Upper Canada College

Upper Canada College

Crest of Upper Canada College Crest of Upper Canada College
Motto	Palmam qui meruit ferat (Let those who earn the palm, bear it)
Type	Independent
Established	1829
Endowment	$42,000,000
Principal	Dr. James P. Power
Academic staff	150
Students	1120
Location	Toronto , Ontario , Canada
Campus	Deer Park (urban), Norval (rural)
Colours	Blue and white
Mascot	O Rly OWL
Website	http://www.ucc.on.ca/

Upper Canada College (UCC) is an all-male elementary and secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, the oldest independent school in the province, and the third oldest school in Canada. It is widely considered the leading school in Canada. It has educated many of the country's elite, powerful and wealthy and declares its goal as being a "private school with a public purpose." ^[1]

UCC is a non-denominational school administered by a Board of Governors as a public trust.

All of UCC's 1,000 day students and 110 boarders study the International Baccalaureate diploma programme during Grades 11 and 12.

The College maintains a traditional link to the Royal Family through HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who is the College's Official Visitor, and a member of the Board of Governors.

The school's current Principal is Dr. James Power. Interim Head of UCC's Preparatory School is Donald Kawasoe. The students are represented by Head Steward Devin Hart, and the Board of Stewards.

History

Drawing of former UCC campus at King and Simcoe Streets in downtown Toronto

Founding

The College was founded in 1829 by then-Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Major-General Sir John Colborne (later , Lord Seaton). The school was founded in the hopes it would serve as a feeder school to the newly established King's College (later the University of Toronto), and was modelled on the great public schools of Britain, most notably Eton College. An announcement of the College's January opening appeared in the December 17, 1829, edition of the Canada Gazette, and teaching at the College began on January 4, 1830, with 57 students, the first boy enrolled being Henry Scadding. By the end of the school's first semester, the enrolment had increased to 89.

Prior to 1829, the College was called the Royal Grammar School. Its first permanent buildings stood on Russell Square, on land that is now bounded by King, Simcoe, Adelaide and John Streets in downtown Toronto. Almost immediately after the College opened, plans were implemented for newer and more permanent buildings, and the 1831 school year began in new structures at the north-west corner of King and Simcoe Streets. In Lost Toronto William Dendy wrote:

"All the UCC buildings were of red brick. Only the main block had much architectural pretension, with its large porch supported on stone piers and the windows ornamented with flat, ledge-like architraves supported on scrolled consoles... The centre block measured 80 feet wide and 82 feet deep and contained offices and classrooms opening off a central hall on both floors; in the northwest corner of the second floor there was a "prayer room," with a dais for the master and box pews for each of the seven forms..."

The costs of the buildings were originally slated at £10,000, but the cost was eventually estimated to be double that amount. These costs, combined with the large staff and their high salaries led to criticism of the College and its expenses. In his publication Colonial Advocate, William Lyon Mackenzie stated: "The College here at York in Upper Canada is most extravagantly endowed... thousands of pounds are realised at will by its self-constituted managers from the sale of school lots and school lands [in fact, not true]... splendid incomes given to masters... and dwellings furnished to the professors... by the sweat of the brow of the Canadian labourer." ^[2] In 1837, UCC's student militia offered help to Sir Francis Bond Head's Family Compact government in suppressing the pro-democracy Mackenzie's Upper Canada Rebellion. In 1852, Mackenzie's sons, William and George, were enrolled at UCC.

University control

On March 4, 1837, the King's College charter was amended to take UCC in under the control of the university, with the principal to be appointed by the King, the vice-principal and masters nominated by the Chancellor of King's College (the Lieutenant Governor) at the approval of the King's College Council.

In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the College and said of it: "a sound education in every department of polite learning can be had, at a very moderate expense... It has pretty good endowments in the way of land, and is a valuable and useful institution." ^[3]

By the 1870s, with an enrolment of 300, the school was outgrowing the 1831 buildings. A $40,000 expenditure for expansion of the original structures was approved by the province for twelve classrooms, a public hall, a room for the principal, and beds for 60 more borders. The improvements were complete by April 1877, with the centre block expanded and its main facade altered to more of a Queen Anne style blended with a modified Elizabethan. Two story brick piers enhanced the corners and framed tall narrow windows, with the main entrance protruding forward, flanked by banded columns, more typical of Jacobean style. An octagonal cupola surmounted the main entrance volume, surrounded by narrow pinnacles topping the corner piers, which all concealed chimneys and ventilation openings. The eclectic mix of different styles was typical of the overall concept of Victorian architecture. By 1880, the College already again needed expansion of the boarding houses, and a gymnasium was necessary.

