Vote and Help Staff and Council in Renaming Burlington's Ryerson Park
*Please see below a news release issued by the City of Burlington.
Burlington, Ont. — Nov. 5, 2021 — The park currently known as Ryerson Park at 565 Woodview Rd. will be renamed to reflect the City’s current naming policies for City assets. Between Aug. 24 and Sept. 11, residents were invited to suggest a new name at GetInvolvedBurlington.ca/RenamethisPark that would reflect equity, diversity and inclusion consistent with today’s standards. The name submission portion of this project is now closed and a small working group of City staff, Indigenous Leaders and community stakeholders have created a short-list of names that residents can now vote on. Staff will take the voting results and report back to Burlington City Council with a recommendation for a new name early in the new year.Voting is open now at getinvolvedburlington.ca/renamethispark and will be open until Nov. 19, 2021.Shortlist of NamesMore than 500 names were submitted in phase 1. The Shortlist Committee has considered all the names and chosen three names. A fourth naming option has been added from Indigenous Elder Stephen Paquette after consulting an Indigenous linguist: Sweetgrass Park. Sweetgrass is one of the sacred medicines to many First Nations. It is used as a purification medicine in ceremony to purify ourselves and to heal.The proposed park names and rationale:
- Head of the Lake Park: This name was chosen to reflect the name of the current land agreement in place that allows settler communities to occupy the location of the park in question, as per the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
- Unity Park: When forms of hatred and attempts to divide people are on the rise we need to find ways of expressing what we think is important. Unity means that we embrace our differences, that we value other people's experience and beliefs
- Truth and Reconciliation Park: To heal as a nation we need to speak the truth and reconcile our relationship with the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
- Sweetgrass Park: Sweetgrass is used as a purification medicine in ceremony to purify ourselves and to heal.
Why are we renaming Ryerson Park?At the June 16, 2021 meeting of the Halton District School Board (HDSB), trustees unanimously approved a motion to rename Ryerson Public School on Woodview Road in Burlington, in accordance with the Board’s Naming and Renaming Schools Policy and Governance Procedure.As part of the Board motion, the Chair of the Board sent a letter to inform the City of this decision. Burlington City Council then unanimously voted to rename Ryerson Park. This was done out of respect for Indigenous residents in our community, particularly following the recent discovery of mass graves at former residential schools.Burlington’s Ryerson Public School, and adjacent Ryerson Park, are named after Egerton Ryerson for his contributions to the Ontario education system, however, Ryerson was also instrumental in the design of Canada’s residential school system. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded this assimilation amounted to the genocide of Indigenous people.Links and Resources:
MAYOR MEED WARD'S TAKE:Earlier this year, Burlington City Council unanimously voted to rename Ryerson Park, in line with the recent HDSB decision to rename the adjacent school. This was done out of respect for Indigenous residents in our community and visitors to our city — particularly following the recent discovery of numerous unmarked graves at former residential schools. Thank you to City staff, the Shortlist Committee and our community for your contributions to the renaming process — we received an overwhelming 500 submissions! I’m looking forward to this important engagement with our community and hearing your feedback on the shortlist of names.--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist