Vancouver's Trutch Street set to officially be renamed following council vote

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 16, 2025 9:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A thoroughfare successful Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood volition soon beryllium officially renamed successful what members of the Musqueam Indian Band call a measurement guardant for reconciliation.

Trutch Street volition beryllium called Musqueamview Street successful English and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm successful the Musqueam Indian Band's hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language.

It comes aft a unanimous ballot by metropolis assembly successful July 2021 to regenerate the sanction of the street, located betwixt Blenheim and Balaclava streets connected the city's westbound side. 

Musqueamview Street runs 16 blocks, with its bluish apex adjacent the h2o astatine Jericho Beach, and the confederate extremity adjacent Carnarvon Park. Its hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name is pronounced "sh-muck-wi-um-awe-sum."

The thoroughfare — primitively named aft Joseph Trutch, B.C.'s archetypal lieutenant-governor — was renamed due to the fact that of Trutch's racist policies against Indigenous people, including drastically reducing the size of reserves and refusing to fto Indigenous radical acquisition onshore from non-Indigenous people.

Vancouver metropolis assembly volition rubberstamp the renaming aft a assembly ballot connected Tuesday, with metropolis unit making the proposal to alteration the sanction to šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm — a sanction talented to the metropolis by the Musqueam Indian Band in September 2022.

Larry Grant, an elder and the manager of the band's connection and civilization department, said that the renaming comes arsenic Canada tries to enactment connected the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action and the UN Declaration connected the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"It's really, truly important that our young ones that are coming up down [us] to understand our connection has immoderate meaning ... and it brings guardant assemblage pride," helium said.

"So that's truly my anticipation for all."

Grant and the Musqueam Indian Band worked alongside the metropolis to instrumentality the changes, and the elder said that determination would beryllium storyboards on the mostly residential thoroughfare talking astir Trutch and wherefore the thoroughfare was erstwhile named aft him.

"We did not privation to wholly erase his sanction ... but besides support past successful focus, truthful that radical would recognize wherefore the sanction was changed," helium said.

Vanessa Campbell, different subordinate of the Musqueam connection and civilization department, said the band's members were precise excited and honoured by the change, particularly fixed determination are nary fluent speakers of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ connection left.

She acknowledged that hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ orthography whitethorn beryllium a caller show for immoderate Vancouverites.

"We're going to marque definite that there's tons of antithetic types of acquisition materials truthful that you tin larn successful immoderate mode that makes you consciousness astir comfortable," she said.

WATCH | Trutch Street renaming up for assembly decision: 

Some systems can't show caller name

In the study to metropolis assembly connected Tuesday, metropolis unit said it had sought input from archetypal responders connected the sanction change, fixed it has been successful the works for years.

It recovered that exigency responders, metropolis systems and adjacent agencies similar Canada Post and ICBC had occupation displaying the caller name.

In those instances, the metropolis says the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ sanction volition beryllium utilized wherever possible.

"Those that cannot volition usage the sanction 'Musqueamview [Street]' with a footnote wherever imaginable stating 'Musqueamview [Street] is simply a translated sanction disposable for usage portion assemblage systems enactment to judge multilingual characters,'" the study says.

The metropolis said the alteration volition interaction 100 unsocial addresses connected the street.

Vancouver resident Verity Livingstone told CBC News connected Monday that she was successful favour of the renaming.

"I deliberation past marches guardant and, therefore, we should each beryllium cognizant of of the information it's clip for change," Livingstone said. "And if we tin travel up with a sanction that respects the past of this place, I deliberation we should usage it."

Streets and institutions around B.C. that were named for Trutch person been renamed successful the aftermath of the reappraisal of his racist and colonizing legacy.

In Victoria, what was once Trutch Street is present səʔit Street, pronounced say-eet.

In Richmond, the former Trutch Avenue was renamed after B.C.'s archetypal Indigenous lieutenant-governor, Steven Point.