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Alberta's City of Saint Albert is looking for help on the renaming of its Grandin neighborhood that honors a Catholic bishop who founded residential boarding schools, where Indigenous children were abused for more than 100 years, throughout Canada.
Saint Albert’s RFP notes that Canadian cities “are grappling with how to rename streets, neighborhoods, parks and other infrastructure which is named after someone whose reputation may not stand up to the scrutiny of an inclusive society.”
Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary also have institutions and infrastructure named after Bishop Vital Grandin.
Saint Albert says many of its residents requested changing the name of Grandin after the discovery of the remains of 215 children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Tk’emups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia in June 2021.
The city has about 600 businesses, streets, civic sites and municipal properties that have some connection with Grandin.
Pope Francis on March 31 apologized for the abuse and mistreatment that went on in the Church's boarding schools and promised to visit Canada to meet with members of the Indigenous community.
Responses to the RFP are due April 13. Interested firms must be registered at https://stalbert.bidsandtenders.ca/Module/Tenders/en.
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