Community News

HISTORY DISPLACED

WAINFLEET

I was very disappointed to read that the Girl Guides of Canada have dumped the name Brownies for young girls in favour of the name Embers. They claim some girls felt "racialized" by the name Brownies.

I don't think so. I think a small number of adults, ignorant of the history of the Brownies, decided they are offended and claim the little girls are as well.

I wonder if these people know about the history. Brownies are little pixies or elves, at times mischievous, as can be little girls. The name originated with an author of children's stories, Juliana Horatia Ewing, born Juliana Getty in England in 1841. One of her most admired stories was "The Brownies" written in 1865.

A lieutenant in the British army, Robert BadenPowell started the Boy Scout Association in 1910. Later, he and his sister Agnes Baden-Powell started the Girl Guide movement. Being familiar with Ewing's stories, they chose Brownies as the name of the junior level of Girl Guides. It's not right that the name Embers be allowed to displace a name known and loved for more than a century.

DAVID FOWLER

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2023-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281492165448471

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