Geography trumps history in the name game for the new middle school in New Westminster.
École West Fraser River Middle School or École West Side Middle School are the two options the school district is putting out for consultation after trustees voted down the name École John Robson Middle School at the board of education's meeting on Tuesday.
“When we make selections, we make judgments,” said trustee Casey Cook, who didn’t think the district should keep the Robson name given that John Robson, the man, like most of the politicians of his time, supported racist policies against both Chinese and First Nations people.
“I don’t want to denigrate Mr. Robson … however, there are some things I think we are going to be taken to task for,” Cook said.
Robson is the former premier of British Columbia, the namesake of Vancouver’s famed shopping strip and was a supporter of the women’s suffrage movement. The John Robson name was the recommendation of a naming committee.
The second-term trustee missed a vote on the name the previous week because he was recovering from a car accident (he was hit by a car and suffered a concussion). Trustee Michael Ewen was also absent from the meeting, where other trustees voted unanimously to endorse the Robson name. The final vote was held Jan. 28, but in the end trustees agreed the name should have a geographic theme, as is the case with the district’s two other middle schools Queensborough Middle School and École Glenbrook Middle School.
There was also discussion around naming the school after a woman. Trustee Lisa Graham was particularly supportive of the naming the school after Dr. Ethlyn Trapp, a New Westminster-born medical pioneer. A radiotherapist, she was instrumental in the opening of the British Columbia Cancer Institute. Her motion to include Trapp’s name in the list of options was unsuccessful.
The new Grade 6 to 8 middle school is being built next year. The school will be built on the site of the current Robson elementary school, which is being rebuilt at another site.
