By Katarina Ziervogel

An opinion piece of whether renaming Ryerson University is a good idea or not to deal with Canada’s long and dreary past with the Indigenous people was written by Angela Wright. To summarize the article up—both of the groups; Ryerson Students’ Union and the Indigenous Students Association are advocating for social justice by renaming Ryerson University. This is due to the background behind its name, Egerton Ryerson, a politician and controversial educator.

Egerton Ryerson received a great amount of praise for advocating for free and compulsory education across the western coast of Canada, hence the name of Ryerson University but many people do not know what else he advocated for. Egerton Ryerson also supported residential schools, which caused a lot of harm towards Indigenous children and for future generations that came after.

In the opinion piece, it is argued that renaming Ryerson University is a poor way to deal with Canada’s past and instead of stripping away reminders such as Egerton Ryerson’s name, it is recommended to begin acknowledging and discussing what truly happened during the European’s colonization, and the emotional and physical pain Indigenous people suffered at their hands.

For more information, read the link attached below.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/renaming-ryerson-1.4205726