Trutch Street, due to its namesake’s history of enacting racist policies harmful to Indigenous people.

Running north-south for 18-blocks, Trutch is a quiet, tree-lined street in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood – and people living there will soon have new addresses.

It will be renamed šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street – which translates to Musqueamview Street in English.

It will be the first street in the City of Vancouver to have a legal name in a First Nations language, in this case hən̓q̓əmin̓əm, the traditional language of the Musqueam.

“There’s a lot of people who are still upset. But we have to teach them,” said Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam Indian Band. “We have to teach them of the wrong-doing and the reasons why.”

Trutch Street was named after Joseph Trutch, B.C.’s first lieutenant governor, who is known for enacting racist policies harmful to Indigenous people.

In an 1872 letter to then-prime minister John A. Macdonald, Trutch referred to First Nations people as “savages living along the coast.”

He also reduced the size of many pre-established First Nations reserves, shrinking some by up to 91 per cent.

The Musqueam claim a traditional territory encompassing close to 1,500 square kilometres, but the nation’s reserve near the mouth of the Fraser River is just 2.75 square kilometres.

“It’s a great renaming of a very controversial figure that caused a great deal of harm to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsliel-Waututh people,” said Green Party councillor Pete Fry. “And Indigenous people throughout British Columbia.”

Tuesday morning, city council voted unanimously in favour of the name change – but not before several Trutch Street residents spoke in council chambers.

Many had concerns with the new name not being in English.

“There’s no way for us to spell out our address if we are calling services,” said one woman who lives on the street. “There’s no way for us to input this on our cell phones, on our iPads, on our computers.”

The city said it consulted with stakeholders, including first responders and Canada Post.

It also stressed street signs with the English translation Musqueamview Street will also be clearly displayed and residents will be able to use the translation for their addresses.

The Musqueam formally gifted the name šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street to the city as part of a collaborative journey of reconciliation.

“I look forward to keep moving and moving the bar,” Sparrow said. “Slowly. Baby steps. But we’ll get there at the end of the day.”

A ceremony celebrating the new name will take place Friday and then staff will begin installing the new street signs.