There’s no doubt Yonge-Dundas Square needs a new name. Whatever you think about the Henry Dundas controversy, the square’s current name sounds like placeholder, a purely descriptive moniker holding down the fort until something more memorable, with more character, more “there” there, comes along. Two decades after the square was opened, it is high time it got a better name.
And a process was in place to choose a new name. An advisory committee of 20 people “composed of Black and Indigenous leaders as well as Dundas Street residents” according to the Toronto Star, had picked a shortlist of four possible names. All of them honoured Black history in some way, reflecting the Dundas controversy’s basis in the history of the slave trade (Indigenous leaders had already stated they agreed this should be the direction for this particular location).
The next step was supposed to be public consultation to choose between these four names. But at last week’s City Council meeting, the local councillor, Chris Moise, introduced a motion that, among other things, made the choice immediately.
Moise’s choice was “Sankofa Square,” which was apparently the preferred choice of the committee. “Sankofa” is, we are told, a word originating in Ghana with a meaning along the lines of “Looking backward to move forward.” The other options (PDF) for the name were people who had a strong relevance to the history of Black people in Ontario: John M. Tinsley, Chloe Cooley, and Lucie and Thornton Blackburn.
This decision was part of a larger motion about Dundas-renaming (in short, not renaming the street but renaming civic assets named for the street). It was introduced directly to council, apparently, because it needed to be included in the upcoming budget. However, the budget could be assigned without already specifying the name, and none of the other places to be renamed (and budgeted for) had a choice pre-selected as part of the motion.
The decision to short-circuit the consultation process for renaming Yonge-Dundas Square is surprising because Mayor Chow has made consultation a key part of her mayoral persona. We have just wrapped up a detailed and extensive new budget consultation process introduced by Mayor Chow. Given that commitment to consultation, it’s hard to understand why a consultation process already planned for was cancelled so abruptly.
The choice of name is particularly important because of the centrality of the square. It can’t be said that Yonge-Dundas Square is beloved — it’s an awkward shape, has awkward private-public governance, and is awkwardly designed with little specific character beyond being surrounded by electronic billboards. However, it’s a key open space in the most heavily visited part of the city, used for all kinds of gatherings, events, and celebrations. As well, under the Yonge TOmorrow plan, it will be expanded to pedestrianize the adjacent block of Yonge Street, making it even more of a prime gathering space for the whole city. Choosing a permanent name for it should be a truly deliberative process that includes all Torontonians who want to participate.
My own preference would be for naming it after Lucie and Thornton Blackburn (if that name is too awkward, it could just be Blackburn Square — for most of history, a last name was enough for naming things). They are designated as “national historic persons,” and their story is already quite well-known and very compelling as encapsulating Black history in Toronto — they escaped to Canada from being enslaved, triggering a change to Upper Canada’s legal principles in the process, and set up Toronto’s first cab service (as a friend pointed out, quite appropriate for a major transit intersection) among other entrepreneurial initiatives, using their newfound wealth to support abolitionist work. Their story is very specific to Toronto, grounded in local history and geography. Their name provides a real sense of place.
But if a public consultation process was held and Sankofa proved to be the top choice, that would be great. It would mean that the name resonated with Torontonians and would be a compelling designation for one of the city’s central squares. But we can’t know that until we ask. Without going through the process, the danger is that the new name is little more meaningful to the city’s residents than the old one.
It wouldn’t be hard for City Council to reverse course and go through the full public consultation process to choose among the four shortlisted names for Yonge-Dundas Square. It could be done within a few months, without creating any big delay. Let’s go through the full process to ensure that the name for one of Toronto’s most important public spaces is one that the public itself can get behind.
Photo by Larry Koester
The post REID: To rename Yonge-Dundas Square, let’s follow the process appeared first on Spacing Toronto.