Manitoba’s largest school board is reviewing all of its K-12 building titles to determine whether the namesakes and their respective legacies are in line with modern-day morals. The trustee indicated no school in particular is being targeted but the division wants to be proactive and continue its work on analyzing names. A similar process is currently underway in south Winnipeg to rename Ryerson School in the Pembina Trails School Division, in order to cut its ties with Egerton Ryerson, an architect of Canada’s residential school system. “If the data of school names were listed in chronological order, it would tell the story of imperialism and colonization,” wrote Adamov Ferguson. She recommended in 2017 the division rethink both current school names and the way historical figures are uncritically described on school webpages, so backgrounders do not continue to retell a one-sided version of history.

Source: thestar September 23, 2021 00:00 UTC