Ryerson University president Mohamed Lachemi provided a working frame work of an action plan to fully implement all recommendations from the Standing Strong Task, which includes the name change of the school.
Lachemi was asked to comment on the action plan, but no response from his office was given at this time to CJRU.
On Jan.31, he writes to the Ryerson community about creating an action plan by this date, the progress made since accepting the recommendations in August and planning for the upcoming changes.
“Recently, over 30,000 community members provided input on renaming during a public engagement period," he writes. "The findings and ideas generated by the community will help inform the committee as they develop a short-list of possible names, which they will present to my office this spring.”
During the school’s first semester, students, staff, and other community members were asked to submit new name suggestions to replace Ryerson until Dec.7.
This initiative was called the Next Chapter, and included its own website for the survey and a Twitter campaign with its own hashtag.
News on future events, opportunities and updates will be shared on a regular basis through the Next Chapter website , the letter reads.
It is unclear at this time which names were considered for the shortlist Lachemi and the committee created.
With the name about to change, Lachemi reminds the community that the legacy of Egerton Ryerson will continue to be used to educate the public on his role in creation of Canada’s residential school system.
"While our name will no longer be Ryerson University, we will continue to share Egerton Ryerson’s story through physical and digital installations with content from our university archives," Lachemi writes. "This commitment to education includes both addressing misconceptions and contextualizing Ryerson’s contributions to present-day institutions and policies."
A notable omission from the action plan is a tentative date of when the name of the school will be changed. While Lachemi did mention updates will be released in the spring and summer semesters, he did not indicate a specific day or month.
The school is expected to have a new name for the 2022-2023 school year, according to the action plan.
Further, a website is set to be launched to address both the action plan and updates on the progress of the recommendations being fulfilled. No set date on its launch is stated by Lachemi.
More details to come.
Listen to the CJRU news update here: