Indigenous community in Oshawa honoured with re-naming of downtown street

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Published October 30, 2024 at 12:23 pm

Debwewin Miikan Street in Oshawa
The street in downtown Oshawa known as Bagot Street is now Debwewin Miikan, or Truth Road'

It took three years to get it done and much of the chatter on social media was heavily flavoured with overt racist responses but a street in downtown Oshawa named for one of the fathers of the residential school system finally has a new name.

Oshawa unveiled the new street sign for Debwewin Miikan (Duh-Bway-Win Mee-Can) was unveiled Tuesday afternoon in a traditional Indigenous renaming ceremony overseen by local Elders and supported by Bawaajigewin Aboriginal Community Circle.

Debwewin Miikan means ‘Truth Road’ in Anishinaabemowin, with the word Debwewin (‘Truth’) one of the Seven Grandfather Teachings in Anishinaabe knowledge and culture.

The new street name was the recommendation of an Indigenous Working Group, which included all seven Williams Treaties First Nations, the Oshawa and Durham Region Métis Council and the urban Indigenous community. The group developed guidelines for the new name and provided recommendations for Council.

The road has just four addresses on it (one being the city-owned McLaughlin Public Library) but is considered an important connection to as it leads directly to Oshawa City Hall, the library and the Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery.

The name change first made it to the Council floor in the fall of 2021 and was approved in June of this year.

Bagot Street has been in use in Oshawa since 1868 and was named after Charles Bagot, who served as Governor-General of the Province of Canada from 1842-1843. Bagot was best known for his 1844 Report on the Affairs of Indians in Canada, a foundational document in the establishment of the residential school system.

Ward 4 Councillor Derek Giberson, who put the original motion forward in June, said he didn’t believe the name change will “fix” anything but noted at the time that a name “so evocative of the pain and suffering of so many does not belong in a prominent place in our city centre.”

“I fully expect that some will label this as ‘cancel culture’ but I won’t lose sleep over that,” Giberson added. “It’s not much to ask for those unaffected, but might mean something to those who have been, and is at least a small added step on a longer path we need to commit to.”

Visit the Truth and Reconciliation webpage to learn more about Debwewin Miikan, the street renaming process and the City’s commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.

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