Brad Wall says removing historic names a ‘slippery slope’
Saskatchewan’s premier is wading into the debate on whether schools in Ontario should remove the name of Sir John A. Macdonald from buildings.
Last week, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario passed a motion at its annual meeting last week calling on all school districts in Ontario to rename schools and buildings named after Canada’s first prime minister.
The union said it wants the name change because of what it calls Macdonald’s role as the “architect of genocide against Indigenous Peoples.” Macdonald was prime minister during the time the federal government approved the first residential schools in the country.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall responded to the issue in a lengthy message — titled, “Beware the slippery slope of removing historic names — posted as an image to Facebook. It read in part: