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Mike W. Bryant
Staff columnist
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
First, an admission of what may be viewed as a bias.
One afternoon on a nice spring day in 1997, while on a hike-in fishing trip to Bighill Lake, an enormous bird swooped down on me as I walked along a heavily wooded trail.
It was clear the bird, which at first I thought was an owl but I later determined to be in fact a Northern goshawk, meant me harm. It flew at my head, missing the peak of my broad-rimmed hat by an inch.
Then I saw its mate, which dove at me as well. Then I saw the nest in a tree above me, and real panic began to set in. Both goshawks repeatedly dive-bombed me as I crawled along the forest floor until one, swooping low like a kamikaze attacking a battleship, smacked me in the face with its talons. I immediately felt blood gushing from my face and intense pain around my nose and mouth.
Eventually, I staggered to safety. When I got home that night and looked at my reflection in the mirror, I saw my eyes and lips bruised black. Three talon punctures rimmed my right eye.
At work the next day, my boss was so amused he called Yellowknifer (it was a couple years before I started working here). The front page headline in the following Wednesday paper was "Man attacked by bird."
So before I delve into city council's decision to name three roads in the new airport business district after birds, I figured I better get that story out of the way lest anyone who recalls the incident comes back and accuse me of being hopelessly and forevermore turned against our fine feathered friends.
I actually enjoy birds quite a lot. I have nothing against them at all. Most are pretty and fun to watch. Whiskey jacks, in particular, make fine camping companions.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly with Coun. Bob Brooks, the only city councillor who voted against naming three Engle Business District roads for the birds.
Birds have no place on our city street signs. Bush planes, sure, but birds? Well, who really cares? What does Eagle Drive or Osprey Road convey about Yellowknife? Nothing, really.
Yellowknife's history is short but much of this town's mystique has grown around the people who built it - those early prospectors and business owners and the Dene who welcomed them. The street names by which city council has honoured them in the past keep our history alive.
Ingraham Drive? Named after Vic Ingraham, who built Yellowknife's first hotel. Piro Court? In honour of Mike and Jean Piro, prominent Yellowknifers who built several businesses in the city.
I wrote a favourable column about city council last week but their decision to name streets after birds, besides paying no attention to our city's history, is simply cookie-cutter like in its lack of originality.
It could have been a decision made by the city council in Surrey, B.C., or Markham, Ont., where there are endless streets to name but little history left to apply to them.
Type Falcon Road into Google and see what comes up. The world is crowded with Falcon Roads, everywhere from London, U.K., to Hamilton, Ont., and Fair Oaks, California. Type in Otto Drive and it takes you straight home to Yellowknife.
I find council's decision particularly irksome, especially considering that this year's city heritage award winner was Tyler Heal, a high school student whose family has a rich Yellowknife history. He researched the stories behind the city's street names and turned them into a book. Most readers have probably seen his street stories in this newspaper.
We have few roads to build but lots of history still tucked away in shelves and old newspaper clippings. We should use it.
Otherwise, what's next? Niven Lake roads themed on council's favourite butterflies?
Council should embrace our past, not ignore it.