Egland scores Teddy Bear Toss goal but Pats lose in OT
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Over 3,000 stuffed animals were tossed onto the ice.
A petition with 577 signatures calling on the City of Regina to drop Edgar Dewdney’s name from municipal landmarks was presented at city hall Wednesday morning.
More than 1,000 people also signed an online petition, opposing the use of Dewdney’s name on Dewdney Avenue, Dewdney Park and Dewdney Pool.
Joely BigEagle-Kequatooway, co-founder of Buffalo People Arts Institute, is one of those leading the campaign.
For her and many others, Dewdney’s legacy is a harmful one.
As an Indian Commissioner during the Confederation era, Dewdney withheld food rations when the bison population — a key food source — collapsed, forcing Indigenous people onto reserves, clearing the plains for European settlement.
“He was supposed to help our people when they killed off the buffalo and he didn’t. And so I don’t want to honour him and I feel like people should know this history but they don’t,” said BigEagle-Kequahtooway.
He was also instrumental in colonial policies like the residential schools and pass system.
“There are so many things that we deal with today, like suicide, alcoholism, unemployment, poverty, that are tied into residential school, that are tied into the pass system, that are tied into the trauma of the buffalo being killed off, not having your food source,” said BigEagle-Kequahtooway.
Her group, along with signatories to the petitions, propose using the name “Buffalo” to represent connection to the land as well as the culture of those who lived there.
She wants to restore a history that some tried to erase.
“In reality, this is my homeland. This is Treaty 4 territory. This is where my ancestors lived. I want my homeland to reflect my Indigenous identity,” she said.
Lisa Odle, from the group Decolonizing Relations, was also among the group of about 25 people who handed off the package of signatures.
She considers replacing Dewdney’s name a symbolic but important change that suggests a commitment to reconciliation.
“It is a request, a token, as a first step to make change and to see the intent of reconciling,” Odle said.
“How can you say you truly want to make change in the social, health, education and justice systems and you’re not willing to change a name that represents destruction and genocide and starvation of an Indigenous people here?”
This is not the first time there have been calls to rename the main arterial road. BigEagle-Kuquahtooway led the campaign in 2017 as well.
A statue of another controversial figure — Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald — is under a legacy review.
BigEagle-Kuquahtooway is putting the ball in the court of mayor and council, who on the same day saw a notice of motion backed by most councillors to rename City Square Plaza after former mayor Pat Fiacco.
“It’s up to the mayor and council whether they want change. It’s up to the mayor and council if they want to have some tangible reconciliation efforts,” she said.
“I don’t know how long that process was. But I think that these are pertinent issues that are affecting us right now and I don’t think that’s an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. That could be put on hold.”