Indigenous leaders laud renaming of Bishop Grandin Boulevard to Abinojii Mikanah at official ceremony

A busy expressway, a trail and a side street in Winnipeg that for years bore the name of a former residential school proponent have officially been given new names that honour the experiences of children who attended those schools.

The new names for what were previously called Bishop Grandin Boulevard, Bishop Grandin Trail and Grandin Street were officially recognized by Winnipeg city council at a ceremony in Jules H. Mager Park, just off the trail, on Friday, coinciding with National Indigenous Peoples Day.

"We're committed to doing what we can to advance reconciliation and honour the truths that have been denied or ignored for too long," said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, flanked by councillors Sherri Rollins, Matt Allard, Janice Lukes, Brian Mayes and Vivian Santos.

"[The new names] reflect the rich history and culture of Indigenous peoples and the reclaiming of Indigenous language."

Bishop Grandin Boulevard is now called Abinojii Mikanah, which translates to "the children's way/road" in Anishinaabemowin.

Bishop Grandin Trail received the name Awasisak Mēskanôw — "the children's road" in Ininimowin, or Cree. Grandin Street, which runs for a single block from Taché Avenue to St. Joseph Street in the north St. Boniface area, is now Taapweewin, which means "truth" in Michif.

The man they were previously named after, Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, pushed the federal government to finance the construction of residential schools in the late 1800s. That system, which the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada labelled a "cultural genocide," saw children removed from their families, stripped of their communities and deprived of their Indigenous identities.

Former mayor Brian Bowman pledged to support renaming Winnipeg's Bishop Grandin Boulevard following calls from the community. In June 2021, the city's executive policy committee voted to change the name.

The city solicited feedback from Indigenous people and groups and members of the city's Committee of Community Members to come up with new names honouring Indigenous culture.

The city's Indigenous relations division invited representatives from Indigenous governments and community-based organizations to form an Indigenous knowledge naming circle.

In March of 2023, city council endorsed the renamings and in April this year, council formally approved the changes.

The first Abinojii Mikanah signs went up last month.

Elders who helped in the naming process, including Betty Ross, Frank Beaulieu and Joan Winning, attended the ceremony on Friday.

Ross, from Pimicikamak First Nation, recalled the "trauma after trauma" of going through four different residential schools growing up.