UCC came close to closing its doors in 1887, when a Liberal provincial government which supported university federation, and saw the College's endowment and downtown campus as sources of funds for such an expensive venture, came to power. That year a Notice of Motion was introduced to the Legislature by a Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly named Waters: "in the opinion of this House the time has come when Upper Canada College should be abolished... as the instruction given in the College can be obtained in any well conducted high school in the province," ^[4] adding that the College's real estate should go to the province. In reaction to this a group of Old Boys met, along with letters of support from various alumni, including Lieutenant Governor John Beverley Robinson, in an effort to stop the closing of the College's doors. The meeting ended with a unanimous motion that the group's views be laid before the government. The story was covered widely in the papers of the time, with the Telegram being most supportive, the Globe taking a more moderate stance, and the News criticizing the existence of the school. In the end, after much negotiation, a decision was reached to detach the school from King's College after fifty years of affiliation, and to operate it under the guidance of five trustees appointed by the Minister of Education. The College was also to be relocated to an area outside of the city, though this provision was not included in the statute.

Move

Photo of Upper Canada College buildings at Deer Park. Courtesy NAC/RD353

From 1887 to 1891, much effort was directed towards the moving of the College. The principal, then George Dickson, and the architect G.F. Durand, toured the private schools in the United States, and in February 1888, plans for the new buildings were presented to the government. A site at Avenue Road and St. Clair Avenue was suggested by the government, but was objected to as the 14 acres was deemed too small. A new site, slightly farther north, was chosen and purchased from a Mr. Lawrence Baldwin. The ground-breaking for the new buildings at the new campus took place on April 2, 1889.

On July 3, 1891, the bell at the Russell Square campus rang for the last time, and on August 29, a farewell cricket game was played, and, in an attempt to ensure the survival of the College, the Upper Canada College Old Boys' Association was created on the same day. UCC then moved to its current site, the Deer Park campus, 200 Lonsdale Road at Avenue Road in Forest Hill, with the doors being officially opened on October 14, 1891.

William Dendy described the buildings in his book Lost Toronto:

"Inevitably, given the date, the style of the new buildings was Romanesque Revival. It was built on a foundation of roughly finished Credit Valley sandstone, with upper walls of red brick ornamented with terra cotta panels and string courses. The basic arrangement of the design - a projecting triple-arched entrance, a central tower, and flanking wings forming a quadrangle behind - was very common at the time, and had become firmly established in Toronto with Lennox's City Hall (1996-92)... In fact, the new tower, rising 165 feet above the ground, like a church steeple above the surrounding trees, became a symbol of the college - an ever present reminder to students, and to the city below the hill, of the importance of the college and the influence of the alumni that had been shaped by it."

The new buildings purportedly held a room for a commercial course, which contained a counter and series of wickets built to simulate a real bank; these facilities were to help teach boys the routines of banking.

In 1902, a separate Preparatory School was built at the south edge of the Deer Park campus, creating two physically separate schools.

World Wars

More than 400 graduates perished during both the First World War and the Second World War. Historian Jack Granatstein asserted that UCC graduates accounted for more than 30% of Canadian generals during the Second World War, including General Harry Crerar, Commander in Chief of the Canadian Army, and Major-General Bruce Matthews, Commander of the 2nd Canadian Division and later Chairman of the College's Board of Governors.

Building crisis

The College faced another crisis at the end of the 1950s when it was discovered that the 1891 main building was decaying rapidly due to poor construction; cracks and pipes were appearing throughout, doors frames warped to the point where doors could no longer be opened or closed. Eventually there was a fear that the tower would collapse. Because of these problems, the building was condemned and evacuated by March 12, 1958. Faculty offices were moved to the Prep building, the infirmary, and any other spare spaces, including the principal's residence, Grant House. Classes were conducted in portables.

