A petition is calling for the City of Owen Sound to change the name of Ryerson Park because its namesake, Egerton Ryerson is recognized as one of the main architects of Canada’s residential school system.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy says the petition posted on change.org has caught council’s attention and they intend to discuss the issue, as well as a policy for renaming parks at the next meeting.
“We’ll bring the motion at a council meeting and council will have to approve the motion to move ahead to look at a policy and then we’ll go from there,” says Boddy noting the next meeting is Monday June 7th.
“Knowing that it’s out there, we’re willing to review it. We don’t really need the petition brought to council, but I’m sure they’ll send it to council and it will go on the record as well,” says Boddy.
The petition writer notes, they are aware of Ryerson’s contributions to the public education system but they feel in the spirit of reconciliation this park should no longer bear the name.
Canada’s residential school system took indigenous children from their homes and placed them in schools far away from their families. The intention was to assimilate them into what the Government and the churches that administered them saw as the dominant, Canadian culture. Thousands of children were abused while in the schools, and thousands died in them as well. The last residential school closed in 1996.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of the government.
Last week it was revealed there are believed to be 215 children buried in unmarked graves under a Kamloops B.C. residential school.
The discovery has prompted renewed discussion about reconciliation.
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2008 to 2015 documented the abuse of Indigenous children in residential schools and produced 94 ‘calls to action’ intended to address reconciliation between Canada and indigenous peoples.
