Developer asks city to change street name honouring former educator

Six months after it was named, the developer of a new Waverley West neighbourhood is asking the city to consider changing the name of Sheryl McCorrister Way, a street named for the former principal of a First Nations school in south Winnipeg who is being sued for allegedly giving herself thousands of dollars in multiple unapproved raises.

Developer Qualico Communities is suggesting that Sheryl McCorrister Way be renamed to Rangeview Way, but its formal request, which will be discussed at Friday’s Assiniboia Community Committee meeting, does not mention McCorrister’s legal troubles, and instead suggests that the new name would be “part of the theme and brand” of the development, named Bison Run.

Southeast Collegiate filed a lawsuit in November claiming its former principal, along with another administrator, director of operations and human resources Marlene Waterston, took a total of $283,510 in salary increases between 2018 and 2022 that weren’t approved by the school’s board of directors.

Both McCorrister and Waterston filed a statement of defence in January calling for a dismissal of the claim.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Qualico Communities Winnipeg vice-president Bryan Ward declined to comment on the reasoning behind the name change beyond what was in the request submitted to the city.

The city’s public service is recommending the Assiniboia Community Committee reject the proposal, in part, because the street names bylaw requires applicants to provide a rationale for the change, and “the applicant did not fulfil this requirement, even after prompting by the public service.”

The public service report also notes that the city’s street names bylaw discourages the renaming of existing streets due to the confusion it causes and the cost incurred to residents and businesses.

Committee chairperson Coun. Shawn Dobson said he was not aware of McCorrister’s legal troubles, but would factor that into Friday’s conversation.

“I had not caught that. Would that be a consideration? Of course, it will be a consideration as well, but ultimately, this is Qualico’s site right now,” he said Monday.

He noted that Qualico was the group that first submitted the request that would add Sheryl McCorrister, along with three other names, to the Assiniboia Community Committee’s street name reserve list in June 2022.

“The fact that we (would be) doing it early is a good thing, and that’s something to take into consideration, as well as the fact that it’s the same company requesting the street name,” he said.

The street was registered with the Winnipeg land titles office on Oct. 26, less than a month before Southeast Collegiate’s lawsuit was filed.

According to the public service report, there are 100 lots with addresses on Sheryl McCorrister Way, and 44 had been sold or were in the process of being sold as of March 1. No homes are currently occupied.

Waverley West councillor Janice Lukes said she wasn’t aware of the claim against McCorrister and said it was “unfortunate to hear.”

“I know when I worked with Sheryl, we did amazing things… she did incredible work,” Lukes said. “I don’t know what’s going on with (her) legal (issues)… all I can say is there’s a lot of streets to get named, and I guess we have to see what falls out of this.”

McCorrister could not be reached for comment Monday. According to court documents, her legal counsel claims Southeast’s board of directors was not tasked with approving salary raises, and “did not operate in what would be described as the usual manner of a corporate board.” Rather, they say their salary changes were approved by a consultant to the board who “represented the financial stakeholders” of the board.

“This is notwithstanding the fact that information concerning their salaries (and any increases thereto) were contained in the annual budgets of the plaintiff, which the board reviewed and approved,” the statement of defence says.

As of Monday, the stop sign marking the intersection of Sheryl McCorrister Way and Tej Bains Place had been knocked over, and a street sign reading “Rangeview Way” has been placed above the Sheryl McCorrister Way street sign.

Ward said he did not know why a sign with the proposed new name had been put up.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca