Researching Truth at Vic U on the Journey to Reconciliation

^{Principal Alex Eric Hernandez speaks during Victoria University’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event in the Victoria College Chapel, Sept. 30, 2025. (Photos by Neil Gaikwad)}

By Leslie Shepherd

The more Victoria University learns about the legacy of founding Principal Egerton Ryerson and its relations with Indigenous students, the more the community needs to engage in difficult conversations, speakers said at Vic U’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event.

Ryerson founded the system of universal, compulsory free education in Upper Canada and, more recently, has been seen by some as developing the blueprint for the residential school system in Canada. Vic U has been reconsidering his legacy in that context.

At the same time, the Victoria University Libraries and Archives has been examining ways to decolonize its collections, practices and services, in consultation with Indigenous researchers and communities. That work has included several research projects, such as looking at the history of Indigenous students at Vic U and growing its Indigenous special collection by adding materials by Canadian Indigenous authors.

Recent Vic U graduate Shane Joy V2T5 gave a keynote lecture at a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event entitled "Love Them as Mine Own People", analyzing Ryerson’s shifting attitudes toward Indigenous education over his life and career, and how those views shaped and were shaped by debates about Indigenous education in mid-19th century Upper Canada.

The event was organized by the President’s Office with input from its Indigenous Advisory Circle.

Joy found that Ryerson’s attitudes toward Indigenous peoples shifted over his career from early support and collaboration—such as advocating for land rights and learning Indigenous languages—to promoting “civilization” through his 1847 report on industrial schools.

That report is seen by many to have laid the groundwork for the residential school system.

This change in Ryerson’s thinking was part of a broader shift in colonial attitudes toward Indigenous peoples, moving from an early emphasis on relationship-building to the belief that they needed to be assimilated.

“A fundamental question for the university is figuring out how to remember Egerton Ryerson, and I hope this very brief lecture shows how complicated something like that is,” said Joy. “Ryerson was against frontier violence and extermination (of Indigenous peoples) and probably thought what he was doing was helpful. But he was also a person of his time and driven by some fundamentally racist ideas according to modern moral standards.”

Vic U Chancellor Nick Saul said he deeply appreciated Joy’s comfort level in living with the ambiguity around the times and experiences that shaped Ryerson. Saul lamented it was difficult to “have a nuanced conversation” on any topic in these “times of unbridled certitude.”

^{Victoria University graduate Shane Joy delivered a keynote lecture analyzing Egerton Ryerson’s evolving views on Indigenous education.}

Joy completed this advanced research while still an undergraduate, a testament to Vic U's leadership in supporting undergraduate student research at the highest levels.

Joy said that while Vic U must decide what to do with the symbols of Ryerson’s legacy, “that doesn’t mean his history should ever be removed.”

Vic U commissioned a report on Ryerson’s legacy in 2019. That report recommended the university stop using his name for honorific purposes. The Ryerson House residence was renamed First House, its original name.

A portrait of Ryerson that used to hang outside the Victoria College Principal’s Office was removed in June 2021, alongside other artwork, due to security concerns during the pandemic. In 2023, only the frame was returned, accompanied by educational materials and an invitation to the community for input and reflections.

That portrait has been remounted, following collaboration with Vic U’s Indigenous Advisory Circle, as part of a new exhibit in the E.J. Pratt Library on the work to decolonize its collections, practices and services. The exhibit will last until mid-November.

More information about the reflections initiative can be found online.

The exhibit also contains a display curated by Agatha Barc, a reader services and instruction librarian, showing that Indigenous students have been enrolled at Victoria University even before it was Vic U.

Sarah Rice Lake, a member of the Hiawatha First Nation (previously the Mississaugas of Rice Lake), enrolled at the Upper Canada Academy on July 31, 1837, at the age of 14. The academy became Victoria College in 1841.

The earliest surviving student register for the years 1836–46 included nine Indigenous students. Nine more were later found in other early student registers.

Part of the exhibit also challenges whether Methodist minister James Evans actually developed the writing system for the Cree language. His name appears in textbooks, letters and materials held in the Victoria University Libraries’ Special Collections.

But new research at Vic U’s E.J. Pratt Library is challenging that assumption. Through archival investigation, community-led scholarship and scientific testing of original type pieces, researchers are working to uncover a more accurate history — one that recognizes the contributions of Cree communities.

The exhibition starts by highlighting the journal Bobbi Lee: A Collection of Indigenous Knowledges. It is a student-led, Indigenous-managed journal for Indigenous contributors based at the University of Toronto. Bobbi Lee is the first Indigenous journal of its kind at the University of Toronto and among the few Indigenous-led journals in the world.