Kingston public school board votes to change École Sir John A. Macdonald Public School name

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect the accurate timeline of when the interim name will be implemented — June 30. 

On the same evening that Kingston city council voted to remove the Sir John A. Macdonald statue in city park, the region’s public school board voted to change the name of École Sir John A. Macdonald Public School.

Macdonald’s legacy has come under renewed fire in light of the discovery of the bodies of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Across the country, and in eastern Ontario, where Macdonald lived for most of his life, monuments and celebrations of Canada’s first prime minister are being questioned and taken down.

“As we move ahead with school renaming, our interim name will be Kingston East Elementary School. This name was used when we were under construction. We are rebuilding together, and there are so many learning opportunities ahead,” said a tweet from the school on Wednesday evening.

The motion to rename the school was brought to the Limestone District School Board meeting Wednesday night by Trustee Garrett Elliott.

The matter was previously discussed at the school’s advisory committee, chaired by Shayla Bradley. She spoke with Global News on Wednesday before the board vote, and said the committee had heard from a number of people who felt strongly about changing the school’s name.

“I wouldn’t say that I know what the entire school community is thinking. It is a subset of the community — it is the people who took the time, who feel one way or another about it, strongly enough to engage in that conversation right now,” Bradley said.

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Bradley said the majority of people the committee heard from wanted the name changed.

Limestone District School Board Chair Suzanne Ruttan echoes Bradley’s statement.

“We have heard from the community very recently on this,” she says.

“I can only assume that it is because of all of the recent news around the residential schools, that this has raised the issue for the community.”

To some, it may seem like just a name, but to Indigenous people, it’s much more than that.

This name change signifies a change in Canadian history, and the beginning of rectifying past intergenerational trauma.

“Not a lot of people know of the dark history in Canada,” says Danka Brewer, an Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Keeper who works alongside the LDSB.

“About how Sir John A. MacDonald, because he wanted the lands for the railways, actually starved the Indigenous people until they agreed to go to reserves in order to get their land.”

The current name will remain until June 30, at which time the interim name takes effect. It will be in place until the renaming process is complete.

The Limestone District School Board said it will provide more information about the decision later Thursday.