This Ontario township is wiping Prince Andrew off the map

Today on Village Media’s ‘Closer Look’ podcast: We speak to the mayor of Selwyn Township about the push to erase the disgraced royal’s name from a local island.

Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.

Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed — and on the show’s dedicated website: closerlookpodcast.ca. Of course, you can also find us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Back on Closer Look across the Village Media Network, and of course, wherever you get your favorite podcasts. We're all over the place. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube, you name it. TikTok. All the kids are watching us on TikTok. That's right. Seven o'clock every night. They're just gathered around their devices. Come on, kids. Scott and Frisco are on. Okay. We're going to talk a little uh ex-Prince Andrew.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Yeah. We're investigating the Epstein files tonight. It's finally time. It's finally time. We're up in our game. They are going to release the files after they watch this. Yeah. He's uh he's in a little bit of hot water to say the least. Yes. The former Prince Andrew. Uh we're not going to go into all the details. Everyone knows what the Epstein files are. I think everyone knows, or most people know, Prince Andrew's connection. He was close friends with uh the notorious sex offender. Yes, he was. All kinds of evidence has come out kind of slowly and now rapidly over the years. The former prince was stripped of his titles and was arrested. I think last month he was arrested. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Remember the photo? The photo of him in the back of the vehicle? It was Phil Noble from Ro uh Reuters.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Reuters, yeah. That captured that photo. Fantastic photo. And um he's now living at one of the one of the cottages, I guess. Yeah, he's at uh Wood Farm at Sandringham in Norfolk. But it's interesting how he's facing criminal charges. Uh misconduct in public offices, the charge, the specific details uh aren't known yet, I don't know, as far as I've seen. Um but what's happened with Prince Andrew is um Prince Andrew has some strong connections to a part of Ontario. Yes. Sort of the c uh the Peterborough area, um Lakefield, Selwyn Township, uh beautiful part of the province. Is it ever? Uh in 1977, when the Prince was 16, uh he attended Lakefield College School, which is a pr very prestigious private school, still is. Yeah. Um and it was huge news at the time. Like the Toronto Star was trying to stake him out, trying to find him out as they as they would. Um he I think he did a meeting with the premier at the time, and there's old photographs of 16-year-old prince holding court. Like this was a big deal that the Queen's son was coming to spend. He called it life-changing six months for him. It was um he discovered his love of the outdoors, paddling, uh canoeing, and he maintained a lot of friendships from those days as well. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yes, he did. And uh they so he remained very connected to this, his old uh alma mater, and there's they named an island after him, a small island uh in Selwyn Township, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew Island, and the other one was named after the school he went to in Scotland. Two things. But the whole thing is this whole area at the time in the 70s, late 70s, was buzzing with the fact that the prince was here going to school, and it's never really left that game. It's been something they've been, you know, they were proud of for a long time. He still came back and visited, he went to events at the old school. He did, yes. So he was very connected. Uh and now with all that's happened, obviously uh he's quite a disgraced figure. A lot of thoughts going into do we still want to have uh this island named after him, for example. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so there's a move afoot in Selwyn Township to change the name of this island to and the other island as well. And it sort of speaks to a bigger question of, you know, like how we honor people, right? We've seen this with some schools, we've seen this. And I know with Prince Andrew in particular, there's schools in the province, there's streets in the province named after him. So other communities are kind of going through the same thing. So the mayor, who's lovely uh in Selwyn Township, uh she's been called by everybody, Scott. Like every media organization. You can imagine the British, the British News has called her, New York Times. New York Times phoned her. Um she's done tons of interviews, and uh I actually reached out to her and said, Hey, can you chat with us about it? And of course, well, we're the pinnacle, right, of course. So she said, Of course I'll come on closer look. Doesn't everyone? Yeah, who who are you again? And so she's gonna join us uh today and talk about sort of uh where we were in 1977 with the former prince and where we are in 2026.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

For decades they've been two quiet specks of land in the Otonaby River, barely noticed by anyone. But now those tiny islands in Selwyn Township, just north of Peterborough, have become part of a much bigger debate about who or what we choose to honor on the map. One of those islands is named after the now ex-Prince Andrew, who spent six months as an exchange student back in the 1970s at nearby Lakefield College School. Of course, King Charles' younger brother has been exposed for his close ties to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And now the town wants to drop the name of the island. Joining us this evening on the show is Selwyn Mayor Sherry Sennis, who's leading that push. Madam Mayor, welcome to the show. We appreciate your time tonight.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Mayor, the uh former Prince Andrew has long been connected to uh your neck of Ontario. That's because back in 1977, when he was 16, Queen Elizabeth's uh son attended the uh very prestigious Lakefield College School. Do you remember hearing about uh that when you were younger? Has the royal connection uh always been well known in your community?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Well, I think at the time people were quite proud of the fact that we had a royal that was attending school in our area.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Do you remember? Like, were people the town buzzing about it? Were people looking for him at the time?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Oh, yeah. I mean, it was it was a big deal for our small little area to have uh someone that was that famous coming to our school.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Yeah, I can imagine. Did you did you or anyone you know meet him at the time?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

