Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square to Be Renamed Sankofa Square

A Dundas Street West sign is pictured in Toronto on June 10, 2020. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

Toronto City Council is changing course in renaming Dundas Street amid escalating cost estimates, and will be changing the name of Yonge-Dundas Square, two subway stations, and a library instead as part of racial reconciliation initiatives.

Latest estimates showed that the cost of renaming the street would have come in at $12.7 million, more than double the price of the original $6.3 million price tag, according to a city manager.

The council had voted on July 14 to rename the 23-kilometre thoroughfare in response to a 2020 petition with 14,000 signatures, according to the city website.

Toronto has previously said it is facing significant budget challenges with a forecasted $1.5 billion shortfall for 2024 and $46.5 billion over the next decade. The city has asked the federal and provincial government for money, agreeing to a deal with the province that would see the city get $1.23 billion over the next three years.

Dundas Legacy Debate

The city decided to rename the street due to the “controversial legacy” of the street’s namesake—Henry Dundas, who was a Scottish politician—the website says.

“The petition called for the street to be renamed because of Dundas’ role in delaying the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the 1790s,” the site states.

It’s something that historian and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, formerly Ryerson) Patrice Dutil refutes.

“Members of the city council just are not serious,” he told The Epoch Times in an email. “They know full well that real historians—people who know the past—have been unanimous that Dundas was never in favour of slavery.”

In a January 2023 opinion piece in the National Post, Mr. Dutil called Dundas an abolitionist.

“Historians from around the globe have shown that Dundas was actually an abolitionist, repeatedly fighting on behalf of enslaved peoples, indigenous peoples, and minorities in distress,” he wrote.

Mr. Dutil said the researchers that city council relied on for information about Mr. Dundas were “activists” with an agenda.

“Rather than provide councillors with unbiased background, the staff report placated a handful of activists using Dundas Street as a step to ‘decolonize’ the city. It produced a brief six-paragraph “report” riddled with inaccuracies that distorted the background of Henry Dundas and any significance he had to Toronto,” he wrote.

Mr. Dutil told The Epoch Times that Mr. Dundas dedicated part of his life to abolishing the slave trade.

“Everything he did for Canada has been a lasting legacy, from championing good relations with indigenous Canadians and stopping the flow of American slaves to Canada.”

Council Votes to Rename Train Stations

On Dec. 14, the Toronto council voted to change the name of Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square.

“The concept of Sankofa, originating in Ghana, refers to the act of reflecting on and reclaiming teachings from the past, which enables people to move forward together,” the city said.

Ghana is believed to have been a hub for the slave trade, and the government of the country even issued an apology for its involvement.

The Toronto council also voted to remove the Dundas name from three other spaces, including Dundas and Dundas West subway station and the Jane/Dundas Public Library. The library name change will be implemented in the latter half of 2024. Dundas West station will also be changed in the last part of 2024, with the following station name change set for 2025.