Discovery of Indigenous graves reignites renaming debate
EDMONTON — The discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., has reignited the debate over changing the names of streets and buildings affiliated with the system’s architects, including Langevin School in Calgary, which was renamed this week.
The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation made the announcement last Thursday that, using groundpenetrating radar, it had confirmed the existence of unmarked graves belonging to students who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which ran from 1890 until 1969, and continued as a residence for students attending nearby day schools until 1978.
The discovery has led to a concerted outcry about schools, transit stations, streets, statues and buildings named after those who are affiliated with Canada’s racist legacy, including those named after Hector-louis Langevin, a father of Confederation, Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, and Egerton Ryerson, who made recommendations on the design of the residential school system.
Rob Houle, a research fellow at the Yellowhead Institute, a First Nation-led research centre at Ryerson University, said renaming allows for a more robust discussion about “the real history of Canada.”
“It’s always triggering and traumatic when you have to keep hearing their names or seeing their statues or seeing their paintings; it always brings you back to the trauma and the hurt that comes with the knowledge of these people and what they’ve done,” Houle said. “The problem has always been getting enough people or decisionmakers to have the will to do the right thing, and I think we’re at a point now where a lot of people, including decision-makers now, are saying ‘Well, maybe it’s time that we start to do the right thing.’”
On Monday, the Calgary Board of Education held a special meeting to immediately change the name of Langevin School back to Riverside School, the name the school held prior to 1936.
A name change for the school had been under consideration for some time, and an official policy on name changes is due later this month. But Marilyn Dennis, chair of the Calgary Board of Education, told Postmedia News in an interview that because of the news out of Kamloops, they decided to change the school name more quickly.
“The community made it clear that it expected some leadership on this issue. We’ve heard calls to take action on renaming Langevin School, and we did so in the spirit of reconciliation,” Dennis said. “The board felt it was important that the (Calgary Board of Education) distance itself from the name Langevin.”
In 1883, Langevin presented the plan for the first three residential schools to the House of Commons. In recent years, Langevin’s name has been stripped from the building in Ottawa that houses the Prime Minister’s Office, a residential street in Ottawa and, in Calgary, a bridge that was renamed Reconciliation Bridge.
Other schools — and other historical figures — have also been targeted in the latest round of calls for name changes.
Ryerson University, named after Egerton Ryerson, has faced calls to rename the school. This week, the journalism school at Ryerson announced it would change the name of two of its publications, the Ryerson Review of Journalism and the Ryersonian newspaper. And a statue of Ryerson on the school’s downtown Toronto campus was defaced.
Patrice Dutil, a professor in the school’s department of politics and public administration, argued the statue should be moved to Queen’s Park, where Ryerson can be honoured. He said that while he’s sympathetic to the arguments made about renaming or removing statues, the men targeted were products of their time.
“We are living in a time that’s hyper-political, and again, a small but very vocal minority is making the argument that these names are insulting to their eyes, and again, that’s very regrettable,” said Dutil. “I think that whether its Archbishop Grandin or Hector-louis Langevin, these were men who had, I could easily make a case that they had good will. They were very much men of their time and they thought the way men of their time did.”
There are neighbourhoods, schools, streets and businesses across western Canada named after Vital-justin Grandin, a Roman Catholic bishop who died in 1902.
He was a supporter of residential schools, and wrote in 1880 that Indigenous children “should be taken with the consent of their parents & made to lead a life different from their parents and cause them to forget the customs, habits & language of their ancestors.”
In Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi called on the Catholic school board to change the name of Bishop Grandin High School.
The Edmonton Catholic School District is also considering renaming Grandin Elementary School in the city’s core.
“The discovery has underscored the need for all parts of society, including school jurisdictions, to re-examine the use of namesakes that are tied to the legacy of residential schools,” it said in a statement.
The city of Edmonton is contemplating renaming the Grandin LRT station — which drops riders of the light-rail system at the Alberta legislature — and the Oliver neighbourhood, named after Frank Oliver, who lobbied for removing First Nations form their land and restricting Black immigration.
Across the country, numerous other figures have come under scrutiny for their legacies. And, while it has led to name changes — and debates about future changes — it has also led to debates about “cancel culture” and what this discussion means for understanding Canadian history.
On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was asked about the name changes, and said Macdonald was an “imperfect man” but “a great leader.”
On Wednesday, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller echoed the sentiment, saying Canadians shouldn’t erase history.