Vancouver's Trutch Street to be renamed Musqueamview Street

The Musqueam Indian Band has gifted a replacement name for Trutch Street to the City of Vancouver, more than a decade after members first called for a change.

The new name is Musqueamview Street in English, and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, which is the traditional language of the Musqueam.

Last year Vancouver city council voted unanimously in favour of renaming the street over the namesake's history of oppressing and displacing Indigenous people in B.C.

Joseph Trutch served as the province's first lieutenant governor and as chief commissioner of lands and works, a role he used to dramatically reduce the size of Indigenous reserves.

His racist views of B.C.'s Indigenous population are well-documented. He's been quoted as describing Indigenous people in the province as "utter savages living along the coast" in a letter to then-prime minister John A. Macdonald in 1872.

During a ceremony held on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Alec Guerin with the Musqueam Indian Band told the crowd that the move was one of healing, but also remembrance.

“It’s important not just that we replace the monument to Trutch with our language, with our identity, in our territory, but it’s important we don't erase the history,” Guerin said.

Last month a vigilante covered up the letter "C" on every Trutch Street sign in the city – resulting in the signs instead reading "Truth Street."

Another Trutch Street in Victoria, which is on Lekwungen Nation land, was renamed earlier this year.

Victoria council voted to change the name to Su'it Street, which means "truth," or "meaning to tell the truth," according to the city.