O’Grady Road will be renamed as Dakelh Ti, which means First Nations Road.
Prince George City Council voted to approve the name change to Dakelh Ti at tonight’s (Monday) regular council meeting.
The process for changing the name started in July 2021, when Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan put in a request for the road to be renamed.
Council voted to proceed with changing the name at the regular council meeting on August 30th, 2021.
“I just want to begin by saying that meaningful change of any kind can’t take place if I only act if it harms me personally,” said Councillor Terri McConnachie.
“Even though I went to this high school, and even though my experience may have been positive, that it takes empathy and critical thinking to understand and realize it wasn’t that way for everybody.”
According to City Manager Walter Babicz, the next step is a communications plan, including communicating with residents of the road, a timeline, frequently asked questions, and what administration can do to assist.
“If there’s a group of people, no matter who they are in our community who says ‘something is really hurtful to me’, we’ve got to consider that seriously,” said Councillor Kyle Sampson.
“We’ve got to make the efforts to make a change, and that’s what we started in August.”
Sampson added he wants to make sure the City proceeds with the change in a way that ensures everyone feels like they had their input considered.
“We have folks who live on O’Grady Road, we have folks who do business on O’Grady Road, and so I’m not opposed to having that extra step of working with the community and and making them a part of this process,” Sampson said.
“I think the respect also needs to go to the people that currently live on that stretch of road,” added Councillor Susan Scott.
“I don’t suppose very many of them bought their property because of the name, but more probably because of location and other factors, but certainly to include them in the process is what I was looking for.”
Director of Planning and Development Deanna Wasnik said with any type of address change, it’s typically a 60-day process.
Other items discussed at tonight’s meeting included initiatives aimed at helping downtown, alternative means of notice publications, and a proposed remedial action.
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