Ryerson Memorial Volume / Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889

by J. George Hodgins

"The Department of Public Instruction shall be under the management of a member of the Executive Council, to be designated 'Minister of Public Instruction,' who shall be an ex officio member of the Toronto University and of the Council of Public Instruction, and who, in addition to the powers and functions vested in the Chief Superintendent of Education, shall have the oversight of all educational institutions which are or may be, aided by public endowment or legislative grant, to inspect and examine, from time to time, personally or any person appointed by him, into the character and working of such institution; and by him shall all public moneys be paid in support or aid of such institutions, and to him they will report at such times and in such manner as he shall direct....

"Our system of public instruction has acquired such gigantic dimensions, and the network of its operations so pervades every municipality of the land, and is so interwoven with our municipal and judicial systems of government, that I think its administration should now be vested in a responsible Minister of the Crown, with a seat in Parliament; and that I should not stand in the way of the application to our varied educational interests of that ministerial responsibility, which is sound in principle and wise in policy. During the past year I have presented a report on school systems in other countries, with a view of improving my own; and the Legislative Assembly has appointed a Select Committee for the same purpose. I have, therefore, thought this was the proper time to suggest the modification and extension of the Department of Public Instruction....

"While, in addition to the duties imposed upon me by law as Chief Superintendent of Education, I have voluntarily established a system of providing the municipal and school authorities with libraries, text-books and every description of school furniture and school apparatus—devising and developing their domestic manufacture. I have thus saved the country very many thousands of dollars in the prices as well as the quality of the books, maps, etc., etc. I can truly say that I have not derived one farthing's advantage from any of these arrangements, beyond the consciousness of conferring material, intellectual and social benefits upon the country."...

To this letter the Government of the Hon. J. Sandfield Macdonald replied, through Provincial Secretary Cameron, on the 30th of January, 1869, as follows:—

"In acknowledging your letter of the 7th December last, placing your resignation of the office of Chief Superintendent of Education in the hands of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, and suggesting that the Department of Public Instruction should be placed under the more direct management of the Government, through a Minister, to be designated 'the Minister of Public Instruction,' holding a place in the Executive Council and a seat in the Legislative Assembly, thus bringing this department, in common with all other branches of the Government, within the control of the people through the responsible advisers of the Crown. I am directed by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, to thank you for the valuable suggestions contained in your letter, and to request that you will continue to discharge those important duties, which you have performed for a quarter of a century with so much credit to yourself and benefit to the people of this Province, until His Excellency's advisers shall have more fully considered your suggestions, and matured a measure for placing your department under the direct supervision of a member of the Executive Council.

"The services that you have rendered your country, and your now advanced age, fully warrant your asking to be relieved from the further discharge of your arduous duties; but knowing your vigor of mind and energy of character, His Excellency ventures to hope that compliance with the request now made will not prove too great a tax upon your energies, or interfere seriously with any other plans you may have formed for the employment of the remaining years of a life devoted to the moral and intellectual improvement of your fellowmen."

To this letter Dr. Ryerson replied on the 30th January, 1869, as follows:—

"I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date conveying the most kind expression of his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor in regard to myself and my past humble services, and the request that I would continue in my present office until His Excellency's advisers should be able to mature a measure to give effect to the recommendations of my letter of 7th of December last respecting the direct responsibility of the Education Department to Parliament, and the creation of the office of Minister of Public Instruction to be filled by a responsible Minister of the Crown, having a seat in Parliament. The more than kind reference to myself on the part of His Excellency has deeply affected me, and for which I desire to express my most heartfelt thanks.

"I beg to assure you for the satisfaction of His Excellency that I will subordinate every inclination and contemplated engagement, to the great work of the Education Department and the system of Public Instruction, as long as I have strength and may be desired by the constituted authorities to do so.

"I have found that the apprehensions first expressed by the Hon. M. C. Cameron, as Chairman of the Education Committee of the Legislative Assembly during the late session, that connecting the Department of Public Instruction with the political Ministry of the day might draw the system of Public Instruction into the arena of party politics and thus impede its progress, is largely shared in by thoughtful men, and that my recommendation has been coldly received generally, and strongly objected to in many quarters.