That same year, a major fundraising campaign was launched as construction of a new building on the exact site of the old was started. HRH Prince Philip visited in 1959 to assist with the fundraising. Money to reconstruct the iconic tower over the main entrance was donated by the media magnate, Ted Rogers. Even though construction began in 1958, during the modernist era, the symmetry of the original structure, as well as a clock tower, were repeated, yet instead of a Romanesque Revival style a simplified Georgian was used. In the summer of 1959, Governor General Vincent Massey laid the cornerstone, and tragedy struck that same year when an Italian construction worker fell from the tower to his death. None-the-less, Field Marshal Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein dedicated the new front doors on April 28, 1960, and the new building was officially opened by Vincent Massey and Ewdard Peacock on September 28. The $3,200,000 cost of the bulding was fully subscribed.

Late 20th century

File:UCC-duke.jpg

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh speaks with UCC First Football team members at the College's 150th anniversary celebrations, 1979

UCC welcomed the first woman to its Board of Governors in 1971 with the appointment of Pauline Mills McGibbon, although she resigned in 1974 upon her appointment to the post of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

In 1979, UCC celebrated its 150th anniversary in the presence of the College's Official Visitor, HRH Prince Philip, at the College's first Association Day.

By 1989 the Peacock Building, the original structure of the Prep School, built in 1902, was growing outdated for the needs of the College. It still contained boarding dorms, bathrooms, and masters' quarters which were being used as storage and makeshift offices. Renovation of the building was considered, but eventually it was decided that a new structure should be built as part of a larger, overall building campaign for the campus. The new Eaton Building, named for the Eaton family, which sent many sons to UCC, was completed in 1992, with a modern design that still included references to its historical predecessor. The gothic pointed arch of the original Peacock Building main door was reconstructed as a free-standing monument in the Eaton Building's forecourt.

In 1991, UCC was visited by the Hungarian President Árpád Göncz, who would soon after enrol his grandson at the school, and in 1993, Prince Philip again visited to officially open the Foster Hewitt Athletic Centre, the Eaton Building, as well as the rebuilt College gates, the Mara Gates, at the foot of the main avenue. Two years later the College decided to greatly alter it's academic course and adopted the International Baccalaureate programme.

James FitzGerald, a UCC Old Boy himself, published a book in 1994 titled Old Boys; the Powerful Legacy of Upper Canada College. It stirred up some controversy in Canadian media due to it's candid portrayal of life at the College, derived from excerpts of interviews that FitzGerald had conducted with former students, ranging from Conrad Black and Michael Ignatieff to unknowns who managed gas stations or worked in retail. Reactions varied; Charlotte Gray wrote in the Toronto Star: "My reaction to this book is fascinated revulsion - mainly because the school seems to have taught successive generations of boys that girls are some alien species that is both terrifying and stupid," ^[5] while Jill Rigby said in the Toronto Sun: "Yeah, so what if some UCC teachers were pedophiles? All that stuff has been going on in educational institutions since Socrates met Plato." ^[6]

The publication of the book had an effect on the College, both in its internal structure, as well as its relationship with the broader community. Peter Dalglish, the founder of Street Kids International, criticised the school heavily in his interview for Old Boys, where he said "A prime failing of UCC is that they have no sense of being a part of a community within the city or country. The school has to change; it is still very upper middle class." Subsequently, he was hired by the College to change school culture. Under his direction, along with Nanci Goldman, the former Toronto Board co-ordinator of inner city services, UCC students have since been partnered with inner city Toronto kids in the College's Horizon program. ^[7]

The Eaton Building was extended in 1999 to accommodate the school's curricular expansion to include grades 1 and 2. Senior kindergarten was introduced in 2003.

Norval

By the early 20th century, the city was growing quickly around the Deer Park campus. The College trustees began to explore the possibility of once again moving the school. A property of 450 acres on the Credit River, north of the Toronto, was purchased in 1913. Plans for a new college building were even drawn up by a Toronto architectural firm. However, due to the First World War and the depression, plans to move the school were abandoned in the 1930s.

