Chief wants entire ring road named after Tsuut'ina nation, not just southwest portion

A portion of Calgary's southwest ring road will be named Tsuut'ina Trail, but the chief of the nation nestled into the city's southwest says he'd like to see the entire road named for his people.

"The city, over history, has been good at naming streets to other nations and that. Because we work so close with the city, it just seemed that that would probably make sense," said ChiefLee Crowchild.

"Given the critical role Tsuut'ina played in the completion of this project, we believe the entire ring road can and should be name Tsuut'ina. I'd like to see that, in fact."

Political 'difficulty'

It's a request Alberta's transportation minister says presents a political challenge, seeing as the rest of the road is named after the Stoney Nation to the west.

"Well, that presents a difficulty, doesn't it? It doesn't take a political science graduate to see the difficulty, but certainly I'm prepared to talk to the chief and if necessary, to speak with the three chiefs in the Stoney Nation as well," said Brian Mason at the naming ceremony on Monday.

Mason said he first heard the idea for changing the name of the whole project one or two days ago.

10-km stretch

The portion of the $2.2-billion southwest ring road that has been renamed as of Monday stretches for approximately 10 kilometres through former Tsuut'ina land between Fish Creek Park and Glenmore Trail.

"Calgarians are proud of our long history that includes thousands of years of Indigenous culture on this land," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi in a news release.

"I can't think of a better name for this important piece of infrastructure thanTsuut'inaTrail. It is a reminder of our common path as neighbours and fellow citizens."

The southwest portion of the ring road started construction in 2017 and is expected to open to traffic in 2021.

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