A public board committee tasked with identifying schools in the region that warrant new names has officially identified Ryerson Public School in Cambridge as one of three that are of a “high-priority concern,” and will begin choosing in-school committees to rename them.
The school, which CambridgeToday confirmed in July was among those being considered for renaming, joins Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in Waterloo and A.R. Kaufman Public School in Kitchener as schools with names that no longer “reflect the [Waterloo Region District School] Board’s commitment to promote Indigenous, equity, human rights, and inclusive learning and working environments for all students and staff.”
Committee chair Kathleen Woodcock outlined the findings for other trustees during Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, saying the work of the committee took an “anti-oppressive approach that considers the identities and lived experiences of all members of our communities, that acknowledges the need for students and staff to see themselves institutionally reflected, and recognizes the need to consider if the impact of facility names hurts or supports those who learn or work in WRDSB schools and facilities.”
The report says the work reflects the board’s commitment to “honour the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action 62 and 63 and its responsibility in promoting human rights, equity and creating inclusive learning environments for students and staff.”
The recommendation comes a year after the board tasked the committee with addressing concerns from the community that some names and statues honour historical figures that are indelibly tied to racial injustices and human rights violations.
In October the committee hired a researcher to perform a literature review of the names of schools, facilities, mascots and rooms and an environmental scan of other school boards’ naming policy and procedures.
Recommendations for renaming mascots and other named spaces will be shared with the school communities for implementation at a later date.
Woodcock said efforts to come up with a new name for SJAM hasn’t started yet, but the process to select an in-school committee for that work has begun.
Canada’s first prime minister is widely considered one of the main drivers of the residential school system along with chief architect of public education in Ontario, Egerton Ryerson.
Although Ryerson school opened in 2010 at the end of Grand Valley Drive, the original Cambridge school bearing the name opened in 1964.
Ryerson believed Indigenous children should not only be taught separately, but converted to Christianity while in the care of residential schools.
It’s estimated more than 6,000 Indigenous children died while in the care of the residential school system, many of them after suffering abuse and neglect.
As for AR Kaufman, the Kitchener industrialist and philanthropist was known to be drawn to the use of birth control as a eugenics measure or device.
His view was that “cheap contraceptives would limit the unintelligent and penniless who unfortunately constitute an increasing percentage of the total population.”
He also provided free sterilization to working class employees, the poor and those with physical and mental disabilities.
Kaufman’s name is also used on the A.R. Kaufman Family YMCA in Kitchener.
The school board's work was prompted, in part, by the Black Lives Matter movement as well as local calls to action from the Indigenous community.
In May of this year, the committee revised its terms of reference and extended its timeline to come up with final recommendations just as the remains of 215 children were found on the grounds of a residential school in Kamloops.
In early June, Ryerson University in downtown Toronto became the flashpoint for calls to rename all institutions that bear his name.
“I think for me it comes down to when someone tells me that something, in this case a name, is causing them harm, then I’m going to choose to believe them and act on it,” Cambridge North Dumfries trustee Jayne Herring said before voting to approve the recommendation.
Costs associated with the naming and renaming of specific facilities weren’t contemplated within the scope of the committee’s work since that is typically covered in construction budgets for each school.
The renaming committee will be disbanded but its research will remain available on the staff website to assist staff should any other community requests for renaming come forward.