St. Albert city council will wait until at least April before debating the proposed municipal naming policy again, although Mayor Cathy Heron doesn't expect it to see many changes before being passed.
Council discussed the draft policy, which has been in development since late 2021, for the first time during the Feb. 14 standing committee of the whole meeting. The debate and eventual unanimous motion was limited to directing administration to correct grammar mistakes and clarify vague language before the policy is brought back in a future committee meeting.
"I think the consultants did a really good job of addressing the original motion, which was to have a look at our naming policy and provide processes for removal of names and renaming," Heron said in an interview. "I'm thinking with some amount of confidence that the policy will stay in place with its original intent."
"If it stays pretty much the same ... we're going to have a policy in St. Albert we can be really proud of, [and] I have a feeling other communities are going to be going through this same conversation in the near future and they're going to turn to St. Albert to look for a model," Heron said.
Heron said she doesn't anticipate putting forward any changes to the policy.
However, unlike Heron, Coun. Shelley Biermanski says she has 22 separate changes to bring forward for debate, although she declined to elaborate on what they are.
"Some are silly and some are really important," Biermanski said. "I just want to get every detail right to the best of my ability."
The committee heard on Feb. 14 that Biermanski would wait until the policy was brought back in a future meeting before bringing her motions forward, although she already listed the changes in an email sent to the rest of council.
During the meeting, Coun. Natalie Joly said she was prepared to discuss Biermanski's motions during the Feb. 14 meeting, as it was her understanding that if Biermanski's motions were successful, the policy would undergo significant changes.
"I don't want administration to do work that they don't have to do, so I'm certainly prepared to hear these today so that administration is only putting forward changes to one draft instead of scrambling ... And really the choice is, based on Coun. Biermanski's email last night, the choice is do we want to acknowledge the discrimination against Indigenous persons and other equity-seeking groups or do we not want to do that," Joly said.
Joly did not respond to The Gazette's interview request.
Although she didn't share examples of what Biermanski is hoping to see changed, Heron says if some of the motions are successful they will "drastically change the nature of the policy."
Other councillors satisfied with draft policy
Both Coun. Wes Brodhead and Coun. Ken MacKay said they were satisfied with the draft naming and renaming processes, but are confident council will have a thorough debate before the policy is put into place.
"I like the idea that people can bring forward a name for reconsideration, I like the idea that people can put forward a name, and I like the idea that equity-deserving groups have an opportunity to be represented in the community that we serve," Brodhead said.
MacKay concurred, saying he thinks the policy provides clear processes for naming and renaming. However, he is prepared to consider changes other councillors may want to make.
City spokesperson Cory Sinclair told The Gazette the policy won't be on the agenda for the March 14 meeting, meaning the earliest it could be debated again is April 11.