Still, the property remained in the hands of the school, and it has become a popular outdoor education centre for UCC students. In 1964, a modern bunk-house, designed by Old Boy Blake Millar, was built, and an arboretum was planted. In 1967, the bunk-house, known as Stephen House, won a Massey Medal for excellence in architecture.

Today, Norval is Canada's oldest "outdoor" school.

Cadets

There is no fixed date for the formation of the UCC Cadets, though beginnings can be traced to a willingness of students to participate in the defence against the 1837 rebellion. Later in the 1800s, in schools throughout England, Canada and the United States, involvement in a military body was thought of to inspire patriotism in young men, as well as being a good method of teaching discipline and obedience. By 1863 UCC students were paraded weekly, in an amateur fashion, under someone known as Major Goodwin, but with the beginning of Fenian troubles in Upper Canada by 1865, UCC students requested that the Cadets form into a company of the Queen's Own Rifles. By 1866 the request was fulfilled, making UCC possibly the second school in Canada to have a proper Cadet Corps (the first being Bishop's College School in Lennonville, Quebec).

When the Fenians did attack Fort Erie, Ontario, on June 1, 1866 (see Fenian Raids), the UCC Cadets were called to duty, but were instructed to guard the armouries and official stores. None-the-less, this was the only time in Canadian military history where student Cadet Corps (Bishop's College Cadets were present as well) was called to duty.

By the 1890s there was a lack of enthusiasm for the Cadets. It was an extra expense for a student's family to cover the costs of uniform, weapons, and even their drill instructor, and drill and practice time was beyond the commitment to scholastics and sport. Enrolment fluctuated over the next few decades, at one point the school's administration turning its eyes to the school the College had been modelled on, Eton, as well as Harrow, where Cadet participation was compulsory. No real action was taken by UCC in regards to the Cadets, however, by 1910 the population of the company had increased to 63, and in 1912 a Sergeant Carpenter was approached to act as instructor. He was not to last long, as by 1914 he was in Europe as Sergeant-Major in the 9th Battalion of the 1st Canadian Overseas Contingent. Numbers in the UCC Cadets still stayed high during the First World War.

By around 1919 the UCC Cadets finally became compulsory, and principal Grant asked the army district headquarters if the Corps could be presented with Colours, both the King's Colour and College Colour. The College Colour was given by Elanor Gooderham in 1921.

During the war the Cadets' association with the Queen's Own Rifles had lapsed, and by 1923 two regiments, the Toronto Regiment and Queen's Own Rifles were requesting that the Corps affiliate itself with them. After some dispute between the three parties, the College settled on the Queen's Own again by 1927.

For thirty following years the Cadets remained an integral part of College life, and by the middle of the Second World War boys were practicing not only drills, but also spent time on lectures, map reading, military law, and signalling.

However, by the 1960s, due to broader shifts in social paradigms, belief in the Cadets was faltering; religion and patriotism were not held in such high regard by youth, and rebellion was the more accepted behaviour for teenagers. Minutes of the Board of Governors meeting in 1965 recorded, for the first time in sixty years, poor discipline at the battalion parade. Principal Richard Sadlier finally disbanded the Cadet Battalion as a compulsory body in 1976. He noted: "The Battalion has been left with little beyond its ceremonial drill which is a pretty irrelevant exercise to many people today and difficult to defend when it becomes the be-all and end-all of a program."

In 1977 the voluntary Royal Canadian Army Cadets helped organise a course in military science at UCC, which also included battle drill, field craft, weapons training, and some parade-square drill. But, by the mid 1980s interest in this programme had fallen to a bare minimum, and today UCC provides no formal military training. ^[8]

Ethnicity

Unlike many other Canadian independent schools, UCC has a long history of ethnic students since its founding. The first black student enrolled in 1831, the first Jewish student in 1836 and the first aboriginal student in 1840, some graduates from the Ojibway peoples of Upper Canada going on to study at Dartmouth and Harvard. ^[9]

Still, despite the inclusion of students from these ethnic groups, UCC maintained a reputation as a "bastion of WASP privilege." ^[10]

- Anecdotal examples of deep-seated insidious racism at the school in the 1980s included: - * Headmaster Barton, a wealthy heterosexaul white male, lectured during a morning Prayers service in 1987 that he understood the pain of being on the receiving end of racism because one time, while in the Caribbean, he was called "Whitey". - * Motek Sherman, the Editor of the school's yearbook The College Times in 1988, wrote an introductory essay decrying the institutional racism he had endured at the school as a Jew. - * Taking a cursory look at the photographs of students in The College Times from the 1950s to the 1970s will demonstrate, even to the casual observer, that there was a disproportionaly low number of Blacks, Jews, Asians and Amerindians. In the 1980s, the number of "wealthy model minorities" such as the Jews and Asians increased.

