Trutch Street is now renamed as Musqueam Street in Vancouver, Canada

In one more recent instance, the Indigenous Musqueam People of Canada have restored their dignity by rejecting memorialization of their colonial tormentor Joseph Trutch.

Joseph Trutch never liked native Indians and he never hid his utter scorn for them. The author, Robin Fisher, who researched and wrote a book on Trutch and his Indian land policy, quotes him: "I have not yet met with a single Indian of pure blood whom I consider to have attained even the most glimmering perception of the Christian creed” As regards to their language and capacity to understand, he adds, "the idiosyncrasy of the Indians of this country (Canada) appears to incapacitate them from appreciating any abstract idea, nor do their languages contain any works by which such a conception could be expressed." Trutch was the first Lt. Governor of the Canadian province of British Columbia. He came to Canada in 1859. Above quotes make Trutch abundantly clear, the First Nations lacked the ability to think and even their language does not support the tradition of rational thinking. Can the First Nations lionize him by any memorial in his name?

The Indigenous Native Population of Canada is variously known as Indians, Native Indians, Indigenous peoples or more commonly now as the First Nations. There are many groups of natives spread across vast territory of Canada who have their distinct cultures and languages. One among these groups is Musqueam First Nations, in Vancouver.

Based on a long standing demand of Musqueam First Nations, the city of Vancouver has removed the name of Trutch from a Vancouver street.and has at last renamed the street as Musqueam Street (šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street). And to make it sweeter for the first nations, the name is spelled not in English but in their native language, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, Pronounced: Humqaminam.

A well known public speaker and an author David A Robertson devotes a chapter entitled: “Support the renaming of colonial memorializations” in his new book, published in 2025, entitled “52 ways to reconcile, how to walk with indigenous peoples on the path of healing”. The author has given examples of memorialization of some colonial individuals who were outright insensitive (read as brutal) towards the first nations, but still being immortalized by the independent Canada. They appear as names of institutions, parks and streets. In a tell tale example the author has summed up the chapter with a conversation he had with Germans asking if they would have memorials for the architects of Holocaust. Suggesting how an Independent Canada can continue with memorialization of colonial masters who considered native Indians as lesser people. Attitude of Colonial masters was no different from those Nazis who considered Gypsies, Romani etc, as lesser people. In Germany, there are no memorials in the name of Nazis and no child named Adolf Hitler.

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