Whereas Indian Road is a municipal road that runs through an established residential community located in Kingston Central that has approximately sixty-two residential properties that abut it; and
Whereas there are three City parks located on Indian Road that are referred to as Indian Road Park, Indian Road Parkette A and Indian Road Parkette B; and
Whereas the use of the word “Indian” is outdated and derogatory when referencing Canada’s First Peoples, Metis and Inuit and/or Indigenous persons and cultures more broadly; and
Whereas City of Kingston By-Law Number 2005-98, the Civic Addressing and Road Naming, provides that “names that are discriminatory, offensive, or derogatory, shall not be permitted”; and
Whereas street renaming should take into consideration feedback from impacted residents and community members; and
Whereas some municipalities offer compensation to residents impacted by road renaming;
Therefore Be It Resolved That staff in the Planning Services and Community Development, Wellbeing & IIDEA departments be directed to initiate a process to rename Indian Road, and work with the current homeowners on the street on the transition to a new road name; and
That this process include consultation with:
- residents directly affected by the proposed name change;
- Indigenous service organizations that service indigenous peoples in Kingston, such as but not limited to, the Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest, Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre, Kingston Aboriginal Community Information Network, the Molly Brant Foundation, and the Kagita Mikam Métis Nation of Ontario
- Indigenous nations with a recognized relationship to the land in question, approached respectfully on a nation-to-nation basis, in keeping with principles of Indigenous land stewardship such as but not limited to the Mohawks of Treaty 57, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat peoples; and
That staff be directed to return to Council in the first half of 2026 with the outcome of the renaming process for Indian Road, Indian Road Parkette A and Indian Road Parkette B; and
That recognizing that the neighbourhood including and surrounding Indian Road carries a reconciliatory commemorative history embedded in its very toponym, one that predates the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the City study, verify, and commemorate this history through appropriate interpretive signage or installations in the neighbourhood; and
That this reporting back include financial considerations associated with the renaming, to both the municipality and to private property owners.