Vancouver man says institutions unable to recognize new Indigenous street name – BC

David Gardiner received a handout from the City of Vancouver on June 6, telling him that his street name was going to be changing.

He has lived on the now formerly-named Trutch Street for 40 years, which now bears the name šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street (pronounced sh-MUS-quee-um-AW-sum), which translates to Musqueamview in English.

Signposts bear the English name below the official Musqueam name, which is written in the North American Phonetic Alphabet.

Gardiner said he has no issue with the name change and it was not a surprise, but told Global News that when he tried to change his address to the legal Musqueam spelling — šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm — both of his banks told him they have no capacity, nor plans, to be able to recognize the official spelling.

“I think it was very unfair because I think they should have consulted all the stakeholders and that would include the City of Vancouver itself, the province of B.C., at least all the banks, whole bunch of what they call stakeholders, and they left that job to the residents of Trutch Street, former Trutch Street, and that’s kind of ridiculous,” Gardiner added.

“We’re not being paid for this.”

Gardiner said he is also having issues changing his address with his credit cards and MSP.

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Communications strategist Bill Tieleman said the city should have given residents way more than the two weeks’ notice that they got.

“They had four years… they voted for this in 2021… and it’s 2025 and they haven’t done the work yet,” he said.

Global News asked the City of Vancouver if staff sought data about how many Vancouverites are familiar with he North American Phonetic Alphabet but they said they did not have any.

However, they said they are supporting people with questions via e-mail and they had reached out to service providers.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said that the name on Google Maps comes up as Musqueamview, so there are alternatives for people to use that for their address change.

“Change is hard,” he said, “but it’s the right change.”

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