It is not up to SFU alone to decide what its medical school should be called.

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Simon Fraser University is in the process of developing a new medical school, the first to be built in Western Canada in more than 50 years. This is a welcome development for many reasons, including the fact that the new medical school will prioritize training opportunities for Indigenous students and the health of Indigenous communities. As a white settler and faculty member at Simon Fraser University, I cannot speak to the opinions or priorities of the Indigenous people who will be associated with and served by this school. However, I can say that this medical school cannot achieve its stated goals if it is named after and honors Simon Fraser.

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Like the university that will house it, the new medical school is described as the Simon Fraser University School of Medicine, meaning it will also be named after him. Who was Simon Fraser then? Fraser is best known for sailing from Fort George (now Prince George) to the Pacific Ocean along the river now named after him. Fraser and his sponsors initially expected this river to be the Columbia, but as he and his companions discovered, the Fraser was a separate body of water and difficult to navigate.

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For much of their voyage to the Pacific, Fraser and his companions had good relations with the indigenous people who lived in and around the river. In fact, Fraser’s journey would not have been possible without the help of these people, as he relied heavily on them for food, canoes, labor and guidance. His knowledge of the land, which long predated Fraser or any other European settler, greatly facilitated Fraser’s passage.

This generally friendly relationship with the indigenous groups living along the river changed as Fraser approached its mouth. In its diary, Fraser describes being told by the Kwantlen people that they were at war with the Musqueam people and not to travel down the final stretch of the river into their territory. Fraser insisted on doing so and received a hostile reception from some Musqueam. In response, Fraser told them to “keep their distance” or “we would shoot them” and then “we had to push them away with the muzzles of our guns.”

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Upon returning to the territory of the Kwantlen people, Fraser found that he was no longer welcome, perhaps in light of his decision to descend the river against their objections. This “insolence and bad nature of the natives” led Fraser to “force” a canoe on the Kwantlen chief who owned it, “leaving a blanket in its place.” A group then followed Fraser upriver until they were able to recover his canoe the next day. This left Fraser “surrounded by over 700 barbarians” and eager to continue upriver as quickly as possible. Fraser negotiated a canoe with the local chief and, after talking “violently,” received one. Eager to leave, he threatened local villagers “with the contents of our pieces” (i.e., shoot them) as they crowded around their canoes and luggage.

Thus, Fraser’s experience with the indigenous peoples of what is now the Lower Mainland was largely that of an unwanted and uninvited visitor and tinged with violence. Even those interactions that were more peaceful during other parts of his journey were carried out in the name of the colonizing mission of the North West Company, a fur trading company based in Montreal. These activities had profound negative impacts on the indigenous peoples who inhabit this land, which are still evident today.

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Simon Fraser University School of Medicine has a vision to form strong connections with Indigenous communities, incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into its curriculum and research, and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion of students and communities natives. This vision is intended to be foundational to the new medical school, as “all aspects of it” “begin with a foundation in indigeneity and equity, diversity and inclusion.” Based on the university’s commitment to reconciliation with indigenous peoples, it has “a responsibility to ensure that the new medical school confronts the colonial history of medical education by integrating reconciliation, anti-racism, and Indigenous health and well-being into the medical curriculum.” As it develops, the medical school seeks to achieve “greater social responsibility and promote a deeper understanding and respect for indigenous customs.” As such, promoting reconciliation, equity and Indigenous health, values ​​and ways of knowing is not incidental to the new medical school; rather, it is at the center of its stated mission.

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Given Simon Fraser’s history with indigenous peoples living in what is now British Columbia, Simon Fraser University cannot name its medical school after itself and at the same time claim that the vision of this school is to promote equity and reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

While Fraser demonstrated bravery and tenacity in navigating the river that now bears his name, the story of his travels often omits the crucial contributions of the indigenous peoples through whose lands he traveled. In the region where this medical school will be located, Fraser’s story is most clearly one of invasion and hostility. For Fraser, indigenous peoples, or as he put it in his diary, “tribes of savages,” were something that “cannot be cured” and therefore “must be endured.” Fraser’s journey summarizes many of the historical processes and injustices that have undermined the health of Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. It is perverse to honor him in an institution that aims to correct some of these injustices.

The university should see this new institution as an opportunity to forge new relationships under a new name. It is not up to the university alone to decide what this name should be. Rather, identifying a name should be the first step in a new partnership with indigenous groups. Rejecting Simon Fraser’s name from the medical school would be the surest sign that the values ​​of equity, inclusion and reconciliation are not simply talking points for the university but also deeply held values.

Jeremy Snyder is a professor in the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University.

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