Jerry Amernic: Egerton Ryerson’s name is still in the mud

I recently took a walk around Victoria University on the University of Toronto campus with the school’s communications officer. She was going to show me the portrait of Egerton Ryerson, who was involved in founding the original Victoria College, which was later absorbed into the U of T. But we couldn’t find it.

It was somewhere in the E.J. Pratt Library, but two staffers we asked had no idea where. Eventually we discovered it on the wall at the end of a hallway. In the portrait, Ryerson is 39, the age at which he became principal of Victoria College. The portrait used to be in the foyer outside the principal’s office, but according to the sign next to it, it was taken down in 2021 for “security reasons” and later put up in the library.

Today, if you visit the school’s website and click on “History,” you won’t see any mention of Ryerson, despite his involvement in its founding. He’s better known for the connection to Ryerson University, now Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

Alas, his name was attached to that institution for 74 years and his statue stood there for 134 years before being toppled and beheaded by a mob on June 6, 2021. That was two weeks after the announcement of 215 graves of missing and murdered Indigenous children said to be found on the grounds of the former Indian residential school in Kamloops, B.C. In the five years since, not one grave has been confirmed.

Ryerson’s statue was targeted because he was labelled an architect of Indian residential schools. Ryerson is still paying the price.

He should be remembered for the huge mark he left on educational and cultural institutions. It’s no stretch to call him the father of public education in Canada.

In 1829, Ryerson became the founding editor of a newspaper called the Christian Guardian, and from his post, he established the publishing house later known as Ryerson Press, before it was sold to an American publisher.

In 1844, Ryerson was appointed chief superintendent of education for Upper Canada and set out to study educational programs in England, Europe and the United States. What constituted education here wasn’t close to what was happening in those jurisdictions; only half of our school-age children were even attending school. In 1846, Ryerson proposed reforms calling for improved teacher-student ratios, school management, teacher training and textbooks written by and for Canadians.