Paul Kane High School was named as a result of a naming contest and bears the name of an early explorer and artist. Paul Kane was 10 years old when he moved to Upper Canada in 1819 with his Irish immigrant family. A painter of furniture, coaches and signs by trade, he painted portraits in his spare time. In 1845, after studying in Europe for three years, where he was inspired by American artist George Catlin's paintings of Indigenous life, Kane returned to Canada and headed west. He recorded his experiences on canvas and in his book Wanderings of an Artist that includes a painting of his participation in one of the last great buffalo hunts.
