We, the undersigned, are students of Sir Winston Churchill Secondary school who demand that the name of the school be changed. The name represents a colonial and racist past that we in Canada today are trying to overcome.

Winston Churchill’s attitudes are inconsistent with the school’s Mission Statement and Code of Conduct which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, colour, and sex. Our Code of Conduct states: “Racism and discrimination will not be tolerated in our school.” Why then should we tolerate our school being named after a racist?

Churchill was a prominent politician of the British government from the early 1900s to the 1950s and twice served as prime minister. He played a leading role in managing the British empire during those years. He opposed the nationalist movements that demanded independence and was responsible for atrocious violence in the colonies.  

He believed that whites were a superior race who had a right to displace Indigenous peoples. Speaking before a royal commission of the British government in 1937, he stated: “I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly-wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”

Today, we believe that Indigenous people did suffer a “great wrong” and we are obligated to repair that wrong. Our commitment with truth and reconciliation with the First Nations of Canada requires us to eliminate the old symbols of white supremacy.

To find out more information about Churchill, click the link below

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c9F_TVfDbD5dtAfXd89mkNNiF4_NVqap/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117090918484168144510&rtpof=true&sd=true