Ryerson Park in Owen Sound had its namebar removed in 2021. (photo by Nathan Shubert/Bayshore Broadcasting News)
Owen Sound is moving ahead with a name change for Ryerson Park.
Council passed a committee recommendation during its meeting Monday to proceed with a name change in accordance with the city’s policy, and have staff prioritize one with a location reference. A plaque will also be installed at the park at the bottom of the 8th Street East hill — which has sat without a sign since 2021 — to educate users about its history and previous names.
The park was originally known as Boyd Street Park and was renamed Ryerson School Playground in 1988. A working group struck as part of the city’s formal name change process determined the park was not named in honour of Egerton Ryerson, but rather for its proximity to former Ryerson School.
Coun. Brock Hamley says the working group report does not speak to the legacy of Egerton Ryerson.
“The one thing we did all agree on and reason for the recommendation, is that Ryerson himself had no historical connection to Owen Sound other than the name of the previous school,” Hamley says.
Council passed the motion to proceed with next steps in the name change process after hearing a delegation from Ron Stagg, a former history professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. He told council Ryerson’s legacy has been tarnished by misinformation, and claimed he should be remembered as Ontario’s father of public education, not an architect of the residential school system.
“I’m not here to tell you, you shouldn’t change the name of Ryerson Park,” Stagg says. “But I am here to explain why you are doing it for the wrong reason.”
Stagg went on to tell councillors just under a decade ago at then Ryerson University, a small group of people “did some rather bad research and came up with the idea that Egerton Ryerson was responsible for residential schools.” He adds another group wanted to “de-colonialize the university … and wanted to get rid of the name” and “they seized on this.”
“And this is what has stuck. This is what people believe. In fact, it’s not true,” Stagg says.
Coun. Jon Farmer added the working group which recommended the park name change agreed “one way or another … that name doesn’t make sense right now.”
The next step in the city’s park name change process will begin next month, a staff report says.