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A petition has been launched asking Owen Sound to rename one of its parks because of the role its namesake had in the establishment of Canada’s Indian residential school system.
The petition on change.org is calling for the city to change the name of Ryerson Park, at 805 5
th Ave. E. By early Tuesday afternoon close to 400 people had supported the petition.
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The park is named after Egerton Ryerson, who was superintendent of schools for Upper Canada in the mid-1800s. His work helped shape and revolutionize the education system in Canada, but he also played a major role in the development of the country’s Indian residential school system.
An economic impact analysis by Georgian College looking at the Owen Sound campus finds it added more than $93.5-million in income to the Grey Bruce ec.
It was unveiled Monday north of the chapel on the east side of the ravine.
Monument project volunteer Aly Boltman says the historically overlooked Potter’s Field, also known as the Indigent Lot, came into use in 1858 and was a burial ground for more than 130 years for babies, orphans, seniors, Indigenous people, the working poor, the incarcerated and the homeless are buried there.
Boltman says many from Owen Sound’s historic Black community, including those who escaped on the Underground Railroad and their descendants, share the resting place, “These were citizens who faced systemic racism, often resulting in deep poverty,” says Boltman.
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The monument recognizing the more than 1,200 people buried in Potter’s Field at Greenwood Cemetery has been unveiled.
On Monday, the volunteer committee overseeing the project announced that the cover had been taken off the monument. Constructed of solid granite and cast bronze, the monument was installed in December and covered for the winter, in anticipation of the community dedication in the spring. But because of restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a gathering to mark the unveiling wasn’t possible, but they now hope to have a dedication event in the fall, it said in a news release.
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