Egerton Ryerson
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Canadian educator, author, editor, and Methodist minister who was a prominent contributor to the design of Canadian public school and indigenous residential school systems. Ryerson is considered to be the founder of the Ontario public school system.
An advocate against Christian sectarianism and control of Upper Canada by the wealthy Anglican elite, Ryerson staunchly opposed Clergy Reserves and promoted a system of free public education in Canada. Conversely, Ryerson was passionate about Christianization, favouring missionary work and protesting the removal of the Bible from Ontario schools.
Following his time as a missionary to the Mississaugas of the Credit River, Ryerson became founding editor of The Christian Guardian, and the first principal of Victoria College. He was appointed as Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada by Governor General Sir Charles Metcalfe in 1844, where he supported reforms such as creating school boards, making textbooks more uniform, and making education free. His extensive contributions to early education in Ontario led to him being memorialized with statues, and in the naming of several institutions and places in Ontario.
Ryerson produced recommendations for the design and objectives of the Canadian Indian residential school system, which was implemented after his death. After the residential schools were abolished, and the outcome of the system on the indigenous peoples of Canada fully exposed, he became a controversial figure. This led to public protests and the removal of his name on a university in Toronto.
Early years
Ryerson was born on 24 March 1803 in Charlotteville Township, Upper Canada, to Joseph Ryerson, a United Empire Loyalist, a Lieutenant in the Prince of Wales' American Volunteers from Passaic County, New Jersey, and Sarah Mehetable Ryerson. He was one of six brothers – George, Samuel, William, John, and Edwy. Samuel was the only one of Egerton's brothers not to enter the Methodist ministry.Methodist missionary
He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at 17, and was forced to leave home by his Anglican father. After leaving home, Ryerson worked as an usher in a London grammar school, before his father sent for him to return home. He did so and farmed for a small period of time before leaving again, this time to Hamilton to attend Gore District Grammar School. In Hamilton, he studied Latin and Greek. At one point, he became ill with a fever that almost claimed his life. His Latin and Greek enabled him to become a Methodist missionary or circuit rider. His first post was the York region surrounding Yonge Street. The circuit took four weeks to complete on foot or horseback, as it encompassed areas with roads in extremely poor condition. However, the experience gave Ryerson a first hand look at the life of the early pioneer.Ryerson was appointed as a missionary to the Mississaugas of the Credit in 1826, while still on probation as a Methodist missionary. His journal records his feelings on arrival: "Sept. 16, 1826 —I have now arrived at my charge among the Indians. I feel an inexpressible joy in taking up my abode amongst them. I must now acquire a new language, to teach a new people." In an assembly, Ryerson explained to them his perceived source of their misery: "I explained to the assembled Indians, the cause of their poverty, misery and wretchedness as resulting from them offending the Great Being who created them but who still loved them so much as to send His Son to save them and give them new hearts, that they might forsake their bad ways, be sober and industrious; not quarrel, but love one another, etc." Ryerson assisted them in building a church which doubled as a school. He was experienced as a farmer and ostensibly taught them about crops and crop rotation, fencing, etc. They had decided that they had to learn farming and settle down, as their hunting and fishing grounds were depleted by white settlers.
On 16 December, he reported: "I have this week been trying to procure for the Indians the exclusive right of their salmon fishery, which I trust will be granted by the Legislature". At a meeting that same week an Ojibway chief addressed him: "Brother, as we are brothers, we will give you a name. My departed brother was named Cheehock; thou shalt be called Cheehock." Ryerson "returned him thanks in his own tongue, and so became initiated among them". The Legislature declined to support the Mississauga's claims to land and fishing grounds. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report of May 2015, and noted that "he even learned their language, worked in the fields with the people of the settlement and became a life-long friend of future chief Kahkewaquonaby, known in English as Peter Jones".
