durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday,February 10,2022 | 10 Preplan Today We offer families all the of modern amenities with timeless values of trust, caring service and commitment to the community Family owned and operated. 110 Dundas Street E.,Whitby 905-668-3410 • wctownfuneralchapel.com eplan T y We offer families all the of modern amenities with for the sake of your loved ones Whitby Harbour Remediation Project Whitby Harbour is a federal property owned by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and leased by the Town of Whitby. The Town of Whitby uses the property for the Port of Whitby Marina and sub-leases a portion to the Whitby Yacht Club. The sediment (the soft, solid material, like sand and mud) at the bottom of Whitby Harbour contains substances (or chemicals) of concern and is in need of remediation (or clean-up). DFO, in consultation with the Province of Ontario and the Town of Whitby, is developing a plan to manage the contaminated sediment. DFO plans to remove contaminated sediment from the harbour and take it to an off-site landfill for proper disposal. This project is in the early planning stages. Remediation of the inner harbour is not expected to begin before 2024. A web page has been established to share information about the project at: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/whitby-harbour Comments and questions can be directed at any time to DFO: By email: DFO.OPInfoWhitby.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca By mail: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Whitby Harbour Project 520 Exmouth Street, Sarnia, Ontario, N7T 8B1 By telephone: 1-833-551-2702 Sir John A. Macdonald Public School in Pickering has officially been renamed, but a Whitby school's name will not be changed. Durham District School Board trustees voted on Jan. 17 against a recommendation to rename Julie Payette P.S. The motion lost by a vote of 5-3, with several trustees noting that there was not an overwhelming demand from the community for change. At the same meeting, trustees voted 7-1 to change the name of the Pickering school to Biidassige Mandamin P.S. Biidassige (Josephine) Mandamin was an Anishinaabe elder who was known for her advocacy work on water protection. The process to rename the Pickering school wasn't without controversy. A survey to gather feedback from the community saw 917 people participate -- 68.7 per cent of whom said the school should not be renamed. Trustee Christine Thatcher called the number of participants a "very good size" and questioned how plans to rename the school moved forward if a majority did not support that direction. DDSB superintendent Erin Elmhurst said the school naming committee felt Sir John A. Macdonald "did not align" with the board's policy on school names. Trustees voted in May 2021 to start the process to potentially rename Sir John A Macdonald P.S. as well as Julie Payette P.S. Community members raised concerns about Payette's resignation as governor general amid bullying allegations and Macdonald's connection to residential schools. "This is something that should have been done some time ago," trustee Niki Lundquist said in an interview at the time. "It's a very challenging thing to recognize the need for truth and reconciliation while having a school named after a historic figure who has caused irreparable harm and multigenerational harm to a group of students who are within the DDSB." The community was also consulted on potential new names for the Pickering school -- Biidassige Mandamin P.S. was not the top pick. Instead, the community's No. 1 choice was Bay Ridges P.S., a reference to the community the school is located in. A DDSB report lists several reasons the naming committee supported calling the school Biidassige Mandamin P.S., including the fact that naming a school after an Indigenous woman "provides a great opportunity for learning." The cost of changing school signage to reflect the new name is between $25,000 and $35,000. WHITBY SCHOOL TO RETAIN NAME JILLIAN FOLLERT jfoller t@durhamregion.com NEWS PICKERING SCHOOL'S NEW NAME A 'GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR LEARNING' ABOUT INDIGENOUS WOMAN