Name change was the right thing

In a recent column taking a closer look at the decision to rename Davin School (What’s in a name? A closer look at the decision to rename Davin ‘The Crescents School’, Leader-Post, June 22, 2018), I’m referred to as one of “those ‘bullies’ ” pushing for the change.

Yes, it’s true, as an educator and community member, along with many others, I felt the name should be changed given Davin’s only educational legacy contributed to the creation of Canada’s residential schools.

But let’s be clear, the bully here was Nicholas Flood Davin who asserted in his infamous report that some groups of children, by virtue of their ethnicity alone, were too intellectually limited and lazy to be taught (sadly, a sentiment not unlike many of the colonists of his time).

I understand that some community members are unhappy with the new name and the process by which it was selected.

I can certainly see how it can be viewed as a missed opportunity to rename the school honouring one of the many exemplary Indigenous role-models from our community.

I do take heart in knowing that from an educational perspective, there’s no greater invitation to learning inquiry than a puzzle: Why is the school named “The Crescents” while the name Davin is prominently engraved in the building?

What a wonderful entry point to engagement with our history.

In terms of reconciliation, no doubt the renaming is but one very small step in our path toward the more difficult work of confronting and changing the deeprooted structural racism and classism in our community, province, and society.

Marc Spooner, Regina