St. John’s, N.L., streets won’t be named for people to avoid problematic legacies

ST. JOHN’S — Newfoundland and Labrador’s capital city will no longer name new streets and city buildings after individual people.

Councillors with the City of St. John’s, N.L., voted unanimously to accept the new policy during a meeting last week. It was presented by Coun. Ron Ellsworth, who said naming streets and buildings after people comes with a host of risks, including political polarization and uneven representation of different demographics.

It also comes with the risk of naming a street or building after someone whose legacy later gets tarnished, he said.

“Obviously, we’ve seen what’s happened provincially and nationally, around the history of different names being in place, that history was not kind to and therefore may not merely represent the community as a whole,” Ellsworth said in an interview Monday.

Both the Newfoundland and Labrador government and the City of St. John’s have been re-examining place and holiday names over the past few years, largely in an effort to recognize Indigenous histories. The province changed the name of Red Indian Lake to Beothuk Lake in 2021 to honour the Beothuks, who were wiped out after European settlers arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador.

St. John’s decided last year to rename a June holiday — previously called Discovery Day — to National Indigenous Peoples Day.

At the meeting last week, Coun. Ophelia Ravencroft pointed to Halifax, where a street was renamed in 2023 to honour Millbrook First Nation activist Nora Bernard Street. It was previously named after Edward Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax, who issued a bounty for the scalps of Mi’kmaq men, women and children in 1749.

She called the naming policy change in St. John’s “a good move.”

“This, I think, prevents us from making mistakes like that in the future, and understands that in many cases, the legacy of someone may be revised or re-understood,” Ravencroft said.

First Voice, an urban Indigenous collective in the city, has called for increased Indigenization of place names, she noted.

However, Ellsworth said Monday that the city will still consider applications to use surnames on streets or buildings.

“We want to leave some flexibility until we see how this policy is received,” he said, adding that some residents have already written to him to say they think it goes too far.

When asked if using surnames comes with the same problems as using individual names, Ellsworth said the city is open to feedback to improve its policies.

He also said he was not disappointed the new policy forbids a building or street named in his honour.

“Not at all,” he said. “Once I’m done in politics, everybody should forget me and move on to the next politician.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2025.

The Canadian Press