Ongoing Research With and About Indigenous Communities at Vic U

^{Vic U President Rhonda McEwen, Bonnie Jane Maracle and Halyna Kozar spoke at a campus National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event on Monday. (Photos by Will Dang)}

An event to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday was a reminder that reconciliation is not a destination but a continuous journey, said Victoria University President Rhonda McEwen—one that requires each of us to listen, learn and grow together. 
 
“It’s always difficult to hear some of these things and to rethink things,” said McEwen, emphasizing the work still to be done. “Finding truth always brings joy, even though there can be hard moments.” 
 
Professor Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo offered a land acknowledgement following her remarks, setting the stage for two in-depth presentations on research initiatives focused on Indigenous communities and our institution’s history. 
 
Bonnie Jane Maracle, one of the four researchers who produced the Ryerson Research Panel Report, reflected on the legacy of Egerton Ryerson, who was a founder of Victoria College and both its first principal and first president. The panel’s findings highlighted Ryerson’s role in developing a segregated education system and the erasure of Indigenous culture through the assimilation of children. 
 
After extensive research and consensus-building the panel recommended Victoria University “no longer use the name Egerton Ryerson in an honorific manner,” said Maracle. The panel also called for greater accountability around the use of Vic U archival materials and suggested integrating the panel’s report into Vic U and U of T curricula. 
 
“Everybody should have this information,” said Maracle. 
 
Halyna Kozar, senior supervisor of Reader Services in the E.J. Pratt Library, presented preliminary research on archival material related to James Evans, a Methodist missionary in Manitoba purported to have created the Nêhiyaw (Cree) syllabic writing system. 
 
Researchers have long visited Vic U to view materials in the James Evans collection, particularly the Nêhiyaw (Cree) Syllabic Hymnbooks, said Kozar. Some of the resulting publications “had a strong focus on missionary activities and religious education” while simultaneously reinforcing Evans’ questionable authorship of the hymn books, she said. 
 
McEwen closed the event by encouraging everyone to read the Ryerson Research Panel Report and to visit Pratt library to view its holdings related to Indigenous-settler relations. “It’s really important that we take the time to learn, to understand and to do the work toward reconciliation,” she said.