Wilfrid Laurier University launches project to examine life and legacy of namesake

Southern Ontario’s Wilfrid Laurier University says it will examine the “complex legacy” and present-day impact of its namesake in a new, multi-year public history project.

The institution in Waterloo, Ont. says it aims to understand better who the former prime minister was to recognize the effect of its affiliation with his name.

It says the Laurier Legacy Project will involve research into his life and era, “and the ways that the past continues to influence the present day.”

“As an institution of higher learning we have a responsibility to research and reflect upon our namesake,” said Deborah MacLatchy, president and vice-chancellor.

“We need to better understand who Wilfrid Laurier was to fully realise the impact of our university’s affiliation with his name and legacy. The combination of scholarly studies and public education will best position us to appreciate the meaning of Laurier’s legacy for our institution and our country.”

The university says two postdoctoral fellows will take part in the project, examine Laurier himself and the other to conduct archival research on the school and its antecedent institutions from 1911 to today.

It says the project will also include a visiting professor, who will be an Indigenous scholar working on Indigeneity or decolonization in a historical context or the context of historical legacies of current issues.

The school says there will also be specific processes allowing its community to engage with the project and deepen its understanding of Laurier “as a nation-builder and contributor to systems of racism and discrimination.”

Ryerson University has faced condemnation and criticism in recent months due to its namesake, Egerton Ryerson, credited as one of Canada’s residential school system architects.

In early June, the president of Ryerson University said a statue of the university’s namesake that was pulled down by protesters will not be replaced.

Demonstrators splattered the statue with paint, then cut off the head of the statue, carried it to the lakeshore and lowered it by rope into the water.

In July, York Region District School Board trustees voted to rename Sir John A. Macdonald Public School at a special board meeting.

The board says Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, “supported the creation of residential schools, and created policies to starve Indigenous peoples…”

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been discovered at the sites of former residential schools in Canada, leading to a backlash against prominent figures with ties to the residential school system.