Is Egerton Ryerson's legacy set in stone?
Students clash at university that bears his name
A statue of Egerton Ryerson, Methodist minister, author, editor, and the man who revolutionized education in Ontario in the 19th century, stands in the grounds of the Toronto university that bears his name.
But in the last two weeks that statue has been vandalized twice because Ryerson was also a principal architect of the residential school system.
Now the Continuing Education Students at Ryerson (CESAR) have released a petition with signatures from about 700 Ryerson students, faculty members, and organizations demanding the Egerton Ryerson statue be removed.
“Anger and frustration due to the University’s refusal to remove the statue has been building in our community for some time,” said the CESAR petition.
“In June of this year, almost 10,000 people signed a petition by a Ryerson student calling for the statue to be taken down. These community members, Indigenous students, faculty, and staff must finally be heard.”
The petition calls on Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi to order the removal of the statue and end “the glorification and whitewashing of our colonial history.”
Corey Scott, the executive director at CESAR, said, “For years, students, staff, and faculty of our university have been advocating for the removal of the statue of Egerton Ryerson, a key architect of the residential school system that caused the deaths and traumatization of generations of Indigenous people.”
However, Marshall Darbyshire, an outgoing politics and governance student at Ryerson and president of the Ryerson Campus Conservatives, said the statue should remain up.
“At the end of the day, I think it’s because these are people who know they’ ll never do anything great enough to have a statue erected of themselves,” said Darbyshire.
“And so they holler and whine and stomp about until statues of people they disagree with politically and who did great things and built this country and our institutions are erased from the face of our country.”
Ron Stagg, a history professor at Ryerson, said Egerton Ryerson, who was also the chief superintendent of education for Canada West, made great improvements in the public education system in what would become Ontario.
“Many children did not complete even primary school, as schools were not available everywhere, teacher training was spotty at best, and education was not valued by parents of children who were going to work the farm, become a tradesman, or were going to get married and look after the house,” said Stagg.
“Ryerson introduced a common curriculum, common textbooks, teacher training, and ultimately required attendance, in order to create a literate population, which he believed necessary for the development of the colony, later the province.”
Ryerson did not invent residential schools, but his ideas were influential in establishing them. An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools across Canada. Many of these children suffered physical, verbal, and sexual abuse.
The university was named after Ryerson in 1948 because of his achievements, particularly in establishing the public education system in Ontario.
On July 18, three Black Lives Matter protesters allegedly vandalized the statue by covering it in pink paint. Last weekend it was attacked again with green paint.
Lachemi said in a statement that Ryerson is open to discussions about removing it.
“I believe it is an incredibly valuable attribute of any university that controversial subjects are discussed publicly, attitudes are challenged, and alternatives are suggested and considered — sometimes this involves protests like the one we experienced this weekend,” read his statement.
In 2018, Ryerson attached a plaque to the statue acknowledging Egerton’s role in residential schools.
Darbyshire said Ryerson needs to continue to honour its namesake.
“He is in large part responsible for the wonderful institution of public education that we enjoy today as Canadians,” he said. “That’s something worthy of honour and reverence.”
That’s something worthy of honour and reverence.