Winnipeg's Wolseley School to be renamed within the year, ending connection to colonial general

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 11:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Five years aft a petition circulated calling for the renaming of Wolseley School successful Winnipeg, the province's largest schoolhouse part is taking caller sanction suggestions from the public.

The purpose is to person the caller sanction successful spot wrong the year, perchance earlier summer, says Matt Henderson, main superintendent and CEO of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD).

"I person 4 committee meetings near [before the schoolhouse twelvemonth is over] and truthful hopefully we'll beryllium capable to get that done, but we don't privation to unreserved the process," helium told CBC Manitoba Information Radio big Marcy Markusa.

"My archetypal thought is benignant of spring, but if the stars don't align we tin propulsion that to fall. If we person to footwear it into adjacent year, we tin bash that, too."

Built connected Clifton Street successful 1921, the school — and the full neighbourhood successful which is exists — was named after Col. Garnet J. Wolseley, a British wide who led assemblage campaigns successful the 19th century, including commanding the 1870 Red River Expedition to suppress Louis Riel and the Métis absorption successful what was to go Manitoba.

The WSD launched a nationalist survey past week, outlining the guidelines and criteria for the renaming process, and invited the nationalist to taxable their ideas. The cut-off day is April 7.

"We've had implicit 155 submissions truthful far, which is exciting," Henderson said.

The renaming committee volition cut down the database to 3 names, which volition be presented astatine a community consultation for feedback. Those 3 volition beryllium narrowed to 2 and given to the WSD committee of trustees for a final decision.

"These decisions aren't made connected the alert by the committee oregon by anyone. There is simply a spot of a process wrong committee policy," Henderson said, noting the process began a portion back.

The part has held assemblage consultations, portion teachers and students examined the school's name, the value of Wolseley and different cardinal figures astatine that time, and conducted a Métis learning bid connected the past of the area.

Students were past asked to make reasoned ethical judgments, Henderson says: "We privation radical to deliberation profoundly astir names and not instrumentality them for granted."

A caller cardinal shift in WSD policy means schools tin nary longer beryllium named after a idiosyncratic "for evident reasons," Henderson said.

"I cognize immoderate schools successful North America that are called Justice or that they're called Hope. Certainly, we spot that there's a determination to schools that are named in Anishinaabemowin."

The WSD in 2022 renamed Cecil Rhodes School successful the city's Weston country to Keewatin Prairie Community School. Keewatin means "the onshore of the northwest wind" successful Cree and Ojibway. That was besides prompted by a nationalist petition.

Rhodes, founder of the Rhodes Scholarships astatine Oxford, was a British businessman, imperialist and politician.

He advocated vigorous settler colonialism and touted views that achromatic Europeans were "the archetypal contention successful the world." His policies paved the mode for apartheid successful South Africa.

The petition came retired during a planetary question of anti-racism rallies, the aforesaid week the Wolseley petition began.

The second also called for the renaming of Wolseley Avenue successful that neighbourhood and Lord Wolseley School connected Henderson Highway successful the city's East Kildonan area.

The question yet subsided and the absorption connected Wolseley slipped disconnected the nationalist radar until a mates of years agone erstwhile the genitor advisory assembly astatine Wolseley School revived it, putting guardant a petition to the WSD to commencement a ceremonial reappraisal process.

"That's truly wherever it needs to come — from [the] community, to beryllium capable to say, 'hey, we're not truly comfy [with] the sanction of a peculiar schoolhouse for these reasons. Let's prosecute successful a conversation,'" Henderson said.

"So that's what happened. There was tons of consultation implicit the past fewer years, and present we're benignant of astatine a captious constituent wherever we're asking for suggestions."

Lord Wolseley is located successful the River East Transcona School Division. CBC News has reached retired to the division to spot whether that school's sanction is being reviewed.