If you don’t like Sankofa Square, how would you feel about Sankofa Street?
A freedom-of-information request, shared with TheToronto Sun by a reader, sheds light on the work done to rename Yonge-Dundas Square. Some of the documents, from late 2023, reveal talk of a non-existent consultation process and a loose approach to facts regarding historical figures such as Henry Dundas and 19th-century activist Lucie Blackburn.
The documents contain comprehensive minutes from two of the last meetings of the recognition review community advisory committee, which was tasked with renaming city assets that bear the name of Dundas, an 18th-century Scottish politician. There are only more general details for a meeting held Dec. 12, 2023, the first attended by Mayor Olivia Chow.
News of the Sankofa renaming was made public at a city council meeting on Dec. 14, two days after Chow’s committee appearance.
The committee was assembled in fall 2021 and made up of 24 people “recruited through the city’s confronting anti-Black racism unit, Indigenous affairs office and local councillors,” City Hall said in a statement. Co-chairing the group were Catherine Tammaro, an artist, and Melanie J. Newton, a U of T history professor who wrote an article in November 2020 that called for Dundas St. to be renamed.
Newton’s article dismisses any characterization of Dundas, who sought to delay Britain’s abolition efforts, as “pragmatic,” insisting he was dedicated to “mass enslavement” and an author of “a shocking orgy of violence and racial hatred.”
“IMPOSE THEIR DESIRE”
One person on the committee, referred to in the minutes only as “CAC Member A,” didn’t appear to think much about Dundas or critics of the renaming project.
“There is no counter-information (that) will fundamentally change the historical record about Dundas,” Member A said at a meeting on Sept. 26, 2023. “Those opposing the renaming, much like those against the TMU renaming, will eventually shift their focus to other issues as that’s their pattern of operation.”
At that same meeting, Member A said: “Dundas was the last person impeached by the British Parliament in 1806, making his historical legacy unambiguously tarnished.” (Dundas’ impeachment was for misappropriation of naval funds, and he was acquitted.)
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“It may be difficult for the Dundas family, accustomed to their illustrious ancestor, to accept, but it’s essential to remember that no one is entitled to impose their desire for a universally admired ancestor on the world,” Member A added.
The next month, on Oct. 24, the committee discussed an alternative name for Dundas St., Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Street – meant to honour husband-and-wife Black activists who lived in Toronto in the late 19th century, according to thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
“I think it’s not practical for a number of reasons. Maybe we could just name it for Lucie Blackburn,” Member A said.
Member C replied: “We don’t know much that Lucie has done. There were no interviews. We assume that she helped her husband. Later on, she was a persnickety old lady and was not a great citizen towards the end of her life.”
Member I asked: “Why include Lucie’s name then?”
“It may have to do with political correctness,” Member C replied. “That’s my view, I could be wrong, but I think because nowadays we want to include women in history.”
By the end of that October meeting, Member A said they saw “a consensus emerging” for the name Sankofa Square – and also Sankofa Street.
“DO WHAT WE WANT”
The documents repeatedly reference a consultation process that never took place.
When discussing the Blackburns, a member suggested they “should let the public decide. They may or may not choose it.”
A person referred to as Member E responded: “We have to be careful, because we don’t know how many of the public are going to answer. We know there’s a lot of noise out there right now against what’s being done.”
Later, Member E said: “When we say when we get the results from the survey, we can do what we want, relatively speaking. Because it will be public knowledge, how many people voted for what, and if we go away from one of the ones that the public overwhelmingly supports, we’ll be under the microscope.”
“That’s a very important point,” Member A replied. “We are neither bound completely by the results of the survey, nor would it be right to act as though the survey results didn’t exist.”
It’s unclear why detailed minutes don’t exist for the December meeting, but consultation was still a focus, even though Chow said a name could be suggested to council that week.
Chow told the committee that “renaming city assets in (a) phased approach, beginning with YDS, would allow for an expedited process.” The announcement of a “new name for Dundas St. would be on hold” until other city assets, such as two subway stations and a library that bear Dundas’ name, were rebranded.
There were “questions around what is to come of the shortlisted names that are not selected and how they are included in any public education campaigns or consultation,” and concerns “over the speed of coming to a decision on such a tight timeline,” the document said.
There were also concerns “that the YDS board will not be given enough time or consideration around the name … The city indicated that council has the ability to direct the YDS board, so this would not be asking the YDS board to deliberate and come back to the decision.”
The leadership of the YDS board resigned days after the Sankofa announcement at council.
Jennifer Dundas, a distant relative of the politician and a prominent critic of the renaming effort, told The Toronto Sun in a lengthy email that having read the documents, said that she believes “CAC Member A” was Newton, the vice-chair of the committee.
Neither Newton nor Chow responded to the Sun’s requests for comment.
Dundas said the committee ignored experts who disagree with the committee’s “controversial narrative,” and questioned why the renaming was handled by “bureaucrats and a group of hand-picked left-wing activists who operated as a private committee behind closed doors.”
“My impression was that Dr. Newton was trying to poison CAC members against us,” she said, referring to her group, the Henry Dundas Committee of Ontario. “Denigrating the credentials of fellow historians and overemphasizing family involvement showed bias and a lack of professionalism.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Members of the recognition review community advisory committee were tasked not with just renaming Yonge-Dundas Square, but also Dundas St.
Sankofa Street was one of four final candidates to replace the name. Also selected were Thornton and Lucie Blackburn Street, Tinsley Street and Chloe Cooley Street, all meant to honour Black historical figures from 18th- or 19th-century Ontario.
Toronto already has a Blackburn St., and committee members feared the Blackburns suggestion was too long a name.
“CAC members emphasized that Chloe Cooley’s name must appear in full, as abbreviations may be misinterpreted as a derogatory term,” a meeting overview reads. Also complicating matters is that Cooley lived in Niagara Region.
Tinsley Street itself was a compromise after the committee learned its namesake was being honoured with John M. Tinsley St., a waterfront laneway. Discussion about calling it Tinsley Family Street was quashed because, as the documents state three times, “John M. Tinsley’s grandson was involved in criminal activity.”
Creating that four-name list took nearly two years.
According to a summary of the committee’s work, two meetings in early 2022 centred on “an updated long list of potential names which comprise of CAC submitted names and other names submitted by the public or city councillors.”
Considered were 33 suggestions from the CAC, three of which made the final short list. Meanwhile, just 18 names submitted by the public were reviewed. Those included “do not name for a person,” Dundas, Undas, Ford, Terry Fox and Jane Jacobs.
It’s unclear who suggested Sankofa, but it was added while combining those candidates into a list of 29 names.
While the committee had, by April 2022, put together a list of three names (only one of which, Sankofa, made the final four), it appears they met nine more times before their meeting with the mayor, and encouraged guest speakers to make more suggestions.
Ideas were being brought to the group as late as September 2023. That month, Julian Sleath, the general manager of Sankofa Square, suggested using the name of Cyril G. “Cy” McLean, a 20th-century musician.