In 2002 then student Adam Sheikh created the Diversity Council to celebrate the cultural diversity of the school's student population. This council, a body of students independent from the school administration, organizes celebrations of Chinese, Jewish, Christian and Ukranian cultures. ^[11]

Today, students from about 18 countries attend UCC, and comprise a substantial quantity of students in each of the offered years. Most of these international students come from multi-millionaire families and reflect more of an international jet setting subculture than being representative of their native homelands.

Today

UCC's Upper School on a snowy winter morning

UCC is Canada's wealthiest independent school, having an endowment of more than $42 million (Cdn.), which it has devoted to physical expansion, financial aid, scholarships, and advanced computer and laboratory equipment.

Tuition fees range from $21,725 to $40,425. Today, 6% of the school population receives financial aid, with the school planning to increase financial assistance over the next decade and to help a more diverse range of students attend UCC. The institution is well-known for its challenging admissions standards, accepting less than 22% of all applicants. The current student-to-teacher ratio is 18:1 in the lower grades and 19:1 in the upper grades.

The College has a notable collection of artwork and war medals, including Canada's first Victoria Cross, awarded in 1854 to Old Boy Alexander Roberts Dunn, and a Victoria Cross awarded to Hampden Zane Churchill Cockburn. UCC holds a collection of original paintings from the Group of Seven, though several were auctioned by the College in an effort to pay for the lawsuits it faced in 2004. ^[12] Aside from UCC's main campus in the Deer Park area of midtown Toronto, the College owns the Norval Outdoor School near Georgetown, Ontario.

Each year, UCC runs and organizes a local Terry Fox Run station, part of which involves the school's avenue, and oval. As well, the UCC's Terry Fox Run site is the most participated one in the world, also raising the most money for the Terry Fox Foundation.

Facilities

The College has 15 buildings on its Deer Park campus. The main building (the Upper School) houses classrooms, computer and science laboritories, two art studios, music classrooms and practice rooms, three theatres, a library, a creativity centre, locker rooms, a chapel, two dining halls, kitchens, as well as faculty and staff offices and lounges. Laidlaw Hall, the principal assembly hall attached to the west end of the main building, holds a pipe organ as well as a large proscenium stage. At the other end of the building is the Memorial Wing, the school's main infirmary with both a nurse's exam room, as well as rooms with hospital beds for ill students. Forming the north end of the main quadrangle is the building containing the two boarding houses. Satellite to the main complex are townhouse style residences for masters and their families, and Grant House, the residence of the College's principal. There are also two structures north of the boarding houses, one which was once stables, but now serves as a covered garage, and the other a small, two storey cricket pavillion.

The Preparatory School at the south-west corner of the campus holds classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library, theatre, and staff offices and lounges. Near to this building is also a home for the Prep Headmaster, and a small gatehouse.

The athletic facilities include, in the Upper School: an indoor pool, two gymnasiums, and a weight room. In the Prep School: a gymnasium. Around the campus there is an indoor arena (the Patrick Johnson Arena), a sports activity bubble, tennis courts, a sports court, a running track, and 9 sports fields for football, soccer, lacrosse, cricket, and baseball.

On the Norval property Stephen House contains a bunk area, dining area, lounge area, kitchen, bathrooms, accommodation for teacher chaperones and staff, as well as a classroom/laboratory. There is also an older structure which was the original bunk-house, and a bungalo style residence for the property caretaker.

UCC also maintains its own archives.

