EDMONTON —
The Edmonton Public Colleges Board will look at renaming one particular of its colleges and building a new committee to overview the existing inventory of names at its up coming assembly this Tuesday.
Two motions are slated to be offered to the board overseeing the next largest faculty division in Alberta concerning the naming of educational facilities.
The initial will be to ask for a improve to the title of Prince Charles Faculty in the north facet of Edmonton. The K-6 university provides comprehensive-working day kindergarten and the Awasis language and society software, which serves the needs of city Indigenous pupils.
“Many employees, loved ones, and local community users have been crafting the Board to request a transform to the identify of Prince Charles College to far better replicate the learners and teaching taking place in the faculty,” Trustee Shelagh Dunn reported in the suggestion report for the motion.
The vast majority of college students attending Prince Charles are Initial Nations, Metis, or Inuit and Dunn said the latest identify does not effectively mirror the society and historical past of Indigenous college students.
“The identify of the university carries with it the history of colonization, and the heritage of colonization on this land has harmed First Nations, Metis and Inuit people today as a result of insurance policies this sort of as residential school,” Dunn included.
“Community discussions on university names in Edmonton General public Educational institutions have highlighted the relevance and electricity held by a title and the have to have for considerate, inclusive, and agent school names.”
The university was named right after the Prince of Wales in 1953 who is slated to be the next in line for the throne as the son of Queen Elizabeth II.
Need to the motion move, the district would commit to seek the advice of college students, people, and workers of Prince Charles College, as properly as neighborhood Elders and Awareness Keepers to collect responses.
The next motion the board is to take into consideration contains building a committee to assessment all Edmonton community university names and tell a upcoming renaming coverage for the district.
In 2017, the board handed a motion to investigate and create a renaming plan. The board at the time ultimately did not go after the task.
Trisha Estabrooks, board chair, proposed the movement and mentioned in the recommendation report that though the district effectively renamed two schools in September last year, a coordinated approach to renaming schools must be created.
“The renaming of educational facilities is an critical portion of becoming a extra anti-racist and equitable university division,” Estabrooks reported. “Students should be capable to see by themselves reflected in the namesakes of our educational institutions.”
If the motion passes, a particular committee consisting of students, team, mother and father, and community users would be struck to make a coverage draft on renaming universities and evaluation all present names. Two trustees and other people today included in anti-racist work would also sit on the board.
“Naming a school right after somebody is the maximum honour the Board of Trustees can bestow upon an unique,” Estabrooks included. “Let’s guarantee that the honour is still suitable so that our pupils can wander by means of the doorways of our educational facilities sensation inspired, very pleased to be element of their school communities and truly feel a sense of belonging.”