| Statue of Egerton Ryerson | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2005 | |
| Artist | Hamilton MacCarthy |
| Year | 1887 |
| Subject | Egerton Ryerson |
| Condition | Destroyed |
| Location | Toronto, Canada |
A statue of Egerton Ryerson by Hamilton MacCarthy was installed on the grounds of Ryerson University in Toronto, now known as Toronto Metropolitan University, from 1887 until 2021. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The novelist Graeme Gibson draped the flag of the United States around the statue in a 1970 protest against the sale of Ryerson Press to the American publishers McGraw Hill Education for $2 million (equivalent to $15,691,517in 2023). [5] Gibson led protesters in a rendition of "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" after climbing down from the statue. [5]
The statue attracted significant criticism in the 2010s due to Ryerson's role in the creation of the Canadian Indian residential school system. In 2018, a plaque was officially installed on the statue that contextualizes and acknowledged Ryerson's involvement in the history of the Canadian Indian residential school system. The plaque contains the following text:
This plaque serves as a reminder of Ryerson University's commitment to moving forward in the spirit of truth and reconciliation. Egerton Ryerson is widely known for his contributions to Ontario's public educational system. As Chief Superintendent of Education, Ryerson's recommendations were instrumental in the design and implementation of the Indian Residential School System. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded that the assimilation amounted to cultural genocide. [6]
Beneath this text are the following two quotations:
"Let us put our minds together to see what kind of lives we can create for our children" – Chief Sitting Bull
"For the child taken, for the parent left behind" – Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [7]
In July 2020, three people were arrested for splattering pink paint on the statue – in addition to two others of John A. Macdonald and King Edward VII at the Ontario Legislature – as part of a demand to tear down the monuments. Black Lives Matter Toronto claimed responsibility for the actions stating that "The action comes after the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario have failed to take action against police violence against Black people." Three people were each charged with three counts of mischief under $5,000 and conspiracy to commit a summary offence; [8] the charges were dropped the following year. [9]
On June 1, 2021, following the discovery of 215 soil disturbances at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the statue was vandalized again, this time with red paint. [10] On June 6, the statue was toppled, decapitated and thrown into Toronto Harbour; what was then Ryerson University stated that the statue will not be restored or replaced. [11] [12] The head of the statue was subsequently placed on a pike at the Six Nations of the Grand River near Caledonia, Ontario. [13]
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Canadian educator, author, editor, and Methodist minister who was a prominent contributor to the design of the Canadian public school system. Ryerson is considered to be the founder of the Ontario public school system.
The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease.
The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, founded in 1737 by Marguerite d'Youville, a young widow.
On The Record is the masthead news title produced by journalism students at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada. Students produce daily news for the publication's website, live-blog local events relevant to students and broadcast TV news, also available on the website, at least once a week.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, it was once the largest residential school in Canada, with its enrolment peaking at 500 in the 1950s. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, when it was taken over from the Catholic Church by the federal government to be used as a day school residence. It closed in 1978. The school building still stands today, and is located on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.
Education in Ontario comprises public and private primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The current respective Ministers for each are Stephen Lecce and Ross Romano. The province's public education system is primarily funded by the Government of Ontario, with education in Canada falling almost entirely under provincial jurisdiction. There is no federal government department or agency involved in the formation or analysis of policy regarding education for most Canadians. Schools for Indigenous people in Canada with Indian status are the only schools that are funded federally, and although the schools receive more money per individual student than certain provinces, the amount also includes the operation and maintenance of school facilities, instructional services, students supports and staff. Most provincial allocations per students do not include the maintenance and operation of buildings, as most provincial governments offer additional grants.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Peter Henderson Bryce was a public health physician for the Ontario provincial and Canadian federal governments. As a public official he submitted reports that highlighted the mistreatment of Indigenous students in the Canadian Indian residential school system and advocated for the improvement of environmental conditions at the schools. He also worked on the health of immigrant populations in Canada.
Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toronto. The university operates seven academic divisions/faculties, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Community Services, the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, the Faculty of Science, The Creative School, the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, and the Ted Rogers School of Management. Many of these faculties are further organized into smaller departments and schools. The university also provides continuing education services through the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.
The Image Centre is an photography and art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The centre is a university museum operated by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), and is housed in a renovated and remodelled former warehouse building at Gould and Bond Streets on TMU's campus. The centre includes gallery, collections, teaching, research and exhibition spaces and shares the building with the School of Image Arts.
Hamilton Thomas Carlton Plantagenet MacCarthy was one of the earliest masters of monumental bronze sculpture in Canada. He is known for his historical sculptures, in particular his Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia (1904) as well as Samuel de Champlain overlooking Parliament Hill on Nepean Point, Ottawa (1915), next to the National Gallery of Canada. His monument to the Ottawa volunteers who died in the South African War (1902) was moved to Confederation Park in 1969 after several moves. Other works include that of Ottawa mayor, Samuel Bingham, in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Vanier.
Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School (Q.I.R.S.) or Qu'Appelle Industrial School was a Canadian residential school in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. As one of the early residential schools in western Canada, it was operated from 1884 to 1969 by the Roman Catholic Church for First Nations children and was run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Grey Nuns. As of November 8, 2021 Star Blanket Cree Nation started searching for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar.
Shingwauk Indian Residential School was a Canadian residential school for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children that operated in Canada between 1873 and 1970 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the Anglican Church of Canada and the Government of Canada.
The St. John's Indian Residential School, also known as the Chapleau Indian Residential School, was a Canadian Indian Residential School operated by the Anglican Church of Canada from 1907 to 1948 in Chapleau, Ontario.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day, is a Canadian holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
The Marieval Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located on the Cowessess 73 reserve in Marieval, Saskatchewan, it operated from 1898 to 1997. It was located in Qu'Appelle Valley, east of Crooked Lake and 24 km (15 mi) north of Broadview.
The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. Directed and funded by the Department of Indian Affairs, and administered mainly by Christian churches, the residential school system removed and isolated Indigenous children from the influence of their own native culture and religion in order to forcefully assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Given that most of them were established by Christian missionaries with the express purpose of converting Indigenous children to Christianity, schools often had nearby mission churches with community cemeteries. Students were often buried in these cemeteries rather than being sent back to their home communities, since the school was expected by the Department of Indian Affairs to keep costs as low as possible. Additionally, occasional outbreaks of disease led to the creation of mass graves when the school had insufficient staff to bury students individually.
A statue of Elizabeth II by Leo Mol was installed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
A number of monuments and memorials in Canada were removed or destroyed as a result of protests and riots between 2020 and 2022. These included six sculptures of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, three of other figures connected to the Canadian Indian residential school system, two of Canadian monarchs, one of the British explorer Captain James Cook and one of John Deighton, a bar-owner whose nickname inspired the name of Vancouver's Gastown district.
A statue of Alexander Wood was erected in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by the Church Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (CWVBIA) and the municipal government of Toronto on May 28, 2005. Designed and constructed by artist Del Newbigging, the 244-centimetre-tall (8 ft) bronze sculpture was installed at the corner of Church and Alexander Streets in Church and Wellesley, the gay village of Toronto. It was the first LGBT monument in Canada. The statue was removed and destroyed by the CWVBIA on April 4, 2022, amid renewed focus on Wood's ties to a group that raised funds for a mission school that later became the Shingwauk Indian Residential School.
Media related to Statue of Egerton Ryerson at Wikimedia Commons
