A SIGN OF INSINCERITY

City council was sufficiently concerned about Hector-Louis Langevin’s past that they renamed the downtown bridge that honours him. Langevin was a Father of Confederation, but he is associated with the Aboriginal residential school system, an act of “cultural genocide,” according to the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Report.

So deep was council’s disgust that a motion to rename the span Reconciliation Bridge passed 14-1 in a Jan. 23, 2017, vote. Yet, almost a full year later, signage at the bridge has not been updated.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Mayor Naheed Nenshi says city workers were so moved by the decision to change the bridge’s name they stayed late that January day almost one year ago and had new signs in place the next morning.

They were instructed to take the new signs down until a ceremony could be arranged to formally acknowledge the bridge’s name change. Fair enough, but surely it doesn’t take the city almost a full year to pull together a simple, but important ceremony.

Nenshi tweeted last August a ceremony would be held in the fall, but here we are in 2018, with no progress being made: the signs, once up, are collecting dust in storage.

The manner in which this has been handled reflects poorly on city council. Civic politicians made the decision to respect the wishes of First Nations and other community members by retitling the bridge, but they never followed through with the important details.

Frankly, there’s no reason a ceremony couldn’t have been held with the new signage in place. It would appear city council is more interested in a public spectacle, rather than simply getting on with the task at hand.

Changing the name of a prominent piece of infrastructure, such as a 108-year-old bridge, is a big deal, and not without controversy. If city politicians are going to take on such a task, the least they can do is show commitment. Voting to remedy what First Nations people regard as an affront to their dignity is one thing, but it’s a hollow gesture if such sentiments aren’t backed up by action — in this case, erecting appropriate signs.

“I’m very surprised they were up and taken down, and now we’re waiting for the ceremony,” Tsuut’ina Nation spokesman Kevin Littlelight said this week.

“I’m very confident in the city and the mayor’s office that they have plans to put up the signs properly with honour and dignity.”

Littlelight should not have to display such patience. Sincere acts of reconciliation occur much quicker.