The City of Regina is looking to put an end to themed names in neighbourhoods. There are several neighbourhoods in Regina that stick with themes for the majority of their street names, including the Greens on Gardiner.
Most street names in that neighbourhood have the word Green in the name, including Green Water Drive, Green Rock Road, Green Brooks Way, Green March Crescent and Green Bank Back Ln. The neighbourhood of Wascana View and Maple Ridge also use this naming convention, but during the Regina’s council meeting on Monday night, council voted to disallow themed street names in new neighbourhoods.
“It’s confusing,” said Michael Fougere, Mayor of Regina. “If you want to drive to Wascana View you have very street name named Wascana. It’s confusing so this is to remove that from happening in new developments.”
The city will be responsible for naming connecting and artery roads in new neighbourhoods, and the developer will be able to pick names from a list approved by the city. Developers will be able to recommend names to the list of new street names, but the street naming committee will have to approve those names.
Additionally, 25 per cent of new street names and 50 per cent of new parks will have names with Indigenous roots.
“I think it's critical, not just for reconciliation, but just simply as the right thing to do,” said Fougere. “We have a significant indigenous population in the city. This is a common sense thing to do but it's also a part of reconciliation.”
The Indigenous names will be selected by Reconciliation Regina.
