Kingston renames Indian Road despite 85% of residents' objections
Despite overwhelming support for keeping the street name, city council chose to rename Indian Road to Aki Road after the Obiway word for land or earth.
Article by Rebel News staff.
City council in Kingston, Ont. voted 8-5 to rename Indian Road to Aki Road — the Ojibway word for land or earth — over the objections of the residents who actually live there. Three surveys conducted by the local alderman found 85% of respondents rejected all four proposed Indigenous replacement names.
Council voted to change it anyway.
On Wednesday's episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra said the decision was the sign of a much larger pattern.
"Part of the ideological war against us is to destroy the past," he said, invoking George Orwell's 1984 and Winston Smith's job at the Ministry of Truth, changing history by destroying old newspapers.
"Tearing down statues is a form of destroying the past, controlling the past because it confuses people as to who we are and where we came from," something that is ongoing in Canada.
He catalogued the recent record: Sir John A. Macdonald removed from the $10 bill, Yonge-Dundas Square renamed Sankofa Square — after a West African group that Ezra noted was itself historically involved in the slave trade — streets renamed in British Columbia using characters not found on any standard keyboard, statues of Queen Victoria toppled outside the Manitoba legislature.
"Nothing is allowed to stand," he said. "They're tearing down our history."
On Indian Road specifically, residents were clear. One woman who has lived on the street for 37 years told CTV the name was "meant to honor First Nations peoples" and that renaming it was "a waste of time" and "a waste of money."
Another resident said he has First Nations family members and sees the name as "an honorarium to who they are." The local alderman, who conducted the surveys, said the claim that a majority of residents wanted the change was "far from the truth" and warned the process was building resentment.
"They're angry," he said. "I don't think this is a step in the right direction."
Ezra noted the executive director who pushed for the change introduced himself at council using his Indian registration number.
"If you actually cared about changing the status of Indians in this country," he said, "you would deal with the Indian Act — which is called the Indian Act — and has different rights based on your race." Renaming a street, he argued, is performative.
"Hey, why don't they ever propose changing their own street name?" Ezra asked. "Why is it always someone else who has to pay the price?"
BECOME A MEMBER
Ezra Levant
Rebel Commander
Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant Show. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.
Featured Stories
04:34
05:58
