New signage in Dawson embraces the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation's Hän language

Queen. King. Duke. Princess.

These are a few street names in Dawson City.

But there's a new street in town.

Hähké Steve Taylor Road is located in the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in subdivision of C-4, just outside of the downtown area.

Hähké is the Hän word for Chief in the traditional language of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in.

Chief Roberta Joseph spoke to CBC News about how this came to be.

"We had discussions with the city [of Dawson] in terms of developing signs in Hän," Joseph explained. "We really wanted to promote our language throughout the community, so we might as well start in our own subdivision."

The sign was installed over the weekend, but Joseph said it was a plan that was discussed over a year ago.

"When our council was first elected, the three of us — deputy chief, Coun. [Darren] Bullen and myself — we asked for the street to be named." she said.

"We asked [the] elders' council if they would support the street to be named after Hähké Steve Taylor because we felt that we wanted to have something in his memory for his lifelong contributions toward Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in and where we're at today."

Joseph said it isn't clear what took so long to have the sign designed and installed, but she is happy to finally see it up.

"Maybe it just fell through the cracks," she noted.

Joseph said this new sign will complement the current signage already installed throughout the subdivision.

She told CBC News she hopes this is just the beginning of more signs to come throughout the community of Dawson.

"We're hoping to work on a project with the City of Dawson to develop Hän language for some of the signs," she said. "We see that in other communities, and we really need to incorporate our culture into our community as well."

Dawson City Mayor Bill Kendrick said this initiative started between the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Government and Dawson's previous council, but he's happy to see the sign installed.

"I drove by today to see if it was up," Kendrick told CBC News. " I think the city is very happy to collaborate with the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in on the naming of this new municipal road, and we look forward to further reconciliation projects big and small."

Kendrick says some ideas that have come up include adding Hän language to stop signs and redesigning the Dawson City logo with input from the First Nation's government.