Keenooshayo students will take part in a new effort this fall to honour the school’s namesake, Chief Kinosayo.
St. Albert Public board trustees received a presentation June 23 on the Keenooshayo Reconciliation Project.
Established in 1983, Keenooshayo School was named by the family of Graham Toope after Treaty 8 signatory Chief Kinosayo. Black Robe’s Vision reports that the family picked the name “because of the beauty of the Indian language,” St. Albert’s residential school history, and Kinosayo’s role in the signing of Treaty 8.
Keenooshayo principal Brian Samuel said he and his staff started looking into the school’s name and logo (a pair of teepees) earlier this year in the interests of reconciliation.
Initial conversations with experts from Driftpile First Nation revealed that “Keenooshayo” was likely based on the phonetic spelling of that man’s name found in government documents related to Treaty 8, and that it was more accurately spelled “Kinosayo,” said assistant principal Meghan Wiens. Chief Kinosayo, whose name means “Fish King” or “King Fish,” was baptized as Alexander (Andree) Willier and had family connections to the St. Albert region.
Samuel said the school plans to work with the school community and Driftpile First Nation in the coming months to learn more about Chief Kinosayo’s life and contributions, which could lead to a new school name and/or logo. For now, the school plans to put the correct spelling of the chief’s name on its street sign and letterhead (with the old spelling staying on the building itself), and to replace its current logo with a QR code that leads viewers to the reconciliation project’s website.
In an interview, Samuel said he wasn’t sure where this reconciliation project would go next, as they were still in its early stages.
“We’re on a journey, and the journey right now is just the recognition that the name is spelled incorrectly.”
Visit keeno.spschools.org/our_school/about/our_namesake for details on the project.
