Hamilton’s public school board has confirmed the selection of a new name for a city learning facility bearing the name of a residential system architect.
In a board meeting on Monday night, trustees with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) settled on Kanétskare Elementary as the replacement name for Ryerson
Elementary School.
“We do have to ratify this at board next week, but we had a unanimous vote to confirm the name Kanétskare, a mohawk term that means ‘by the bay,'” HWDSB chair Dawn Danko told Good Morning Hamilton.
The decision to change the elementary facility’s name was made during a board meeting in June 2021 in light of Egerton Ryerson’s connections to Canada’s residential school system.
The name was selected after a year-long search that included an Indigenous-led process taking suggestions from the community over a five-week period in early 2022.
Danko says the name was one put forward by a student in a submission exercise guided by an Indigenous education consultant.
“So students in grades six, seven and eight at the school, they had the chance to submit three different names,” Danko said.
“The name that we’re seeing confirmed for the school actually reflects one of the names students brought forward in terms of the meaning.”
The HWDSB is hoping to engage in some sort of ceremony this coming fall to acknowledge the name change at the school on Robinson Street just west of Queen and Duke streets.
The board also recently agreed to undergo public consultation this fall, limiting future school naming options to just locations, landmarks and natural features.
Public school board trustee Becky Buck presented the suggestion during a May 25 meeting, and says it would be a way to prevent future controversies involving the legacies of historic figures.