Egerton Ryerson - He is not evil.

 It's sad that a local historical figure will be remembered more for his failures than his successes. Egerton Ryerson's family were United Empire Loyalists who came to settle in Vittoria (close to where I live). In the early 1800's he broke grounds to allow for other churches to establish themselves besides the Anglican Church of Upper Canada as many Americans who had come to Canada after the American Revolution were Methodists and he had become a Methodist minister. He was very influential to open the door for freedom of religion and then was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844. It is in this role that Ryerson made his historical mark.

"In April 1831, Ryerson wrote in The Christian Guardian newspaper,

On the importance of education generally we may remark, it is as necessary as the light – it should be as common as water and as free as air. Education among the people is the best security of a good government and constitutional liberty; it yields a steady, unbending support to the former, and effectually protects the latter... The first object of a wise government should be the education of the people...Partial knowledge is better than total ignorance. If total ignorance be a bad and dangerous thing, every degree of knowledge lessens both the evil and the danger."

His mistake was to create residential schools for our Native people. In my mind like in rural areas the old one room schoolhouses would have been a much better way for the Native people to start an education, much like my own family who lived in rural settings, even my own father, in Prince Edward County and many people in my village of Port Ryerse well into the latter half of the 20th century. He was born in the United States and educated there in his youth and helped to establish a framework for education in Upper Canada which was still very young and needing good government and social development. Many mistakes were made as our country developed through those rough times thinking of "progress". I hope with our knowledge of mistakes made, we will never forget....