More than 150 Yellowknifers and Yellowknives Dene First Nation members attended a Saturday ceremony to mark the renaming of Franklin Avenue, the city’s main street, to Wıìlıìdeh Avenue.
Yellowknife Mayor Ben Hendriksen joined Chief Ernest Betsina and Chief Fred Sangris of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation at the intersection of 50 Avenue (as the main street is also known) and 50 Street.
The change to Wıìlıìdeh Avenue formally takes effect on Sunday, National Indigenous Peoples Day.
“This is a historic day for the Yellowknives Dene,” said Chief Betsina.
“Our people live on this land, travel these routes, harvest, and raise our families and care for this place for many generations. That’s why this renaming matters.”
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Betsina said the name Wıìlıìdeh connected the community to the nearby river and to the local language, describing the renaming as not just about remembering the past but painting a fuller picture.
“John Franklin only spent two days here. My tribe spent 8,000 years here,” said Chief Sangris, referring to the British naval officer for whom the street was previously named. A school in Yellowknife is also named for Franklin, who travelled across the Northwest Territories in the 1800s.
Speaking with Cabin Radio, Betsina said he was “overwhelmed” at Saturday’s turnout. He said the street renaming was a long time coming.
Sangris said the addition of the Wıìlıìdeh language to city stop signs in 2020 had been an important early step, with the avenue renaming representing another milestone in the city’s reconciliation efforts.
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“Today is about taking a real step on our lifelong journeys of reconciliation as treaty people,” said Hendriksen, the mayor.
“Names matter. What we call places matters. Starting tomorrow, the backbone of how we move through our community will be known as Wıìlıìdeh Avenue.”
Over the next few months, the city is expecting to spend $40,000 replacing street signs and updating software and older bylaws.
“It’s time we honour our history and address the true people that live here,” said Elder Emelda King.
She called on residents of the area to not only know the new name, but also to “know the history and to learn it.”
King said she felt there was never a complete picture of the Indigenous peoples who lived in the region. Chief Sangris’ speech had resonated, she said, as she believes there is now a greater understanding of the land and its history.
Future generations “won’t see this as something new, they’ll just see this as something that is part of Yellowknife,” said Hendriksen.
As a drum dance began on the street, Maverick Betsina, a Yellowknives Dene First Nation drummer, similarly noted people will “be saying it for many generations” to come.
