School name vote ends difficult period for Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary, says principal

Staff and students at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in Waterloo, Ont., have until Saturday to select one of five potential school names, drawn from nearly 500 community suggestions, which the Waterloo Region District School Board received in January.  

The choices are:

After staff and students have their say, the top three choices will be considered by board trustees, who will then make the final decision. 

A committee dedicated to looking at the names of schools within the Waterloo Region District School Board started its consultation process last June. It outlined several guidelines for the naming of new schools.

In addition to Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's First Prime Minister, schools named for local industrialist  A.R. Kaufman, an advocate of eugenics, and Egerton Ryerson, considered one of the primary architects of the residential school system, are also slated for name changes. 

"People are flawed and we don't want to be constantly renaming things when we discover things about people's flaws," said Scott Piatkowski, chair of the board of trustees for the Waterloo Region District School Board.

And so in the new school naming criteria, developed by the board, schools will not be named for individuals. 

"These are land-based names, largely neighborhood-based names," said Piatkowski.

He said, though the name will not reflect the Indigenous heritage of the region, it does address the community's desire to refocus on the land. 

"We looked at a variety of options for names that were explicitly Indigenous, based in Indigenous languages, but that would have required more consultation," said Piatkowski. "I am hoping that the board can do that for future school naming." 

Principal Vida Collis said the decision closes the book on a difficult period for her school. 

"It has really been a bit of a cloud over our school community," said Collis. "I really do see my role as helping to guide through that process and to come out of the cloud into the sunshine." 

She said, part of that role was ensuring students' voices were heard — a role she said they've embraced. 

"I see the results pour in and the first couple of hours, hundreds of responses. It was fantastic," said Collis.