Black community left out of Nora Hendrix street name decision

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Vancouver City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to name a new road in honour of the late Nora Hendrix, but there’s criticism that the city didn’t include the Black community in its decision.

RELATED: Vancouver considers naming street after Hogan’s Alley’s Nora Hendrix

The choice to not involve the Hogan’s Alley Society is “definitely tokenism,” according to co-chair Dr. June Francis.

“It’s a flagrant disregard for us,” she says, adding the society cannot support a move that has gone forward “without us and not by us.”

“We are really concerned that the city would actually make a decision like this without consulting the Black community — specifically without consulting Hogan’s Alley Society, that has been working with them closely.”

Nora Hendrix Way — named after a pillar in Vancouver’s Black Community and grandmother to legendary musician Jimi Hendrix — will run between Gore and Thornton Avenues, running north from National Avenue. The area is near the future St. Paul’s hospital site, and the street will serve as a permanent honour in recognition of Nora’s role in the Strathcona community.

“Norah Hendrix is a woman that is highly regarded as a pillar of Hogan’s Alley Block, we call it: The Hogan’s Alley, Strathcona area of Vancouver. So we hold her in extremely high esteem,” Francis says.

Nora Hendrix moved to Vancouver in 1911. She worked as a cook at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House, a spot visited by musicians like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. She also helped start the first Black church in Strathcona.

“Names are so important. It is symbolic, but in fact, it imbues something with meaning. And that meaning, if it’s not shared by the community that is intended to share and to celebrate – This should have been a day of great joy. Of great rejoicing,” Francis says.

While Francis says she believes the city had good intentions when voting on the Nora Hendrix Way, they need to “make good” on this issue.

“I think they have to wait to implement this, and to come back to the Hogan’s Alley Society and the Black Community and ensure that we in fact are reflected going forward.”

CityNews has reached out to civic asset naming committee co-chair John Atkin and other committee members.