Edmonton councillor concerned about hard-to-spell indigenous street names
EDMONTON — The grand chief of Treaty Six First Nations says he is discouraged that an Edmonton city councillor has concerns about naming streets with indigenous words that some people may find hard to pronounce or spell.
Coun. Bryan Anderson said he would like the city’s naming committee to consider pronunciation and spelling when it decides what to name a new neighbourhood, road or park.
“If at some time in the future, hard-to-spell-and-pronounce names like Wikaskokiseyin (Sweet Grass) are proposed for local neighbourhood roads, and become somebody’s address, I hope that the naming committee discusses the potential difficulties that might occur in communicating that address to others, i.e. police, 911, fire, ambulance,” Anderson wrote in an email Wednesday.
Anderson said the committee doesn’t need to bend over backwards to be authentic when selecting names if there is a better alternative.