maybe trump avenue should become something indigenous

 maybe trump avenue should become something indigenous

I saw Professor Poutine talking and laughing about Ottawa renaming Trump Avenue, and of course my brain immediately went:

🌮 TACO Avenue!

Because if you've forgotten, TACO stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. 😂

But then I started thinking…

Maybe we could do something much more meaningful than replacing one famous name with another.

What if the new street name were Indigenous?

Ottawa is on the traditional and unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation. So rather than naming the street after another politician, celebrity or billionaire, why not work with local Indigenous communities to choose a name connected to the land, language and history of the place?

I wouldn't want to invent an Indigenous name from Google and slap it on a sign. 😬

I'd want the people whose language and history belong to that land to have a real voice in choosing it.

So yes…

TACO Avenue made me laugh. 🌮😂

But an Indigenous name chosen with Indigenous people?

That could mean something.

Maybe a street name can be more than a name.

Maybe it can tell us something about where we actually are.

What do you think Ottawa should call it?

10 reflective questions 

1. Who gets to decide what names belong on our streets, parks and public places?

2. What does a street name say about the values of the community that chose it?

3. Should we preserve names simply because they are historical, or can changing them also become part of history?

4. When a name honours a person, what exactly are we choosing to honour?

5. Could Indigenous place names help Canadians learn more about the land beneath our feet?

6. How should Indigenous communities be involved when a public place is being renamed?

7. Is replacing one famous person's name with another really meaningful change, or should we think differently about naming public spaces altogether?

8. What happens when a name that once seemed harmless takes on a completely different meaning decades later?

9. Do public names belong to the people who originally chose them, or to the generations who live with them afterward?

10. If you could rename one street, park or public place in your community, what would you choose — and what story would you want that name to tell?