The school was erected by the City of Ottawa Public School Board, and was unveiled on November 21, 1963. It is dedicated to major-General Georges-Philéas Vanier PC, DSO, MC, CD. (1888-1967). Vanier was a Canadian soldier who served as Governor General of Canada. He was born and educated in Quebec. After obtaining a BA and a law degree, he served in the Canadian Army during the First World War on the European battlefields.
In 1918, while leading an attack on the village of Cherisy, he was shot in the chest and both legs, eventually losing one leg to his wounds. Subsequently, Vanier returned to Canada and remained in the military until the early 1930s, when he was posted to diplomatic missions in Europe. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Vanier rejoined toe military, commanding troops on the home front.
In 1942 he was promoted to the rank of major general, and made the Canadian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia, as well as the representative of the Canadian Government to the Free French all of which were governments in exile.
In 1959, he was appointed Governor General of Canada remaining in this post until his death in 1967. Vanier proved to be a popular governor general, with his war record earning respect from Canadians.
