In this report, Dr. Egerton Ryerson, the Chief Superintendent of Education in Upper Canada, responding to a request by George Vardon, Assistant Superintendent of Indian Affairs, outlines a method to establish and run Industrial Schools "for the benefit of the aboriginal Indian tribes." Ryerson proposes "a plain English education adapted to the working farmer and mechanic" but rejects the term "manual labour schools." A Methodist minister, Ryerson suggests that the schools combine religion and learning, and represents "industry" or hard work, as central to both. He thus proposes the term "Industrial school" instead.