Reconciliation Bridge

[undercoverbrother]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle33713816/

Calgary’s city council voted Monday night to rename the Langevin Bridge in response to calls from the public after the 2015 release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report.

The damning report quoted Sir Hector-Louis Langevin – one of the Fathers of Confederation and the bridge’s namesake – defending the government’s residential school system, which the commission called an act of “cultural genocide.

“If you wish to educate these children you must separate them from their parents during the time that they are being educated. If you leave them in the family they may know how to read and write, but they still remain savages, whereas by separating them in the way proposed, they acquire the habits and tastes … of civilized people,” Mr. Langevin said in a speech to Parliament in 1883. He was public works minister at the time.

Yeah reckon it is for the best.

[nik-]

Yeah, that works.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Makes you wonder what other darker histories are out there for less easily replaceable items. Money, schools etc.

[Slava]

Personally I have zero issue with changing the name, but I just think that naming it "Reconciliation Bridge" is a bad name. But what I know about naming things and choosing something appropriate wouldn't fill a thimble, so take that FWIW.

[Locke]

Damned straight, get that Frenchy name off of it.

And the French cant be mad because if they are then we engage in Reconciliation.

Lawyered.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Slava

Personally I have zero issue with changing the name, but I just think that naming it "Reconciliation Bridge" is a bad name. But what I know about naming things and choosing something appropriate wouldn't fill a thimble, so take that FWIW.

Well, we got the Peace Bridge when they were trying to put a happy face on the controversy around that one... I think we need a "Safe Spaces" bridge next.

[puckedoff]

Technically all bridges are reconciliation bridges

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Slava

Personally I have zero issue with changing the name, but I just think that naming it "Reconciliation Bridge" is a bad name. But what I know about naming things and choosing something appropriate wouldn't fill a thimble, so take that FWIW.

But if they name it after a person around today, then they'll just have to rename it again in 100 years when that person's values are regarded as loathsome.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Well, we got the Peace Bridge when they were trying to put a happy face on the controversy around that one... I think we need a "Safe Spaces" bridge next.

We need to stop, like, you know, raping our shores by imposing our artificial constructs upon them man...

Why cant we just have, like, a bridge...in, like, our minds man? Whats wrong with, like, you know, a mind-bridge??

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

But if they name it after a person around today, then they'll just have to rename it again in 100 years when that person's values are regarded as loathsome.

To be fair, I'm sure Langevin's views have been regarded as loathsome by indigenous parents and children both now and then.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by rubecube

To be fair, I'm sure Langevin's views have been regarded as loathsome by indigenous parents and children both now and then.

Yep. Just as the thousands of people who were forcefully sterilized under policies promoted by Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Nellie McClung (of the Famous Five) probably regarded them with loathing. And yet you can see their statues outside City Hall, and visit the brand-new Famous Five Interpretive Centre dedicated to them at Heritage Park.

[FireGilbert]

Maybe the people complaining about the name should build a bridge and get over it.

I'll see myself out...

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Maybe the people complaining about the name should build a bridge and get over it.

I'll see myself out...

That worked actually. Proverbial pat on the back for you.


In 1883 people sure had some different views than they have today, that's for true.

[northcrunk]

Why not call it for what it's used as. The "Drug dealer alley" bridge

[La Flames Fan]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Why not call it for what it's used as. The "Drug dealer alley" bridge

I overlook the bridge and so far I've seen it used primarily as a bridge for traffic, automobile and pedestrian.

I've walked it many times and I've never seen any drug dealers...other residents and folks from the DI.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by La Flames Fan

I overlook the bridge and so far I've seen it used primarily as a bridge for traffic, automobile and pedestrian.

I've walked it many times and I've never seen any drug dealers...other residents and folks from the DI.

I think they hang out down memorial and meet people there. They don't really just hang out there.

[Resolute 14]

Not a big fan of whitewashing history - and like it or not, Langevin and his name attached to the bridge is part of our history - but if we're going to rename the bridge, could we not give it such a stupid name?

[Weitz]

Do people actually refer to bridges in anything other than the street/avenue they are on?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Do people actually refer to bridges in anything other than the street/avenue they are on?

Calf Rope Bridge

[Locke]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Calf Rope Bridge

Yeah...its the Calf Robe Bridge.