Ward 4 Councilor Libby Hernandez proposed the City of Holyoke replaces Columbus Day in October with Indigenous People Day. Hernandez presented the order at Wednesday’s Public Service Committee chaired by Councilor At-Large James Leahy. The order stated that “The City of Holyoke consists of more than 50% of its population being Latinos, predominantly Puerto Rican heritage.”

The original order was filed by former Ward 2 Councilor Nelson Roman, who resigned his seat in December 2018. “The matter of celebrating Columbus Day, it implies that (Christopher) Columbus was a hero for discovering a world in which people and nations were already established,” Hernandez said, “and cultures that already existed.”