International Baccalaureate

In 1996, UCC adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Cardiff. The school has flourished under this program - the quantity of graduates studying abroad has increased greatly. As well, UCC offers the Ontario Standard Curriculum Diploma in addition to the I.B. diploma, which aids students in Canadian University acceptances greatly. UCC boys average a point total of 36 in the final examinations, and 2 bonus points. The majority of boys take Mathematical Methods, as well, UCC pioneered and wrote the syllabus of the IB's newest, and still developing course, World Cultures. As an IB World School, UCC is in charge of internally administering both CAS, Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay

School programs

The World Affairs Conference is Canada's oldest student run conference, and one of North America's most successful. It is held annually, attended by over 700 international students; providing a forum for students to hear opinions of leaders in the global community and discuss current and pressing world issues amongst themselves. Past speakers have included Ralph Nader, Stephen Lewis, Michael Ignatieff, Susan Faludi, Gerald Kaplan, and Gwynne Dyer, all of whom have spoken on a variety of topics including Human Rights, Gender Issues, Justice, Globalization, and Health Ethics.

Horizons is a UCC run program with which local underprivledged children are tutored twice a week by current UCC students. Recently, Horizons had been expanded as to include athletic games and training for the children using UCC's rich facilities. The program also runs through the summer.

UCC's Wernam West Centre for Learning is the most comprehensive and endowed secondary school learning facility in Canada. its primary focus is to facilitate improved learning skills and abilitities, as well as accommodate for students with particular learning disabilities.

UCC is one of the original members in the provincial government's Ontario Model Parliament program. Each year junior and sneior delegates from Ontario schools meet to discuss provincial (and related federal) issues as to inform soon-to-be-voters of the workings of the system.

Model United Nations

UCC runs its own united program with Habitat for Humanity. Twice a year, the school administers a fund raiser with which one full housing unit can be built in the downtown Toronto area. As well, over 50 students annually commit over 60 hours to the building of this unit.

UCC has the most endowed high-school program for Environmental Stability in Canada, and is run by the school's 'Green School. (see Student Publications: The Green Report)

School publications

While the UCC Press no longer publishes professional novels or texts, UCC still provides a very extensive quantity of publications, all of which are written, directed, and printed.

Founded in 2000, the school's weekly student newspaper is known as Convergence and reports solely on school issues, as opposed to international, national or municipal affairs. Since its inception, Convergence has emerged as one of the leading student-run publications in Canada, receiving awards from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail - most notably the award for "Best Student-Run Highschool Newspaper", which it has won several times. It has also received numerous donations from the National Post.

The College Times, UCC's yearbook, is Canada's oldest school publication, having been printed without fail since 1829. Past editors include Robertson Davies, and Stephen Leacock.

The Blue Page is UCC's student-run opinion paper. It is published each Friday, and contains articles written by and for both students and faculty, and pertains to both internal and external affairs.

Old Times is the school's alumni magazine, which reports on the lives of Old Boys, and highlights recent and upcoming events.

Current Times is a newsletter distributed to parents and students, written and published by the Communications department at UCC.

The Green Report is the latest of all student publications. It is spear-headed by student John Henderson, the Report's founder/editor-in-chief. With the assistance of the Green School, the Green Report is making its mark in the UCC community as the vital link between the Green School and the Student Body. The Green Report is a vital communications link because UCC one of the worlds first real Environmentally-Friendly Schools. Printed on Kenaf (cotton) paper, the Report is very much eco-friendly itself. It is oriented toward environmental isues, and features a column called "Green Car Corner."

Athletics

UCC maintains teams for the following sports:

• Badminton
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cricket
• Cross country running
• Cross country skiing
• Downhill Skiing
• Football
• Golf
• Hockey
• Lacrosse
• Rowing
• Rugby
• Soccer
• Swimming
• Track and Field
• Volleyball

UCC teams compete in the CISAA, and OFSAA.

The arts

File:UCC-1.jpg

Students rehearse for a production of West Side Story

The college has one of the best-endowed and broadest arts programs in the country, which emphasises the development of acting talent as well as technical effects. Notable productions have included The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, The Alchemist, several variations of Hamlet, as well as musicals such as The Boy Friend and West Side Story. The school awards the Robertson Davies Award for outstanding achievement onstage.

