This whole issue has been handled so badly by council. Instead of handling it democratically the city has chosen once again to act like a dictatorship. Residents of Grandin should have been polled on the name change. As usual anything that seems to go against council's ideas is ignored and denied.
What happened years ago was wrong, I agree, but changing names, tearing down statues and burning churches does not change history. Most of Grandin by now is aware of what happened but the names should remain so that people remember and don't make the same mistakes again.
So council do the right thing for a change, poll the residents of Grandin (people who actually reside in the community) and listen to the results. If the majority of taxpayers don't want the name changed, leave it as is and maybe put up a plaque describing what Bishop Grandin was involved in (the good and the bad). This renaming idea has upset a lot of Grandin residents. We want the name to stay and because you were elected to represent all of us
try doing that for a change. Your beliefs and feelings do not apply to a majority of the people and forcing it to happen makes it feel like we are living in a dictatorship city.
Council went ahead with the name change and showed once again council doesn't listen and are bent on making their feelings law right or wrong.
The majority of us who are against the name change will probably be branded as "haters" by the mayor, which is only her narrow point of view.
Wake up, council, and do the right thing for a change and quit wasting taxpayers' money on trying to erase history.
J. Ritchie, St. Albert
