WINNIPEG -- An elementary school under construction in Seven Oaks doesn’t have an official name yet, but future students have some ideas.

“I think should we should name École Templeton after someone Métis because I would like to see a school named after someone from my own culture,” said nine-year-old Jorja.

She is one of the French Immersion students at James Nisbit who is moving to the new school that’s being built to ease crowding at other schools in the area. 

“The first thing the students started asking when it was decided who would be going to the new school is, 'what’s the name?'” said Michelle Jean-Paul, who will be the principal at the new school.

The original plan was to call it Templeton School, after the avenue where it is located. It’s named after William Templeton, a pioneer who bought the land where the Kildonan Golf Course now stands.

But some students at James Nisbit are asking the Seven Oaks School Division to choose a name that honours Indigenous culture instead.

“It’s wonderful to see all of the work that we are doing as a division around reconciliation is really being embodied in the work that the kids are doing in the classroom,” said Jean-Paul.

Grade four student Jorja and some of her classmates made a video that was presented to the Seven Oaks board of trustees Monday.

“The board of trustees was impressed with last night’s presentations,” said superintendent Brian O’Leary in an email to CTV News. 

The discussion over naming the new school is part of a larger conversation in Winnipeg. City council is reviewing the names of places and monuments that some consider offensive or ignore Indigenous history.

Jorja said she and some of her classmates want their new school to be named in honour of Chanie Wenjack, an Ojibwe boy who died in 1966 after running away from a residential school in Northern Ontario.

“I think we underestimate the ability of children at an early level to delve into issues of equity and justice. How often do you hear a child say ‘that’s not fair.’ They have a very strong sense of right and wrong,” said Jean-Paul.

The new school is expected to open next September.