UCC also supports a music programme, with education taking place both within classrooms as well as through numerous bands and music groups which practice extra-curricularly; including a wind ensembe, concert band, stage band, string ensemble, jazz ensemble, and singers. These groups, as well as individual students, have won various prizes, including gold at MusicFest Canada, and numerous levels of award from the Kiwanis Music Festival. ^[13] UCC hosts the fundraising Youth 4 Youth concert, which also features bands and performers from underprivileged areas of Toronto.

College ensembles have toured various parts of the world, including Hungary, Hong Kong, and parts of Ghuanzao, China.

Houses

UCC, like several other Commonwealth schools, divides its students into ten houses, each led by a Senior House Adviser and a student-elected Head of House. Heads of Houses are among the sixteen "stewards" who form the student government of the College. The house system was first adopted in 1923, previous to which members of the residence community were referred to as living in "the House" while day students were part of "the Town". There were only five houses until the late 1950s. There are now ten houses in all. Two of these, Seaton's and Wedd's, are boarding houses while the remaining eight are for day students. The houses are:

• Bremner's
• Howard's
• Jackson's
• Martland's
• McHugh's
• Mowbray's
• Orr's
• Scadding's
• Seaton's
• Wedd's

Each year, the houses compete for the Prefect's Cup, under a traditionally British style of inter-house competition.

Recent events

Scandal

In 2004, UCC was embroiled in a very public class action lawsuit brought by eighteen students who sued the school over alleged sexual abuse by Doug Brown, a member of the faculty who taught at UCC from 1975 until 1993. In October 2004, Doug Brown was found guilty of nine counts of indecent assault, while a housemaster and teacher at UCC. In January 2005, he was sentenced to three years in jail. An appeal is currently in the works.

A resolution process was agreed upon to resolve the lawsuit. In a media release, UCC has announced that they "continue to offer [their] support to those who were victims of abuse at the College, and [they] are committed to a fair process for determining the school's responsibility to compensate those who were victimized by Doug Brown."

In 2004, former teacher Herbert Sommerfeld surrendered himself to police in Toronto after a former student alleged that Sommerfeld had sexually abused him when he was a student at the Prep School. After Mr. Justice Charles Vaillancourt of the Ontario Court rejected "vague and inconsistent" testimony by the plaintiff, Sommerfeld was acquitted. However, Sommerfeld's accuser still has a civil suit pending against UCC in which Sommerfeld is named. ^{[14] [15]}

In 2005, the Toronto Sun published an article describing the extradition to the United States of a former UCC student, Douglas John Mackenzie. The son of a Canadian envoy, Mackenzie was arrested in Toronto in 2001 and charged with sexual offences, with bail set at $1.2 million. The bail was later withdrawn after Mackenzie was charged again with similar offences as well as one count of threatening death, though those charges were later dropped when Mackenzie pleaded guilty to failing to comply with his bail conditions. At that time Mackenzie was ordered to remain in custody to await surrender to the US, where he faced seven counts of committing lewd acts on a child, and six counts of manufacturing child pornography in Orange County, California. He is also facing charges in the United Kingdom. ^[16]

In 1998, Clark Winton Noble ("Knobby") was convicted of sexual assault stemming from a 1971 incident that occurred off campus with a UCC student. Noble also pled guilty to a 1988 sexual assault against a student at Appleby College. ^[17]

Capital building project

UCC has launched a decade-long $90 million capital building campaign - the largest and most ambitious fundraising campaign of any pre-university school in Canada. The plans call for the creation of two new arena complexes, an Olympic-standard 50-metre swimming pool, a new racquet centre (squash, badminton and tennis), a rowing centre, expansion of both the Prep and Upper School academic buildings, and an expansion of the Archives.

Affiliations

It is a common misconception that the Bishop Strachan School (BSS), located three blocks from UCC, is UCC's sister school. It is not. In fact, BSS's historical brother school is Trinity College School in Port Hope, owing to their shared Anglican High Church origins.

UCC students also work on joint projects with students of other nearby girls schools, including St. Clement's School (SCS), Havergal College, and Branksome Hall.

Lower Canada College, a co-educational private school in Montreal, Quebec, is not affiliated with UCC.

The College is a member of the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario (CIS), the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), the Secondary School Admission Test (SAT) Board, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and an associate member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and the Principal is a member of the Headmasters Conference (HMC) in the UK. Furthermore, UCC plays a leading role in International Boys' School Coalition (IBSC) and the Toronto Boys' School Coalition (TBSC).

