Grand Forks is one step closer to ditching Columbus Day. City Council members, acting as the city’s Committee of the Whole, on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that would replace the holiday named after the notorious sailor with “Indigenous Peoples Day.” The resolution will head to the council proper at its meeting on Monday, July 15.

“For many, our survival, our advocacy, and this resolution represent a move, a step forward, to rectify the wrongdoings of colonizers of the past,” said Courtney Davis Souvannasacd, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Grand Forks resident who spoke at an occasionally emotional public comment period for the resolution.