The name of a Saskatoon elementary school is changing following consultation and collaboration with Indigenous elders.
Confederation Park Community School will come to be known as Wâhkôhtowin School in September for the start of the next academic year.
The new name — pronounced Wah-KOH-toh-win — was chosen through a traditional naming ceremony that followed appropriate Cree culture protocol, said Saskatoon Public Schools division officials.
They added the word means “relations/relationships/being related” and is often used to describe kinship.
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“The word Wâhkôhtowin in the Cree language has multiple meanings and ways of understanding,” said principal Pete Chief in a press release.
“This reflects the work we do, not only in our division with our strategic plan but most importantly the everyday work we do at Confederation Park School.”
Saskatoon Public Schools said the initial conversation about renaming the school began in 2016 when its Nêhiyâwiwin Cree Language and Culture Program celebrated a 10-year milestone. From there, Confederation Park assembled elders to guide the process.
Following a naming ceremony, the proposed Wâhkôhtowin came to the board of education, which approved it at a meeting on Tuesday.
Officials said a celebration with the community is expected to be planned some time in the new school year when gathering restrictions put in place due to the novel coronavirus pandemic are lifted.
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