Jun 9, 2021
Guest: Hayden King, educator and director of the Yellowhead Institute
It was a powerful image seen across Canada: the statue of Egerton Ryerson, chief architect of the residential school system, torn down at the namesake university campus in Toronto. More than 300 signatures from students, faculty and associate deans from Ryerson University back the sentiment behind the event. They want the name to be abolished and (for now) replaced as “X University.” The pressure continues to mount after the discovery of remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. We dive into why this fight at one university campus is a reflection of the much bigger reckoning of truth and decolonization in Canada.