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Prince Albert’s River Street will be the first location named under the City’s Indigenous Naming Initiative. Signs will be installed on River Street at 1st Ave West, 1st Ave East and 6th Ave East, translated in the City’s six Indigenous languages: Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, Woodland Cree, Dakota, Dene, and Métis.
The project is part of the City’s Municipal Cultural Action Plan (MCAP) and approved by City Council following recommendation from the Historical Society’s First Nation and Metis Knowledge Keeper Committee. The committee assisted with prioritizing and recommending names and locations to present to the City’s Community Services Advisory Committee and City Council.
The location was chosen in part because of the significance of the river to Indigenous communities as the historical meeting place.
"The purpose of the initiative is to acknowledge the history of the people who lived on these lands before settlers arrived, while also looking for opportunities to reflect and honour the contributions of the Indigenous community in Prince Albert," said Judy MacLeod Campbell, Arts and Cultural Coordinator for the City of Prince Albert.
"Although 42% of our community identifies as Indigenous, we were only able to identify nine locations in Prince Albert with an Indigenous name. There's so much more that can be done and this initiative has helped us to start that conversation and begin to reflect on the people, places and names that are appropriate for Prince Albert."
A number of other names and locations were considered by the Knowledge Keeper Committee with a recommendation to consider a welcome sign in Indigenous languages. As part of the project, an inventory of current and potential places and spaces for Indigenous naming was initiated by a City of Prince Albert staff and Historical Society working group. Part of this inventory was the identification of places and spaces that cannot or should not be named due to existing sponsorship agreements, emergency service response, and spaces already named.
The MCAP identifies actions to make Prince Albert a stronger cultural community. This initiative is part of ongoing work of the MCAP to ensure that all nations, communities, newcomers and individuals are welcomed and celebrated in the community while working toward achieving the recommendations identified in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.
The Knowledge Keepers are a committee of the Historical Society which includes representatives from each of the five First Nations cultures in, and members of, the Prince Albert Grand Council as well as five Metis Knowledge Keepers from the community.
To learn more about the Culture Plan, please visit www.citypa.ca/mcap
For media inquiries, please contact:
Judy MacLeod Campbell
Arts and Cultural Coordinator
(306) 953-4825
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