New road names and community mailboxes proposed for RM of Ste Anne

Canada Post will start moving over from box number addresses to civic road addresses starting with the Giroux area this May in the RM of Ste Anne. Council sees this as an opportunity to change some road names.

Another quirk of Canada Post’s change heard at the RM’s Feb. 12 council meeting is that mailing addresses will no longer have the name Ste Anne in the RM, avoiding confusion with addresses in the Town of Ste Anne.

For example, the municipal office would be referred to as 395 Traverse Road, Greenland, MB instead of Box 6, Ste Anne, MB.

That had councilors suggesting lightheartedly that the municipality’s name be changed. The name Dawson Trail was thrown out during discussions, though there were no motions to do so.

The LUD of Richer saw this as an opportunity to change road names in honour of local residents since everyone will need to change their addresses anyway. LUD members asked council to consider a list of names for Southeast Drive, Southwest Drive, Northeast Drive, Northwest Drive, and to name the path next to Richer school Kopelow Trail after a local teacher.

The motion to rename the roads was tabled for a committee of the whole meeting.

Locals who wanted better access to parcel delivery when ordering online were a factor in making the change.

RM staff will work to draw five to six community name boundaries for the new addresses. They are proposed to include Richer, Giroux, Greenland, La Coulee, Duhamel and Saint Raymond, with Saint Raymond being used only if necessary. Council will also discuss those names and boundaries at a committee of the whole.

The move to community mailboxes is encouraged by Canada Post, though there is still an option for mailboxes at the end of driveways. Those driveway mailboxes would have to be up to Canada Post standards and could change to community boxes in the future.