Vancouver school to dump Lord Roberts name after unanimous vote
Members of the Vancouver School Board have voted unanimously to support the renaming of Lord Roberts Elementary in the city's West End neighbourhood.
In moving the motion, trustee Lois Chan-Pedley told the board's Monday night meeting that "the evidence is clear that it is time to give the school a new name."
The school's parent advisory committee has been asking for the renaming since 2019 after exploring the background of the school's namesake, Lord Frederick Roberts, who led the British forces during the Boer War in southern Africa. Roberts was considered one of the most successful British military commanders in 1901 when the school was built, but critics now reject his methods that included the use of concentration camps during the war and the targeting of Indigenous populations while Roberts served in India and Afghanistan.
"When you start to dig in to it a bit you start to realize, well maybe all these guys who were celebrated as British hero’s, don't have a lot to do with education or maybe some of them were celebrated for things we now find pretty horrid,” said Ian Rowe, a member on the Lord Roberts Parent Advisory Council. “The world has just changed a lot in the last 100 plus years."
In supporting the motion to explore a new name, Trustee Janet Fraser thanked parents and staff at the school for creating a detailed biography about Roberts.
She says the information was influential in understanding why "his name and legacy do not reflect where we are in the school district in 2023."
The Vancouver School Board couldn’t say if more requests have been made but that any changes to school names are welcomed.
“We’re committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive district and so when those requests do come forward they will be looked at,” said Vancouver School Board Chair Victoria Jung.
The renaming process will involve a “placed-based name” and possibly with an Indigenous lens.
The PAC hopes the changes will be in place by the start of the new school year in the fall.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Abigail Turner
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.