School Name History
Location
2540 Eagle Mountain Drive, Abbotsford, BC
Opened
2022
The School
The school was built to modern standards to improve energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions, and create healthier places for people. It is designed to resemble the inside of an upside-down canoe, which reflects its historical links to Eagle Mountain and the First Nations people. They used to move up onto Eagle Mountain when Sumas Lake flooded. They brought their canoes up the mountain and stored them upside down. There is First Nations artwork on the walls. Signs placed outside the rooms state their purpose in English, Halq’eméylem, and braille. The design also reflects a connection with nature. Windows reach to the ground to let in natural light, the colour scheme is green and blue with natural wood, curves recall natural features like rivers, and large sliding doors in the primary classrooms open to create indoor/outdoor spaces. An emphasis on inclusion is shown in features such as the sliding door tracks that are flat to the ground to allow easy accessibility. When it was built, the school accommodated four hundred sixty students from K-5. It provided an additional eighty-eight spaces for childcare on site.
Origin of the Name
On the district website, the school board encouraged the community to submit names for the new school on Eagle Mountain that were “based on individuals who have made positive contributions to society, the current or historical areas served by the schools, geographical elements, and the diversity of the school communities served.” A committee considered the suggestions and presented three choices to the school board: Sp’oq’es Heights Elementary, Irene Kelleher Elementary and Kathleen Cooper Elementary. Sp’oq’es is the Halq’eméylem word for “bald eagle,” which reflects the school’s location on Eagle Mountain. Both Irene Kelleher and Kathleen “Kay” Cooper were long-time teachers in the district and principals of elementary school. Both were born and raised in the Abbotsford area. The board selected Irene Kelleher, who was the first indigenous person to receive a B.C. teacher’s certificate. They also voted to use the Halq’eméylem word Totí:ltawtxw (house of learning) in the official title.
Irene Julia Madeline Kelleher (1901-2004)
Irene Kelleher was born in Matsqui, BC on December 16, 1901. Both her grandmothers were First Nations. She grew up surrounded by books and her parents Cornelius and Julia encouraged her love of school and reading from an early age. Irene walked four kilometres to Ridgedale Elementary School from their farm on Kelleher Road. Her parents encouraged her to finish high school and become a teacher, so she went on to Matsqui High School, then attended Normal School in Vancouver in 1920. With her parents’ support, Irene became the first person of First Nations ancestry to receive a B.C. Teaching Certification.
She hoped to return to Abbotsford to teach, but her application was rejected because a member of the school board felt her First Nations heritage made her unsuitable for the teaching profession. As a woman of mixed race, Irene often faced prejudice and unfair treatment. The only jobs available to her were in isolated villages where no one else wanted to go. Consequently, Irene began her career in a one-room school in the tiny mining town of Usk near Terrace. In 1939, after teaching in rural schools throughout B.C., she accepted a position at North Poplar Elementary where she served as principal during World War II. While she was a teacher, Irene continued her own education. Starting as early as 1929, she took many summer courses at the University of British Columbia.
Irene was a well-liked and respected teacher, remembered by her students as kind, calm and patient. Despite the discrimination she often met as a First Nations woman, she never showed anger or bitterness. After forty-four years of teaching, she ended her career as principal of Abbotsford Elementary, retiring in 1964. She died in 2004 at the age of one hundred two. Hundreds of her former students came to honour her at her funeral.
Irene’s commitment to education and young people was demonstrated by her final wishes. In her will, she gave the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV) ninety-five thousand dollars, including sixty-five thousand dollars in bursary funds for First Nations students. In addition to these funds, Irene gave her books and cedar baskets to UCFV. These can be seen at the Indigenous Student Centre on the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) Chilliwack Campus.
The Abbotsford School district honoured Irene Kelleher by dedicating the North Poplar Library to her during a ceremony January 23, 1998. It is called The Irene Julia Madeline Kelleher Library. In 2022, Irene Kelleher Elementary opened.
The Abbotsford School District graciously acknowledges the Abbotsford Retired Teachers Association for collecting the histories and stories of our schools as part of their "What's in a name?" 50th-anniversary project.
Images courtesy of The Reach P11696, P14296