The Langevin Bridge is no more, as the signs on the bridge have finally been removed.
The bridge was officially renamed more than a year ago, after city council passed a motion on Jan. 23, 2017 to have the bridge now be called the Reconciliation Bridge.
The name change came about through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which attributed the following quote to former Public Works Minister Sir Hector-Louis Langevin:
“In order to educate the children properly we must separate them from their families. Some people may say that this is hard but if we want to civilize them we must do that.”
The quote was given in 1883 as an explanation for establishing residential schools for Aboriginal children.
The city’s roads department removed the signs last winter when council first passed the motion, however were instructed to put them back while city officials planned a formal renaming ceremony.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi tweeted last summer that plans were in the works to have a ceremony in the fall, but as of March 1, 2018, there was no word from city officials on when that ceremony would take place.
Watch from October 2016: Calgary is no stranger to controversy when it comes to wanting to change a name. A petition was started last summer, suggesting that a bridge in our city be re-named. But as Sarah Offin reports, the process isn’t as simple as it seems.
Along with the bridge, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also sparked conversation about whether the Langevin School should be renamed. The school still bears that name.