Toronto university changes name amid controversy

In an interview with CBC News, Lachemi said the name is about unity and the word “metropolitan” is fitting for a downtown university.

“Metropolitan also defines our university aspirations to offer new opportunities for collaboration, for research, creative activities, and for building connection and community,” he said.

The name change is not about erasing history, he added, saying it’s “the start of a new chapter … as we move forward with a name that better reflects those values and aspirations.”

Lachemi  also explained the committee didn’t choose an Indigenous name because the university needs a name “that will unite all of us and not represent a small group of people or communities within our community.”

The name change requires an amendment to the University Act that has to be passed by the Ontario legislature. Lachemi said the university will wait until after the election before starting that process.

The name change was necessary, Indigenous student says

Indigenous social work student Sarah Dennis, a member of the Nipissing First Nation near Sudbury, Ont., was part of a group that lobbied for the change and wrote an open letter to the president asking for it.

“I’m just so grateful for all of the all of the people at Ryerson who took on doing this work,” said Dennis, who was raised in Toronto and lives in the city. 

She referred to the name change as  “a great way to be an innovative and leading educational institution in Canada,” and she commended all those who pushed for it, “, especially for all of the Indigenous and the Indigenous faculty and staff.

“They just made it happen,” she said. 

The statue of Ryerson on campus was a “bone of contention” every time she walked by it, Dennis said. Paying tribute to “false idols” is not part of Indigenous culture, she added.

“It wasn’t great having that statue there and having a tribute to a person who represents colonialism, epistemic violence, and all of the things that still contribute to systemic racism,” she said.

Dennis said she was considering handing back her degree when she graduated and telling the university to give it to her when it changed its name from Ryerson, “because I don’t want the name on my degree.” 

But she said: “I’m really happy that it’s happened already.”

“It shows that TMU is willing to walk their talk. And that just makes them more accountable and appealing to future Indigenous students.”