Calgary 
Events Description
Names feel permanent — until they don’t. What happens when a community — an organization, a government, or anyone else — decides a name no longer fits the story it wants to tell?
This month at Hot Dogs & Hot Takes on History, Dr. Joe Anderson explores the growing movement to rename places, landmarks, and institutions as part of a broader reckoning with how we commemorate history.
Through case studies from across Canada and the United States, Dr. Anderson examines why communities are revisiting long-standing names — particularly those tied to colonialism, exclusion, or figures whose legacies have become increasingly contested. Is renaming a meaningful act of change, or just symbolic? Who gets to decide when a name has outlived its time?
The conversation then turns close to home, with a look at the 2024 transition from Fort Calgary to The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland and what that shift reveals about how Calgary is rethinking its own past.
Come for the hot dogs and reflect on the question: when we rename a place, are we rewriting history, or are we telling more of it?
Who is it for?
13+
HOW MUCH
Tickets :
$15 (+ fees)
How to get tickets?
At the door: Subject to availability
WHEN & WHERE
Date:
Thursday, May 21, 2026 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Doors open 6:30 PM
Venue & Address
The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland, 750 9 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB, T2G 5E1
Wheelchair accessible
Paid Parking
Accessible by Public Transport
