St. Albert city council will have to decide whether to invest in changing the way the city names its roads and buildings when budget deliberation begins this Thursday.
On June 21, council voted for city administration to draft a business case to revisit its process for naming city infrastructure, such as streets, neighbourhoods, and recreation centres.
The $325,000 case also includes community engagement to determine whether certain assets, including Bishop Vital Grandin school, should be renamed. The funding would be used to contract research, develop educational material, and engage extensively with the community and stakeholders.
During the Nov. 9 meeting, Cindy de Bruijn, senior manager of community relations at the city of St. Albert, noted the city has seen a spectrum of opinions on whether the Grandin neighbourhood should be renamed, noting there has been “no clear direction.”
"That's why the operating business case is quite comprehensive,” de Bruijn said. “The depth of engagement required to consider some of the renaming policies would be so substantial.”
De Bruijn also noted the scope of change for an entire neighbourhood or road could have “consequential impacts,” including passport changes, personal banking information, and businesses named after a neighbourhood.
When asked whether the city had a ballpark estimate for potentially how much it would cost to rename a neighbourhood such as Grandin, or a road such as St. Vital Avenue, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said that assessing these costs would happen if the city proceeded with the public business case to produce recommendations on possible renaming.
"Based on these recommendations, which would be provided to council in early 2023, administration will then be able to determine all the possible costs that renaming would entail," Sinclair said in an email Tuesday.
The business case is currently unfunded in the 2022 budget.
Coun. Natalie Joly — who brought forward the initial motion to create the business case — motioned to fund the $325,000 from the city’s stabilization reserve during a council meeting Nov. 9.
If council chose to cut out the community consultation and renaming portion of the business case, the total estimated cost for the policy change alone would be $35,000.
During the Nov. 9 council meeting, Mayor Cathy Heron said beginning with the policy change could be a good start, but noted she would be hesitant to take the renaming portion of the business case off the table.
“I struggle because the community’s waiting for this,” Heron said. “We talked about it for the last six months, that this policy is coming and that we’re going to talk about Grandin.”
This past summer, the discovery of the bodies of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. ignited demands from community members to change the name of city infrastructure related to residential school supporters.
Holy Family Catholic School — formerly known was Vital Grandin Catholic School — underwent a renaming on Sept. 29 following conversations about reconciliation.
Though timely, Joly’s June 21 motion to fund the business case had already been in the works. During that meeting, Joly said she wanted to update the naming policy to be more reflective of St. Albert’s values.
“We've never really taken a look at our naming policies through the lens of diversity [and] looking at it from all angles,” Joly said during the June 21 council meeting.
Joly asked de Bruijn whether the city had a sense of how much time and resources had been used over the last year in dealing with concerns about naming in St. Albert.
Kerry Hilts, the city's deputy chief administrative officer, said inquiries had been “very intensive” over the summer, but had recently tapered off.
Joly noted the search for the unmarked graves of residential school victims is ongoing in St. Albert, and asked if the city is making plans for “when things are found.”
De Bruijn said the city is working alongside Métis Local in the search.
“In terms of a larger contingency, should things be found, we have not included that in the budget with thoughts that we would come back on a case-by-case situation,” de Bruijn said.
Council will begin debate on postponed budget motions this Thursday.
