Lisa Brockie
Dear editor,
I fully support Councillor Doug Judson’s resolution to rename Colonization Road E and W in Fort Frances. While colonization was once seen as a positive force by the white settlers who named the street, it was a violent and traumatic series of events for the Indigenous people who were already here and should no longer be celebrated or memorialized on municipal street signs.
Some say that renaming two streets is simply symbolic and will not result in any meaningful improvement in the lives of Indigenous people. It is true that this is a small step, but it is a signal that we are committed to the hard and uncomfortable work of reconciliation. If we fail to make even this small change, how can we expect to tackle the bigger issues that face our town and our neighbours?
Others argue that changing the name will erase history, which is the most puzzling argument to me. Growing up in Fort Frances, I never gave the name of Colonization Road a second thought; it certainly wasn’t a topic of discussion in history classes. It wasn’t until I left the area that I learned more of the darker truths about Canada’s history and came to understand the harm that European colonization caused. We can’t change that past but we can take steps now that will lead to a more fair and inclusive future. We can acknowledge our history of colonialism without emblazoning a hurtful reminder of it on our municipal street signs. We can recognize that the history we learned in school was incomplete because it ignored Indigenous history.
I hope that the difficult conversations that have begun around this issue will continue as we work together toward reconciliation.
Sincerely,
Lisa Brockie
