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Some Winnipeggers want to rename Bishop Grandin Boulevard due to its namesake’s lobby for residential schools.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said he received two complaints from residents – one concerned over the boulevard and another over the Bishop Grandin Greenway – which led him to request a report from city archives staff to better understand the issue.

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That report notes that Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin was a celebrated advocate for Métis rights but also lobbied the federal government to build residential schools. Those schools were thoroughly condemned by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which found the way children were taken from the families amounts to a “cultural genocide.”

Mayes said he agrees that fact should be acknowledged, but thinks an education effort would be better than replacing the name.

“You don’t try and erase the history. You try and learn from it,” he said.