Amherst Street will be getting a new name on Indigenous Peoples Day Friday

The City of Montreal will be announcing a new name for Amherst Street Friday morning, on National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The announcement comes two years after former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre promised to rename the street.

The street is currently named after Jeffery Amherst, a known advocate forbiological warfare who distributedsmallpox-contaminated blankets to Indigenous people in the 1700s.

Last year, the city announced they would be choosing the name of an Indigenous person, in the spirit of reconciliation. The new name will be chosen by a committee composed of Indigenous people.

Ghislain Picard, the regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, is happy with the initiative. He says that Indigenous peoples have been asking for this name change for decades.

Some possible new names that were discussed included Huron Chief Kondiaronk, leaders of the Great Peace of Montreal and Chief Pontiac, who rebelled against Amherst.

They will be announcing the new name at a ceremony in Parc Miville-Couture.