On March 18, city council will vote on whether to rename the Grandin neighbourhood. The Gazette is looking back at past coverage to create a timeline of the events leading to the upcoming council meeting.
2021
In May 2021, the possible remains of 215 children were discovered underneath the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C. Following that, St. Albert city council voted in June 2021 to bring a business case forward to re-examine the name of current municipal assets such as Grandin and to develop a new process for naming future city infrastructure.
The motion - brought forward by Coun. Natalie Joly - was already in the works before the discovery in Kamloops, and it was designed for the administration to arrange for public engagement and feedback regarding the names used around St. Albert, including Grandin. Bishop Vital Grandin was instrumental in the development of the residential school system.
2022
In August 2022, it was announced that engagement would soon begin surrounding the renaming of municipal assets. A panel was held at the Arden Theatre on Nov. 1 2022, entitled "What’s in a Name? The Past, Present, and Future of Municipal Naming." During the event, attendees spoke to the Gazette about their criticisms. They said it felt like the panellists were echoing the same perspective.
At the event's midway point, the audience was invited to provide the moderator, Harry Harker, with questions who would then field them to the panel.
However, after several interjections, Harker requested the audience to follow the event format and not "break into applause for things we like and potentially go in for things we don't like."
He iterated that the city had not decided at this point whether or not to rename the neighbourhood.
2023
In May 2023, the city published a report stating that a number of racist comments were made throughout public engagement sessions for the municipal renaming policy.
"This is not the St. Albert I know," St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said in a news release.
Then, nearly two years after the original motion was brought forward by Joly, city council passed the city's renaming policy on June 2, 2023, with councillors Sheena Hughes and Shelley Biermanski opposed.
With the new policy, new names would focus geographical or topographical features, historic events, or diversity.
“Not to be overly dramatic about this, but I think our naming policy will be one of the few of the really core pieces of legislation that this four-year term of council will be very proud of and it will be one of the biggest things that we accomplish in our four years,” Coun. Mike Killick said at the time.
2024
On Jan. 1, the city's renaming policy came into effect. The Municipal Naming policy states that only council may approve the renaming of a municipal asset and that the names of municipal assets should not "Reference a person, group, symbol, practice, or event that oppressed or caused harm to anyone in the past or that may cause present or future harm."
The city began accepting applications for name changes in February. Applications are required to have at least 50 petition signatures or letters of support from residents of St. Albert or people with a "substantial connection" to St. Albert. At the time, the city's chief administration officer Bill Fletcher said the meaning of "substantial connection to St. Albert" would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
In October, it was reported that the city received an application to rename the Grandin neighbourhood and other municipal assets like Grandin Road, Grandin Place, Grandin Lane, Grandin Ravine, Grandin Pond, and Grandin Clubhouse. In November, the city said the application met the threshold to proceed under the policy.
2025
An online survey ran from Feb. 3 to Feb. 21, which allowed St. Albert residents could suggest a new name for the Grandin neighbourhood. The results from the Cultivate the Conversation survey will be released to city council on March 18, where council will decide whether to rename Grandin.
