Calgary city councillors voted to retain the current name of a south Calgary LRT station, with city admin saying a name change should align with broader planning initiatives in the area.
Councillors voted to keep Fish Creek – Lacombe as the name of an LRT station on the south part of the Red Line during their Executive Committee meeting Thursday evening, after a request to consider a renaming to St. Mary’s University / Fish Creek came through a Notice of Motion from Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong in February.
The name change was brought forward to honour the contribution that St. Mary’s had made to the education landscape in Calgary over the years. Calgary Transit has named other LRT stations after post-secondary education institutions, including the University of Calgary, SAIT and most recently Bow Valley College.
“Renaming the Fishcreek/Lacombe C-Train Station and Platform would highlight the asset that St. Mary’s University is to Calgary, drawing direct connections between education and the wonderful assets of our city,” read a letter of support from St. Mary’s University board chair Gary Strother.
“It would provide another point of recognition for the university, helping to establish St. Mary’s University as a dynamic and last community asset in southeast Calgary.”
Two letters of opposition were also logged for the record, including one from the Calgary Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee (CAUAC) noting the residential school implications associated with the St. Mary’s name. It also notes that Father Lacombe, part of the current name, “was instrumental in the founding of the Residential School system in Canada,” and said that it aligns with their efforts to rename.
“We, however, do not support the inclusion of the ‘St Mary’s’ name at the Fish Creek transit station, as St Mary’s also holds relevance to the Indian Residential School system,” read the letter from CAUAC chair Cristi Adams.
“The inclusion of the name goes against the intent of the White Goose Flying report recommendations and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Calls to Action.”
They noted the name St Mary’s was associated with three residential schools in Canada, including one in Cardston, Alberta, that they said was operated within the Catholic Diocese of Calgary.
Not the desired outcome: Coun. Demong
City administration said that after targeted external engagement and public input there was no clear direction on the renaming. More than 700 people responded to an online questionnaire and reflected a range of perspectives, said Steven Snell, Supervisor, Mobility and Partnerships with the City of Calgary. He said that the engagement findings informed the recommendation to keep the current name.
“The decision to rename the station should align with broader planning and engagement objectives, such as transit-oriented development (TOD) work for the station area or the future local area plan for this and nearby communities,” Snell told councillors.
The City of Calgary awarded two sites to affordable housing provider HomeSpace to build homes on plots of land near LRT stations. One of those is the Fish Creek – Lacombe station, with the city noting the importance of developing the land next to transit.
Coun. Demong moved the item as it stood, but wasn’t thrilled with how it was handled.
“Obviously, this is not the result I was actually hoping for,” he said.
“I know there was a somewhat flawed engagement program in it, but that’s fine. I’m not going to go get too much detailed on that.”
Demong said that as they go through the TOD process, it could present a more appropriate time to look at a renaming of the station.
Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian, who voted against the Bow Valley College renaming, also voted to keep the current station name at Fish Creek.
“I think we could really go down a very long rabbit hole of renaming all of the CTrain stations,” she said.
“It’s not free. I think it was $35,000 to reprint all of the maps and things like that to do this… I do think it’s probably the right direction.”