In 1826, sermons from John Strachan, Anglican Archdeacon of York, Upper Canada, were published asserting that the Anglican church was, by law, the established church of Upper Canada. Methodists were singled out as American and therefore disloyal. Money was requested of the crown to allow the Anglican church to maintain ties to Great Britain. As Ryerson was the son of a Loyalist, this was an abomination. He emerged as Episcopal Methodism's most articulate defender in the public sphere by publishing articles and later books that argued against the views of Methodism's chief rival John Strachan and other members of the powerful Family Compact.
Ryerson was also elected to serve as the founding editor of Canadian Methodism's weekly denominational newspaper, the Christian Guardian, established in York in 1829 and which was also Canada's first religious newspaper. Ryerson used the paper to argue for the rights of Methodists in the province and, later, to help convince rank-and-file Methodists that a merger with British Wesleyans was in their best interest. Ryerson was castigated by the reformist press at that time for apparently abandoning the cause of reform and becoming, at least as far as they were concerned, a Tory. Ryerson resigned the editorship in 1835 only to assume it again at his brother John's urging from 1838 to 1840. In 1840 Ryerson allowed his name to stand for re-election one last time but was soundly defeated by a vote of 50 to 1.
Educator
In April 1831, Ryerson wrote in The Christian Guardian newspaper,This quote is a fore-telling of Ryerson's contribution to education in Upper Canada.
In 1836, Ryerson visited England to secure the charter for Upper Canada Academy. This was the first charter ever granted by the British Government to a Nonconformist body for an educational institution. When it was incorporated in 1841 under the name Victoria College Ryerson assumed the presidency. Victoria College continues to exist as part of the University of Toronto. Ryerson also fought for many secularization reforms, to keep power and influence away from any one church, particularly the Church of England in Upper Canada which had pretensions to establishment. His advocacy of Methodism contributed to the eventual sale of the Clergy Reserveslarge tracts of land that had been set aside for the "maintenance of the Protestant clergy" under the Constitutional Act of 1791. "In honour of his achievements on behalf of the Methodist Church, Egerton Ryerson received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Wesleyan University in Connecticut and served as President of the Church in Canada from 1874 to 1878."
Such secularization also led to the widening of the school system into public hands. Governor General Sir Charles Metcalfe asked him to become Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844 and remained in the position until 1876.
The Normal School at St. James Square was founded in Toronto in 1847, and became the province's foremost teacher's academy. It also housed the Department of Education as well as the Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts, which became the Royal Ontario Museum. The school operated by the Ontario Society of Artists at the Normal School would become the Ontario College of Art & Design. An agricultural laboratory on the site led to the later founding of the Ontario Agricultural College and the University of Guelph. St. James Square went through various other educational uses before it eventually became part of Ryerson University.
Ryerson University, Ryerson Press, and the Township of Ryerson in the Parry Sound District, Ontario, were named after him, as well as the small park, Ryerson Park, in the city of Owen Sound, at the northeast corner of 8th Street East and 5th Avenue East. There is also an intersection of two small streets in Toronto, Egerton Lane and Ryerson Avenue, between Spadina and Bathurst north of Queen Street West.
In 2017 the university was urged to change its name in response to a campaign on social media, student organizations and petitions. A process of consultation was engaged in. The Standing Strong Task Force was appointed by the president. It held hearings, accepted briefs and letters and in 2021, reported with a recommendation to drop the name Ryerson and permanently remove his statue from the campus. This was promptly accepted by the University’s Board of Governors and further consultations were held to determine the new name. In April 2022, the university announced the new name would be Toronto Metropolitan University.
Legislation
''Common School Act'' of 1846
Ryerson's study of educational systems elsewhere in the Western world led to three school acts, which would revolutionize education in Canada. His major innovations included libraries in every school, an educational journal and professional development conventions for teachers, a central textbook press using Canadian authors, and securing land grants for universities.The Common School Act of 1846, was an act that had established the First General School Board, where it would consist of Seven Members, that would each have their own responsibilities. Ryerson set the groundwork for compulsory education, which is what it has become today, he ensured that curriculums were made and that teaching and learning materials were provided and delivered to Schools, in the result of the best possible education. Ryerson did not believe that white and Aboriginal children should be taught in the same schools due to their different civilization and their upbringings.