A group of historians is urging Toronto’s school board to reconsider name changes to schools that carry the names of Sir John A. Macdonald, Henry Dundas, and Egerton Ryerson, calling the recent trend of renaming buildings and roads and removing statues of historic figures across Canada “ill-considered.”
“We believe the recent epidemic of historic statue removal and renaming of roads, buildings, and institutions to be on the whole ill-considered and driven more by popular opinion and prejudice than by thorough research and analysis,” the Canadian Institute for Historical Education (CIHE) said in a Feb. 6 letter.
The letter, addressed to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) chair and trustees, urges the board’s committee to reconsider its recommendation to rename Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, Dundas Junior Public School, and Ryerson Community School….