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Egerton Ryerson - Ryerson was born in what is now Walsh, Ontario. 

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Born 215 years ago - Egerton Ryerson was March 24, 1803. 

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Kicked out - At 17, Ryerson was kicked out of his house by his Anglican father for joining the Methodist church. 

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Christian Guardian - In 1829, Ryerson was elected the editor of the first religious newspaper in Canada, the Christian Guardian.

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Upper Canada Academy - Ryerson founded the Upper Canada Academy in Cobourg, Ontario in the 1830s.

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Victoria College, University of Toronto - The Upper Canada Academy exists today as Victoria College, a part of the University of Toronto.

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Secularism - Ryerson fought to take education in Upper Canada out of the hands of the Church of England and into the hands of the public. 

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Chief Superintendent of Education - Governor General Sir Charles Metcalfe asked Ryerson to be the Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844. 

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Residential schools - Ryerson's study on Native education was used as a model for Canada's horrific residential school system that aimed to "take the Indian out of the child."

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Normal School at St. James Square - The Normal School at St. James Square was founded in 1847 and was Canada's premier teachers college after Ryerson's report recommended standardization of secular education.

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Ryerson University - The Normal School at St. James Square is now the Ryerson University campus. 

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Superintendent of schools - Ryerson managed to make superintendents of schools in Upper Canada capable of allowing and disallowing texts for the classroom. 

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District superintendents - Ryerson recommended the creation of district superintendents to guide teachers in managing schools. 

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Standard textbooks - Standarized textbooks across the education sector were introduced by Ryerson.

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Public education - Ryerson lobbied the government to create free public education for all in 1846. 

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Children couldn't afford school - At the time, just under half of children in Toronto could afford school. 

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Public education created - In 1871, free schools were included in the Comprehensive School Act.

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Residential schools - Ryerson was asked for his advice on educating Indigenous people in 1847.

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"Meant for agriculture" - Ryerson concluded "civilized Indians" were best-suited for agricultural work.

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Made Christian - Ryerson said that Indigenous people should be given "Christian principles, feelings, and habits."

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State-sponsored abuse - The result was a national, state-sponsored program of abuse that resulted in the decimation of Indigenous communities for several generations.

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Ryerson University. - Ryerson University was founded in 1948 under the name Ryerson Institute of Technology, with the intention of becoming the MIT of Canada.

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University degrees - In 1971, what was now called the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute was permitted to give university degrees.

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Engineering - The Ryerson Polytechnical Institute became Toronto's second accredited engineering school in 1992. 

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Walsh, Ontario - The Ryerson Polytechnical Institute officially became a university in 1993.

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Student protests - Rising tuition spurred a student occupation of the campus in 1997. 

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Campus - The downtown campus is now a dynamic public space between the biggest commercial district in Canada and Toronto's gay neighbourhood.

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Popular - The university is now among the most popular in Ontario. 

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Ryerson - The university features the Ted Rogers School of Management, a Faculty of Arts, a Faculty of Communication & Design, a Faculty of Community Services, a Faculty of Engineering and Architectural, a Faculty of Science, and a faculty of Continuing Education.

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