Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa to Be Renamed ‘Kichi Zībī Mīkan’

People ride their bikes on the westbound lane of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa on May 18, 2020. The National Capital Commission has approved a new Algonquin Nation name for the parkway, Kichi Zībī Mīkan, on June 22, 2023. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway will be renamed Kichi Zībī Mīkan, with a signage unveiling ceremony to be held later in September.

The National Capital Commission (NCC) approved the name change on June 22. The federal Crown corporation said the Algonquin Nation name was selected after a public engagement with the indigenous community that began in spring 2023.

The new name, Kichi Zībī Mīkan (pronounced kitchi zee-bee MEE-khan), meaning “Great River Road,” references the Algonquin name of the Ottawa River, as well as the parkway’s original name before 2012, the “Ottawa River Parkway.”

“This name was selected through an Algonquin naming and engagement exercise, reflecting the longstanding and important relationship of the Algonquin Nation to the Ottawa River along which the parkway runs,” the NCC said in a statement.

The public engagement process involved gathering stories about the parkway, which the NCC said could also be used to “inform a future interpretation plan for the area, including the parkway and the riverfront park.”

The NCC said the name change is consistent with its “Toponymy Policy,” which aims to provide a more transparent decision-making process for naming and renaming NCC-managed assets. Under the policy, the public will be able to submit a naming or renaming request to an Advisory Committee on Toponymy for consideration.

Cancel Culture

While NCC said the newly created committee’s “first order of business” was to consider renaming the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, efforts to rename or remove sites and monuments bearing the name of Canada’s first prime minister have been going on for some time.

A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in downtown park Place du Canada was toppled in August 2020, during a protest led by the Coalition for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) Liberation that called for defunding the police. In November 2022, a City of Montreal-mandated committee recommended against reinstating the statue, criticizing Macdonald for his role in residential schools for indigenous people and saying he represented a colonial vision.

The statue of Sir John A. MacDonald is shown torn down and sprayed with graffiti following a protest in Montreal, on Aug. 29, 2020. Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Another Macdonald statue was also removed from Ontario’s Kingston City Park—the hometown of the late prime minister—in June 2021. Macdonald’s biography page was deleted from the official government of Canada website that same month.

Some experts, however, are challenging the notion that Canada is a “genocidal” nation-state and that historical figures should be cancelled.

Mark Milke, editor of a soon-to-be-released book, “The 1867 Project—Why Canada Should Be Cherished, Not Cancelled,” is one of them.

“Why are we picking on people long dead, as opposed to trying to give them fair treatment or fair understanding and put things into context?” Milke told The Epoch Times.

“You don’t have to deny the wrongs of the past. In fact, everyone should be aware of them. But a proper understanding of the past is what we’re trying to provide in the 1867 Project, as well as dive into some current controversies.”

The book, a collection of writings from 20 authors, seeks to provide an objective view of topics like critical race theory and identity politics, as well as examine important figures throughout Canadian history. One part, contributed by lawyer Gregory Piasetzki, examines how Prime Minister John A. MacDonald saved the lives of many indigenous people through smallpox vaccinations, the creation of the North-West Mounted Police, and the brokering of peace treaties with indigenous peoples that prevented the kinds of massacres seen in the United States.

Matthew Horwood and Tara MacIsaac contributed to this report.