For The Greater Good

"Anger and frustration due to the University's refusal to remove the statue has been building in our community for some time."

"In June of this year, almost ten thousand 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."

Continuing Education Students at Ryerson (CESAR) petition

"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."

Corey Scott, executive director, CESAR

Students petition to remove Egerton Ryerson statue on campus (again) Campus News

"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."

"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."

"He is in large part responsible for the wonderful institution of public education that we enjoy today as Canadians. That's something worthy of honour and reverence."

Marshall Darbyshire, president, Ryerson Campus Conservatives

"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."

"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."

Ron Stagg, history professor, Ryerson University

Egerton Ryerson was chief superintendent of education for Canada West, a man who instituted huge advances in the public system of education in the geographic area of a nascent Province of Ontario. In 1948, Ryerson Technical Institute, later to become Ryerson University in Toronto was named after Egerton Ryerson in recognition of his educational achievements, most particularly his establishing of the public education system in the province. A statue was erected of Egerton Ryerson to stand in proud recognition of his accomplishments.

Three members of Black Lives Matter protesters took it upon themselves to show their disdain for a man they deride as having been a racist, by vandalizing the statue, covering it in pink paint. Because Black Lives Matter has made such waves in the news, and society in general appears to be genuflecting to its  purported cause in support of Black equality, dignity and opportunity, there were presumably no charges laid and a metaphorical shrug ensued, leading to a second vandalization when green paint was splashed on the statue.

A general, universal sweep of historical figures reveal them to have been socially and politically representative of the tenor of their times. People of extraordinary foresight and public service were being scrutinized to discover whether any possible bigoted taint lurked in their personal backgrounds. And much was unearthed to detail issues of the time generally accepted in society as a given, when these individuals of social, political, historical standing supported the generally accepted attitudes then prevailing, and now condemned as unacceptable, abusive of human rights and equality.

Egerton Ryerson was a man of many parts, a Methodist minister, an author, an editor, and an education revolutionary of the 19th century. So it made good sense that a statue would be erected to his honour to commemorate his historical contributions to the province and its future that so greatly benefited from his presence, to stand before the university that bears his name. This was also a man who had involved himself as one of the architects of the now-disgraced residential school system.

This was a network of residential schools operated mostly by religious groups in collaboration with government agencies, where Indigenous children were involuntarily taken from their homes to live in residence where they were taught to be 'civilized', to become model citizens of the future. Where, instead of growing within the tribal structure and inherited culture of the reserve system they were meant to receive a well rounded education to prepare them for their futures.

In many instances, children were taken from dysfunctional families, while in many others children were scooped from their parental homes simply because they were identified as Aboriginal and needful of a white man's education; the 'white man's burden of obligation to those less fortunate'. They were taught discipline and how to care for themselves, along with the 'three Rs' of reading, w/riting and 'rithmatic. They were not permitted to speak their ancestral language. They were homesick.

But out of the experience of emotional deprivation in removal from the family hearth, they also received an education that would otherwise not have been theirs, and many among them were later grateful for the opportunity. They became the quiet, then the silent voices throughout the upheaval of vocal and very loud and florid accusations of white men depriving Indigenous children of their heritage -- and claims of mistreatment were rampant.

The vandalized statue of Egerton Ryerson. Ernest Doroszuk/Postmedia

Now that Black Lives Matter has arisen putting the spotlight on a social boil to be lanced only by the degrading of 'white' and the elevation of 'black', a social alliance between Black and Indigenous has resulted. And Egerton Ryerson has become one of the current-day victims, despised by his detractors as a racist bigot. When he was a man concerned that all children receive an education to prepare them for their future, among them Aboriginal children.

The petition that the group CESAR presented to the University calls on Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi to end "the glorification and whitewashing of our colonial history", by ordering that the statue be removed from public view. An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were held to have attended residential schools across the country. Many claimed to have been the victims of physical, verbal and sexual abuse. Somewhat like the British aristocracy sending their offspring to 'public schools', live-in, costly private academies for a formal education which often included physical, verbal and sexual abuse.

Egerton Ryerson's ideas were influential in the establishment of the residential schools. And his ideas which were so valuable across the board in creating excellence in the school system of the fledgling province were valuable to the residential schools as well, ensuring a practical curriculum in a setting that provided for the health and nutritional needs of growing children. From a large constituency of tribal people who resented being patronized and the forced parting with their children.

In 2018, a plaque was attached to Egerton Ryerson's statue, in acknowledgement of his role in residential schools; an effort to bring perspective to his presence. That will not satisfy his impassioned detractors. "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 a statement issued by university president Mohamed Lachemi.

Which sounds suspiciously like a preamble to a craven decision forced by the temper of the times.

Photo by Alan L Brown