I did not. Um there were there are some locals that did. There are still people that uh went to the school or were running the school that uh paddled with him down the Autonomy River.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Yes, yes. So is that how these islands were named out of the how like did you know the process of how that came to be? Can you tell us that story?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

There was an application that was made in 1978 to change the name of one island to Prince uh Andrew Island and the other one to Gordonston. Gordonston was the school that um both uh the former Prince and King Charles went to in Scotland.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

So it was happened pretty quickly. People were like, yeah, we're on board with that, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

And are there actually they can have seen pictures? Are there actually like a plaque on the island if you get there? Is there something so there's nothing on there that signifies that this is Prince Andrew Island?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

No.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

So how would people even know? Like, is it in the is it in is it in a paper in City Hall somewhere, or how would people even know?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Uh well, you know, the it it yeah, there is um at uh the town township hall, there is uh papers that show that. And but for the most part, it happens that long ago that there are a lot of locals that are here now that had no knowledge that that was the name of uh either of those islands.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

I see. So more word of mouth at the time people knew, and it maybe been long kind of got forgotten as the years went on.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Yes, okay for sure. All right, the uh Jeffrey Epstein scandal and Andrew's connection to it has slowly been uh exposed over many years. Uh, did people start to feel that uh in your uh township, Madam Mayor?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Uh not really, because again, uh there wasn't uh the local knowledge um was smaller because it happened such a you know in in the distant past. And um quite frankly, I didn't know that was the name of the island uh until I was called by a reporter from the Globe and Mail in Ottawa, wanting to know what we were gonna do about it. Oh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

How long ago, how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Uh that was back in November when he was stripped of his title. I got a phone call and I said, I'm sorry, I can't continue the conversation uh until I do some fact checking.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Good for you.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

So um, and then I found out from staff, yes, indeed. We had two islands that were named this way. And so that prompted me to bring a motion to our our township council to ask that staff come back with a report as to how we could change the names.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

That's amazing. That's a great story. Can you walk us through that? So, what happened after that? How long did it take for that report to happen to walk us through it?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

That that happened in November, and um we also wanted to have our First Nations. We've got a reserve, Curve Lake First Nation that's in uh abutting our township, and we wanted to involve uh them as well. And so um staff uh was going to be coming back with this uh recommendation or this report, but it it wasn't something that was uh like there are a lot of other things we have on our plate to do the township. It wasn't at the top of the list, and it wasn't until um the uh former prince was uh charged or arrested that uh it started the flurry up again. And um staff then came with a report to counsel suggesting we had two options. We could um go that we don't have the ability to make the decision, or like we can we can ask that the names be changed, but it has to go to the Ontario Geographic Names Board. You know that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Didn't know that existed either. That's two things. That's two things we didn't know existed.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

That's right. And um so they're the ones who make the ultimate decision as to what the name will be of the island. In the past, they were named Island 8 and Island 32. Uh so there was no significance to the area. And um, so that was option one, just to ask them to rescind the names. Option two was to ask them to rescind the names and to provide alternate names for the islands. And that's what council chose to do. They wanted to uh show that the islands have some significance to the area rather than just a number.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

Yeah, as it should be that way. Now we know uh ultimately the uh decision by council was unanimous uh to do this. But how much discussion uh was there, if any, leading up to that point, or was it very short, sweet, cut and dry that there was no debate, this has to happen?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yes, that's exactly what it is. There was no debate. Um, everyone agreed that this is the direction we should go. And um, so now staff will have sent a letter already to the Ontario Geographic Names Board and ask them to rescind immediately. And um they will go about having their discussions with CurveLake and with our other stakeholders to come up with a short list which will be presented to the public, and uh they will get to weigh in and then we'll send the application in with the preferred names.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Okay. So will the rescinding happen first, they'll rescind the name, then that process begins. So how what how long do you think it'll be till we actually it's official that this is no longer Prince Andrew Island?

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Um that's up to this board. And um I don't I I understand that they meet four times a year, and the next time they're supposed to meet is in the summer. So um, and we've been told that the whole process, like to finally give us the okay with the new names, could take up to a year.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Okay. Uh we talked uh just before the cameras started rolling that you've been spending uh a fair amount of your time uh doing interviews uh on this topic. Uh we know that you've gotten calls from uh the New York Times, uh the Sunday Times. Uh of course now you've reached the pinnacle, you're on closer look. Uh were you surprised, Madam Mayor, that such a small island in Solwood suddenly became such a massive international story?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yes, I I was uh quite surprised. And I wasn't sure if that just was because it was a slow news week or uh it was, you know, uh something that a lot of people really are interested in. I really think that people are interested in seeing what direction we go with this.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

