Calls to change the name of George McDougall High School continue to grow as a group of concerned citizens presented the idea to Rocky View Schools (RVS).

During the RVS Board of Trustees meeting last Thursday, two members of a group calling for the name change made a presentation showing their research and the reasons why they believe the change should happen.

Local writer Kim Cheel was one of those presenters.

"In light of the Kamloops discovery, the Brandon, Manitoba discovery, in light of the fact that there have been residential schools all over Canada and that there are first and second-generation victims from this, it just seems like the right time to have this conversation as to (whether) we want to continue to honour this man knowing what he has done."

Cheel brought up the fact that George McDougall founded a day school and orphanage on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation which eventually turned into a residential school.

"Day schools were just as traumatic as residential schools," added Cheel. "Sometimes people like to go, 'it was just a day school.' There's no just day schools when the intention was to 'get the Indian out of the man.' It's traumatic regardless of whether they could go home at the end of the day or not."

research on the history of McDougall and the McDougall Orphanage and School along with parts of the city's history, most of which they said was found at the Nose Creek Valley Museum.

During the presentation, Cheel used strong language in defining the actions of George McDougall during his time in Alberta and believes it's not right to sugarcoat what he did and how the residential school system treated Indigenous children.

"They didn't pass away, they didn't die, they were killed. Because, if they weren't there, they wouldn't have had those injuries, they wouldn't have been sexually assaulted, they wouldn't have been sexually abused, they wouldn't have been physically abused, they wouldn't have been emotionally abused. That all happened because of those schools."

Cheel and White admit the process of naming a school in RVS is a lengthy one and are not expecting a quick turnaround.

No official decision has been made by RVS as further discussions and deliberations will take place.

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