STARTING this fall, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) will engage with local community partners and stakeholders to rename George Pearson Centre, a care home in south Vancouver for residents with complex medical and physical conditions.
Earlier this year, a community group advised VCH that George S. Pearson lobbied against the rights and freedoms of racialized people in the 1940s, and requested VCH consider a more culturally appropriate name for George Pearson Centre.
The VCH said: “The beliefs and actions of George S. Pearson do not align with VCH’s core values: We care for everyone, we are always learning, and we strive for better results. With full support from the VCH Board of Directors, VCH has initiated a renaming process for GPC to better reflect its values and the diverse communities it serves.”
Over the coming months, VCH will engage with community partners and stakeholders to ensure a transparent, respectful and collaborative process to choose a new name for the site.
VCH said it recognizes that names hold power and signal organizational and community values – the health authority is committed to making its sites more culturally safe and humbly acknowledges the work that still needs to be done.