Yeah, it's definitely not a slow news week. We don't have those anymore, unfortunately. There it feels like it's it's crazy every minute of every day. It's a little bit I don't want no sad is the right word, but there was for a long time Prince Andrew's connection to your area was very strong. There was something they were proud of. I know Lakefield College School is very proud of this here. I think he was their honorary chair for a long time. Is it sad in the community that it's that this is again has nothing to do with the community? It's not the community's fault this happened, but it's still sad that is it still sad that this has happened knowing the history.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I'm sure there are some people who feel that way, but for the most part, um I've heard the feedback I'm getting from residents is let's just move on with this and get it done.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

And get it done. Yeah, this is the way this is the way we do it. Other communities are kind of dealing with this as well, because there's Prince Andrew Schools, uh, I think in my community, uh there's Toronto Streets. Yeah, there's streets named after Are you hearing from other municipal officials in the province asking how you're doing this or get looking for advice?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

No, um everybody goes about it in a different way. If we had a street named Prince Andrew Street, we could change that ourselves. We don't have to go through another body to give us the okay. So um, yeah, people will be dealing with it in different ways depending on what the situation is.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

That's right. Well, they always say that uh all publicity is good publicity, right? So here's an opportunity. We have you on the show. Tell people about Selwyn Township. Why is it a great community? Why should they maybe come visit?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Oh, Selwyn is a wonderful community. We're a population of about 18,000 people. We're surrounded by three on three sides by lakes. Uh so it's a great place to come uh any time of the year, um, especially in the summer because you can go boating and swimming and fishing and canoeing and kayaking. Um, and people do come. We have uh uh good tourism coming to our area. Um we've got some good employment as well. There are some good-sized companies that are have located here, and of course, we're very close to uh a college and a university. So I think we're well situated for people to come live here and work here and play here.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

That's amazing. It's good. So a lot of people around Ontario will hear this podcast every night, they listen to it, they watch it, so they'll maybe they didn't know about Selwyn Township, or that's something. Is it fair for me to ask you, Mayor, whether you have an opinion or a thought on what you hope happens to the former prince with these charges that have been laid against him?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I'd rather not say.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

That's probably a smart move. All right, uh, Madam Mayor, before we let you go, uh anything else uh that we didn't touch on that uh we should have?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

No, uh uh I appreciate uh what the media is doing because um it's something I hope we never have to go through this kind of thing again. Um, but uh it just shows you that you know things come up that no one has any idea that uh these kinds of things can come to pass. So yeah, you never ready for everything, don't you?

SPEAKER_04 15:54

Well, obviously you're a nimble mayor, you're able to pivot and deal with whatever's coming your way. Now that just made me think of another question. What have the people in the community been telling you? They're obviously seeing you on the news a lot more about this particular story. Are they are they giving you kudos for the way you're handling things?

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

What do they say? Give me a good story. What do they say, Andy, when they stop you on the street about this?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

No, well, it's just as you said, they're saying, well, you're really becoming famous, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:16

So all right, good stuff. Well, I'm sure you've got uh Lester Holt and the NBC Nightly News crew standing by. So uh we'll let uh we'll let you go to that uh uh that one. There's uh Sherry Sentis, the mayor of uh Salwan Township. Madam Mayor, we truly appreciate your time this evening.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Have a great weekend.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Have you ever been to that part of the province, Peterborough, Cortis? Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

It is, it's a very nice CY people live there for sure. I think Neil Young still lives around there, doesn't he, too? Is he really? I could be wrong. You're never wrong. Well, seldom. I'm often wrong. I mean once in a while. I'm often wrong. I can tell you though, I did uh uh always comes back, I feel old, but I did cover the Prince Andrew case, uh the Prince Andrew's connection to Lakefield. The reason I know it so well is because um while this Epstein stuff was going on in the early days, there was another scandal going on at the school where um uh he had donated a baptismal font in honor of the old chaplain who was a close friend of his when he was there at the time. Right. And it turned out that that that font triggered some sexual assault victims to come forward. Yes. And it triggered a whole bunch of different uh um uh people victims to come forward. And uh it was one of those moments where it was kind of the beginning of the end for Lakefield's connection to Prince Andrew. Yeah. At that time he was still connected to the school. They've since severed all ties. Yes, they have. And uh he is definitely not uh someone that that area takes uh pride in anymore.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

No, that uh is exactly true. All right, uh closer look at villagemedia.ca. Flip us an email, we'd love to hear from you. And of course, sign up. People are doing it by the droves. Closerlook podcast dots. They are by the droves. Closerlookpodcast.ca. Uh Zach Trenzo back in uh control of the program this evening. Michael Friscolandi is our editor in chief. I'm Scott Sexmith. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow night at seven right here on Closer Look.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Frisco and Scott's wardrobe, provided in part by Moore's Sault Ste. Marie, I think.