Petition calls for Dundas Street to be renamed

By News staff

A Toronto man has started a petition to rename one of the city’s main arteries and to generate a conversation about who we honour with street names and monuments.

Andrew Louchhead is calling for Dundas Street to be renamed to honour a more appropriate person, place or event.

Louchhead calls the legacy of Henry Dundas, an 18th century Scottish politician who the street is named after, “highly problematic.”

He says Dundas actively participated in obstructing the abolition of slavery in the British Empire from 1791 to the end of his political career in 1806.

“If we truly wish for our public street names and monuments to reflect our values and priorities, we must consider engaging the public in the process of removing those names which are no longer worthy of our honour or respect,” read a statement from Louchhead.

Louchhead is calling on Toronto city council to begin a public process to rename Dundas Street.

He adds the process should be transparent and undertaken in partnership with Black-led organizations and historical societies in order to create a long list of potential candidates.

Mayor John Tory responded to the petition on Wednesday, saying any consideration given to renaming Dundas Street should be done in a “thoughtful and considerate way.”

“As we go about addressing what may well be very legitimate issues that people have about that name or many other names in the city, we do it in a thoughtful and considerate way,” said Tory.

The petition, which was launched Tuesday, currently has over 4,000 signatures.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, there have also been calls to tear down a statue of Henry Dundas as London’s Mayor announced Tuesday that more statues of imperialist figures could be removed from Britain’s streets.

Protesters knocked down the monument to a slave trader over the weekend as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued to spark protests – and drive change – around the world.

With files from The Canadian Press

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