Activists protest Egerton Ryerson on Ryerson University campus on June 6th, 2021. Ryerson was the chief superintendent of education for Upper Canada and is considered instrumental in the design and implementation of the Indian Residential School System.
At that young age, I knew who Ryerson was, but my parents only described him to me as a prominent figure connected with education in Ontario. As I got older, they carefully told me about residential schools, and his influence in creating them. Only a handful of people in my extended family were forced to attend the vile institutions, but as a child, I was well aware of the damage that system inflicted upon the families in our community, and beyond.
I moved to Toronto in the fall of 1998. I soon met other Indigenous students with the same experiences and perspective as me. In what was then called the Aboriginal Student Lounge in Jorgenson Hall, we talked about Ryerson’s traumatic legacy regularly, and we were united in our resolve to succeed despite him and his racist efforts. We knew that succeeding at a university named after a man who would have never wanted us there in the first place would be the ultimate educational triumph.
Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: nationalpost - 🏆 10. / 80 Read more »