The city of Vancouver is poised to rename Trutch Street on the city’s west side to šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street, a word drawn from the language of the Musqueam First Nation.
This will mark the first time a city street is officially named using an alphabet other than English in Canada.
The 16-character name, pronounced by few and read by fewer, is intended to replace the name of Joseph Trutch, British Columbia’s first lieutenant-governor, who has long been criticized for his 19th-century opposition to Indigenous land rights.
City council is expected to approve the change next week, following years of pressure from Indigenous activists and former mayor Kennedy Stewart, who first proposed removing Trutch’s name in 2021.
The Musqueam Nation proposed šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm, which loosely translates to “Musqueamview Street”, in 2022.
City staff say the move is meant to reflect “reconciliation” by eliminating public commemoration of Trutch, who, in his role as colonial land commissioner, denied the existence of Indigenous land rights and reduced the size of reserves.
In 2012, activists defaced every Trutch Street sign in the area with stickers reading, “Joseph Trutch was a racist bigot.”
But the new name has raised serious concerns about functionality, clarity, and accessibility, especially given that virtually no fluent speakers of the language exist, and that the spelling and pronunciation bear no resemblance to any standardized Roman-alphabet system.
The Vancouver Police Department, Fire and other Emergency service departments all raised red flags about the implications for public safety, noting that callers in distress may struggle to pronounce or even spell the name.
To mitigate these issues, the city plans to install two signs on each post: one for šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm St., and a second below that reads Musqueamview St.
However, the legal and official name of the street will be only the Indigenous version.
Supporters of the change call it a “landmark moment” for the revitalization of the Musqueam language, and the city report argues that naming infrastructure in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ is a form of cultural reclamation.
The renaming in Vancouver comes two years after Victoria, which renamed its Trutch Street to Su’it Street in 2022, a simpler name meaning “truth” in a local Indigenous language, while using a readable alphabet for most Canadians.
The unveiling of the new šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street signs is scheduled for June 20 at St. James Community Square.