ededed
New Member
COE released youtube videos to help people pronounce the names.
That is a clear enough sign of how abysmal a choice the ward names are.
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General Infill Discussion
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
That is a clear enough sign of how abysmal a choice the ward names are.
snowman123
New Member
What, numbers are right wing ( whatever right wing means) ? The names right now are an absolute joke. I'll bet numbers and counting were in use before these names even existed
thommyjo
Senior Member
I think it’s an interesting discussion about accessibility for all people, but especially new Canadians who might not have English as their strongest language. I’ve had a number of friends that are Indian, Nigerian, and Ukrainian complain about it.
I think the best approach if they wanted to honour indigenous people would be to choose shorter words that are more common in structure to English speakers. Nakota Isga for example, not hard. Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi, is objectively harder to spell and pronounce. And it’s not racist to say that lol.
Not sure why we couldn’t stick with numbers though. That would have been easiest. The virtue signalling of the 2010s had some weird outcomes. This likely hurts reconciliation efforts more than it helps by giving fodder to those already less willing to learn/listen.
I think the best approach if they wanted to honour indigenous people would be to choose shorter words that are more common in structure to English speakers. Nakota Isga for example, not hard. Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi, is objectively harder to spell and pronounce. And it’s not racist to say that lol.
Not sure why we couldn’t stick with numbers though. That would have been easiest. The virtue signalling of the 2010s had some weird outcomes. This likely hurts reconciliation efforts more than it helps by giving fodder to those already less willing to learn/listen.
yeggator
Active Member
I still think both the Indigenous names and numbers for wards are bad. The wards should have geographical names, like the provincial/federal ridings. Pretty sure I made a list of names somewhere in the forum.
Edmcowboy11
Senior Member
Well, my two cents on this is that the new names were brought in and if any of those names are excessively hard to pronounce and even read perhaps a compromise of a eurocentric spelling so people can pronounce the word but still keep the actual spelling available somewhere on a sign wherever it may be to show that this is how it's supposed to be spelled, but also to is on top of that bring back the ward numbers. Just like any solution it won't satisfy everybody probably won't satisfy anybody but it's a compromise that everybody could maybe live with
policyenthusiast
Senior Member
Agreed for the most part. The problem isn't the names being indigenous (i.e no one takes issue with ward Metis, Dene or Nakota Isga), it's the fact that several of them are impossible for the average resident to pronounce or spell. It's alienating.
A full repeal of the names would be overkill, but if they changed Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi and tastawiyiniwak (ᑕᐢᑕᐃᐧᔨᓂᐊᐧᐠ) to literally anything else I would be fine with it.
IanO
Superstar
OR, pair them with former ward numbers along side the formal names.
fromyeg
Active Member
Listening to Speaking Municipally and reading Zone In from Situate, debate on the Crestwood Rezoning from RS to RSMh12 lasted nearly 5 hours and is largely the reason why so many other rezonings were pushed to January 26, 2026.
I really hope this does not become the norm as it will make public hearings very inefficient and lead to significant delays in the rezoning process.
BrettB
Active Member
That's democracy, though. You could go the same route as the NDP in BC and ban public hearings for certain upzonings, but I don't see Albertans going for that.
policyenthusiast
Senior Member
It will likely remain the norm for NIMBYhoods like Glenora and Crestwood. Most rezoning discussions are still pretty quick.
roe_
Active Member
Interesting discussion on Indigenous place names. I was slightly amused when I heard a British person try to pronounce Kananaskis, which they found very difficult. It reminded me of when I was in New Zealand and found the Maori place names unusual and difficult to pronounce. Locals, however, were absolutely fine with them and did not seem to have any problem with words that followed different spelling and pronunciation rules to English.
At the end of the day, we already have plenty of Indigenous names that people use and it isn't controversial because they are used to them. I suspect the same will occur with the ward names.
At the end of the day, we already have plenty of Indigenous names that people use and it isn't controversial because they are used to them. I suspect the same will occur with the ward names.
ADob
Active Member
I'd wager for most but probably not all.
David A
Senior Member
It could, but only if some of the names were shorter and easier to pronounce for people who speak english.
I'm sorry, but if most people still can't identify the ward they live in, this is a failure in naming and sadly also for democracy. At this point, lets not try to put more lipstick on this and pretend otherwise.
thommyjo
Senior Member
It’s one thing to learn Saskatchewan or wetaskawin, which mostly reflect English pronunciation. And if I’m not mistaken, those aren’t original spellings, right? They made them more British?
It’s another thing to have words twice as long with letter combinations rarely seen in English.
In my view Whikwentowin is right on the line for this. The wards being mentioned as most difficult in this thread clearly cross the line.
Seamusmuldrew
Active Member
I mean, the whole thing is that the names aren’t in English, so it’s not necessarily unfair to ESL speakers. I would assume these people might actually have an easier time figuring out how to pronounce the ward names since they have language learning experience.
It’s not racist to acknowledge that ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi can be challenging for non-cree speakers, but it’s funny watching a lot of people who’d like to say they’re for reconciliation but then come up with ways to deride reconciliation efforts when it poses any sort of challenge to them.