Letter to the Editor: Suggesting names for Ryerson University

Dear Editor,

Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine were the respective heads of a united Canada after the Act of Union in 1840. They created and founded much of what Canada is today—things which we somehow credit Sir John A. One of the many things they founded was the first Canadian University which was not founded by a religious institution. They founded the University of Toronto. I think it would be fitting for Ryerson University to be renamed Baldwin and Lafontaine University.

Signed, 
Linda Schwey

Dear Linda, 

Thank you for writing to us and responding to our article on Ryerson University’s name change announcement. Yes, Baldwin and Lafontaine founded the University of Toronto when they set up the public school system. However, I disagree that Ryerson University (RU) should be named after these two figures. Baldwin and Lafontaine are still colonial figures, regardless of the impact they’ve had through their ‘responsible government’ era and the institutions they have established. The intention behind the decision to change RU’s name comes from the acknowledgment that it is disrespectful to the Indigenous communities considering Ryerson himself was an architect of the brutal residential school system. Renaming the university to honour a different colonial figure is not the appropriate way forward for reconciliation. Students and community groups are working together to offer name suggestions at the moment, and I hope RU decides to implement a name that honours Indigenous Peoples. 

Thank you,
Aroni Sarkar, Opinion Editor