New name chosen for Dalhousie School

Dalhousie School has been renamed after an Anishinaabemowin word that translates to “summer berries.”

The Pembina Trails School Division has unveiled Aniibiminan School as the new title of its elementary building at 262 Dalhousie Dr.

The division shared the phonetic pronunciation — “Aniibiminan (uh-NEE-bih-mih-nahn), from which the word ‘Pembina’ originates’ — in a news release Wednesday.

“Aniibiminan captures a deep sense of connection to the land on which the school lies and the adjacent forest, which the school regularly uses for outdoor education and land-based learning,” chief superintendent Shelley Amos said in the release.

School staff approached their division’s headquarters in the fall to express concern about the legacy of the namesake of their building.

It is named after a street that was named after a university founded by George Ramsay, also known as Lord Dalhousie, a colonial leader who supported slavery.

Dalhousie (1770-1838) held racist beliefs about Black people that are well documented in correspondence he penned while serving as the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. In 1818, he established Halifax’s Dalhousie University.

Not unlike many of the streets in Fort Richmond, home to the University of Manitoba’s main campus in south Winnipeg, Dalhousie Drive pays tribute to a post-secondary institute.

The school division encompassing the community said Aniibiminan aligns with the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school’s motto, “Our differences make us stronger.”

Aniibiminan represents the interconnectedness between people, community, culture and land, where highbush cranberry and other fruit grows, the release said.

Also in the announcement, the superintendent said the change reflects a commitment to reconciliation, inclusion and honouring Indigenous languages and cultures.

The division is slated to update signage and other material to reflect the new name in the coming months.

Earlier this month the division announced it plans to open a school in Waverley West with a name that means “as far as the eye can see” in Cree.

École Iskonakwa School, the K-8 building under construction at 175 Skyline Dr., is anticipated to open in September 2027.

Indigenous language speakers and knowledge keepers were consulted on both renaming initiatives, the division said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca