Vancouver wants indigenous names for Broadway Subway stations

Map of the Millennium Line's Broadway Extension subway stations. (TransLink)

Could there be First Nations names for the six stations of the Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension to Arbutus Street?

The City of Vancouver wants to “encourage” TransLink to invite three local First Nations – the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh – to come up with indigenous names for each of the new stations running through the city.

Such names would “recognize the rich history and cultural heritage of the local Nations,” reads a City staff report that will be reviewed by City Council this week.

However, the indigenous names will supplement, not replace, the official English station names.

Station naming is the prerogative of TransLink, which typically names SkyTrain stations to clearly and directly reflect the location of the station, such as major nearby landmarks, destinations, and streets.

These are the extension’s six station locations (Note: These station names are for this article’s descriptive purposes only):

Great Northern Way-Thornton Street
Broadway-Main Street
Broadway-Cambie Street (direct underground connection to the Canada Line platforms)
Broadway-Oak Street
Broadway-Granville Street
Broadway-Arbutus Street

Construction on the $2.83-billion, 5.7-km-long extension of SkyTrain is anticipated to begin in 2020 for a 2025 completion. The estimated ridership upon opening is 140,000 per day.

Earlier this year, the Vancouver School Board considered changing the way schools are named to make them more multicultural, and more recently City Council voted to provide the redeveloped Northeast False Creek area with a new indigenous name.

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