Grassroots group pushes for Wolseley name change

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This article was published 06/07/2021 (1529 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A grassroots Métis group is trying to get Wolseley residents to have their neighbourhood renamed, arguing Indigenous leaders aren’t pushing hard enough to change which figures get celebrated on the streets of Winnipeg.

On June 30, Red River Echoes members stuck 300 posters around the neighbourhood, calling for the name of Gen. Garnet Wolseley be dropped from local streets and institutions. Wolseley played a role in the violent 1870 overthrow of Louis Riel’s provisional government at the Red River Colony.

“It’s a continuous struggle to be able to reconcile with the fact that you’re living in a neighbourhood that has been named after someone who attempted to eradicate your kin,” said Chantale Garand, who is part of the group.

The posters say Wolseley “personally incited racism, violence, murder and displacement” and oversaw troops who raped and killed Indigenous people. It notes he was part of British colonial invasions in which atrocities took place, on numerous continents.

“Place names show the values out city and community hold,” reads the poster, which asks people to write to local representatives and have place names changed.

The signs appear around the Winnipeg neighbourhood, with some attached to hydro poles that often house advertisements and political messages — but also glued to phone-cable boxes and metal lamp posts.

One is stuck on a City of Winnipeg sign, indicating the hours cars are restricted on Sundays, which is no longer legible.

“There a number of toes that they’ve stepped on here,” said local resident Bob Collings, who said it’s impossible to peel the poster off.

“Defacing a street sign is against the law, as good as their cause may or may not be,” said Collings, who reported to 311, asking city crews to remove the stickers or replace the sign.

“It costs us — the taxpayers — money, and it creates a safety issue in the interim.”

Garand said it is nothing compared to the horrors of colonization

“We stand by where our posters ended up,” Garand said.

“If you’re more worried about a street sign than the continued naming of Wolseley, what history are you privileged enough to forget?”

Indigenous leaders in Manitoba have generally steered away from supporting the toppling monuments or renaming of streets. Organizations such as the Manitoba Metis Federation have said it’s better to affix explanatory plaques or boost education, rather than rename things.

Garand said Red River Echoes was specifically formed by dozens of Métis who want a more aggressive response to Indigenous issues.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca