{"id":29530,"date":"2023-02-27T12:49:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T16:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/?p=29530"},"modified":"2023-02-27T14:27:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T18:27:10","slug":"goodbye-lord-amherst-hello-ancestral-drive-process-to-change-street-name-impressive-says-prof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/goodbye-lord-amherst-hello-ancestral-drive-process-to-change-street-name-impressive-says-prof\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Lord Amherst, hello Ancestral Drive: process to change street name ‘impressive’ says prof"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ancestral Drive unveiling ceremony on Friday, February 10, 2023, with Amherst CAO Jason MacDonald, Community Living Director Shannon Bristol, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) committee chair, Councillor Hal Davidson, IDE committee member Holly Martin, Councillor Dale Fawthrop, Deputy Clerk Natalie Leblanc, Fire Chief Greg Jones, Deputy Mayor Leon Landry, and transportation foreman, Jason McBurnie. Photo: Tom McCoag \/ Town of Amherst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the town of Amherst renamed one of its streets. But the problematic name it removed is still in use in the town, because it is actually the town\u2019s name: Amherst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town of Amherst, as well the street formerly called Lord Amherst Drive, were named after Lord Jeffery Amherst, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America during the Seven Years’ War, which saw France surrender Canada to the British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Portrait of Jeffery Amherst (1717-1797), by Joshua Reynolds, oil on canvas, 1765. Image: public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amherst\u2019s significant legacy has been tarnished as more becomes widely known about his policies regarding Indigenous people, which includes his suggestion in a 1763 letter to a subordinate, to deliberately infect the Indigenous people he was fighting with smallpox, through the distribution of infected blankets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe felt that it may be very good gesture for us as a community to recognize our diversity and our inclusivity by removing the name Amherst from the street, Lord Amherst Drive,\u201d says Mayor David Kogon. The town council was inspired by a similar name change to a street in Montreal in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a fairly lengthy process,\u201d says Kogon, which started with council deciding to change the name, and then forming an Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity Committee to take on the challenge of choosing a new name. \u201cTheir recommendation was Ancestral Drive, and council agreed with that wholeheartedly,\u201d says Kogon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After allowing nine months for businesses on the street to prepare for the name change, new signs for Ancestral Drive, which runs from the Amherst Mall over to the Super 8 Motel, were erected this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Lauren Beck calls the renaming, \u201cexciting news.\u201d Beck is Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at Mount Allison University and holds the Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter. She has quite literally written the book on the process of naming and renaming places in Canada, with Canada\u2019s Place Names and How to Change Them<\/a>, published by Concordia University Press in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Lauren Beck, professor in Hispanic studies and visual and material culture studies, and Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter. Photo: Mount Allison University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beck says the way Amherst went about changing a street name was impressive, in particular its creation of a committee formed to help address inclusivity issues in general. \u201cIt’s an example that other communities could consider following,\u201d says Beck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing a street name \u201cis actually rather straightforward,\u201d says Beck, because municipalities generally have clear jurisdiction over street names. The main challenge is public engagement and acceptance. \u201cWhen somebody wants to rename your street, the one where you’ve lived or grown up all your life, some people may struggle with that sort of name change,\u201d says Beck, \u201cwhich I think is a broader concern when it comes to changing names that I often hear about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear CHMA’s full conversation with Dr. Lauren Beck here:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entity 40 likely to be named Tantramar or Beaus\u00e9jour, despite last minute information from minister<\/a><\/blockquote>