Alumni

A more exhaustive list of UCC graduates can be found at List of Upper Canada College alumni.

The College states that 99% of all graduates go on to post-secondary schooling. Though the career paths of the College's alumni are varied, with most achieving moderate success, UCC has a reputation for educating many of Canada's powerful, elite and wealthy. The school has produced four Lieutenant-Governors, one Governor General, no less than seventeen graduates have been appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, twenty four have been named Rhodes Scholars ^[18], and at least twenty four have received the Order of Canada since the award's inception in 1967. The varied results of UCC's graduates prompted James Fitzgerald to write the book Old Boys: The Powerful Legacy of Upper Canada College, in which he tried to explore "a school that could produce a federal cabinet minister and a drug-crazed murderer in the same graduating year." ^[19]

As is common in single-sex male schools, UCC's alumni are known simply as "Old Boys." Examples include:

• Lord Kenneth Thomson - Canada's wealthiest man and Chairman of Thomson Corporation
• Hal Jackman - Canada's second wealthiest man and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
• Bill Graham - Federal Minister of Defence, and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
• Robertson Davies - notable author (also a faculty member). Fictionalised UCC as "Colborne College" in his novels.
• Andrew Hutchison - Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
• Michael Ignatieff - noted academic, Harvard University professor, Member of Parliament, and potential Liberal Party leadership candidate
• Stephen Leacock - writer and economist
• Ernest McCulloch - accredited with the discovery of the Stem Cell
• Michael MacMillan - Academy Award winner and CEO of Alliance Atlantis
• Peter C. Newman - journalist, author and biographer
• Stephen Lewis - Noted politician, broadcaster and United Nations diplomat
• Avi Lewis - broadcaster and filmmaker

Renowned faculty

Many leading intellectuals have taught at UCC. They include:

• Sir George Parkin - Principal, leader of the British Imperial League and First Secertary of the Rhodes Scholarship
• Robertson Davies - Old Boy and English Master
• Stephen Leacock - Head Boy and English Master
• William Lawson Grant - Principal
• J. Douglas Blakey - Principal and leading Canadian environmentalist
• Dr. Michael Eben - famous Canadian Football League footballer and Governor of Victoria College at University of Toronto
• Henry Scadding - Canadian intellectual
• Mary Gauthier - boys education expert
• Dr. Premek Hamr - Pre-eminent global expert on Giant Freshwater Crayfish
• Dr. George Sheppard - Noted historian specializing in the War of 1812
• Dr. Tom Macmillan - Leading Norwegian cardiovascular surgeon
• Sir Edward Peacock - Head of Prep. School, Receiver General to the Duchy of Cornwall and the Director of the Bank of England

External links

• Upper Canada College

Footnotes

1. ^ UCC Admissions
2. ^ Colonial Advocate, May 19, 1831.
3. ^ Charles Dickens, American Notes. Cited in The College Times, Summer 1910, pg. 30.
4. ^ John D. Robarts Research Library, University of Toronto, Newspaper Hansard, March 12, 1887.
5. ^ Charlotte Gray - Full Review
6. ^ James T. FitzGerald: Reviews
7. ^ Ted Schmidt: Full Review
8. ^ Upper Canada College, 1829-1979: Colborne's Legacy; Howard, Richard; Macmillan Company of Canada, 1979
9. ^ University of Manitoba: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" The Diversification of Canadian Law Schools
10. ^ Canadian Jewish News: Peter Newman looks back on a productive life
11. ^ Harmony Scholarship
12. ^ CTV: UCC selling assets to fund assault settlement
13. ^ Current Times: Jazz Ensemble captures double gold
14. ^ CBC: Retired UCC instructor acquitted of sexual abuse charges
15. ^ Canada Sex News: Teacher acquitted in UCC sex case
16. ^ Canada Sex News: 'The worst case'; T.O. man sent to U.S. to face charges in horrific abuse allegations while British police wait their turn
17. ^ James T. FitzGerald: Reviews Globe and Mail, August 25, 2001.
18. ^ The Canadian Encyclopedia: Upper Canada College
19. ^ James T. FitzGerald: Reviews