Holocaust remembrance group calls on Edmonton city leaders to rename street

A Canadian holocaust remembrance group is calling for a street in south Edmonton to be renamed.

They told CityNews the man it’s named after — Peter Savaryn — served under a Nazi military unit.

“We’ve known about him and his activities for many, many years — but we only learned that there was actually a street named after him in Edmonton two weeks ago,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, the senior director of policy & advocacy at Friends of Simons Wiesenthal Centre.

The street is in Edmonton’s Summerside neighbourhood and was named after former University of Alberta chancellor Peter Savaryn.

In recent weeks, an article in a Jewish American publication from New York City caught the attention of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Group — Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre — highlighting how the South Edmonton Road is named after someone who served in a Nazi military unit in World War 2.

Savaryn died in 2017, but in 2023, Canada’s governor general apologized on behalf of awarding Savaryn the Order of Canada in 1987.

“What makes this issue remarkable is that this is a public street, paid for by Canadians, owned by Canadians, the same people who lost so much to defeat people just like Savaryn,” said Kirzner-Roberts.

The City of Edmonton told CityNews that a local charity requested to honour Savaryn in 1994. Adding that when this neighbourhood was built in 2007, city officials were not aware of Savaryn’s military history. Saying the name was chosen at the time to honour his contributions to Ukrainian heritage and culture in the country.

A city spokesperson said that to change the name 75 per cent of homeowners and businesses in the area of the street would have had to put their names forward for a change request. 

But neighbours living on Savaryn Drive say the answer to a name change is not so simple, with almost everyone CityNews spoke to in the neighbourhood saying they weren’t aware of Savaryn’s history and controversy until we told them.

“This kind of thing, personally, I would rather see put to a plebiscite as opposed to a general character of society saying that every time there’s an infraction in the past, it has to change,” said a resident CityNews spoke to.

Another said, “It’s really worth thinking about, is there someone else that’s more worthy of this street name — but we’d have to look further.”

But the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre want civic leaders to make the choice. 

“I hope the mayor will stand up and take quick action,” said Kirzner-Roberts.