The City won’t be accepting any new submissions to the Names Master List for the next while.

The planning, development and community services committee voted in favour of temporarily pausing submissions to allow City staff to detail the Legacy Review Project which will develop a phased strategy to address naming, recognition, commemorations and other aspects that could contribute to improving the recognition of Indigenous history throughout Saskatoon.

The one to two year pause will also allow City administration to focus on renaming John A. Macdonald Road in the Confederation Park neighbourhood.

This comes after City Council agreed last year to rename the road after receiving calls to change it due to the former Prime Minister’s role in creating the residential school system.

Currently the list has 125 names on it, 75 set aside for street names and 50 for parks and major facilities. On average 8 to 12 new names are needed for the list each year.

The pause will allow City staff to take a look at the names on the current list and see if any need to be removed due to similar reasons with John A. Macdonald.

Councillor Troy Davies, who sits on the Civic Naming Committee says there are some names on the master list that have been there for close to 50 years.

City administration will also look into current street names that may require a renaming along with the symbolic renaming process that was used on Avenue M in renaming one block Sister Theodosia Lane.