Mississauga decides against renaming Dundas Street

Toronto.Citynews.ca
Jan. 21, 2022
David Zura and John Marchesan

While Toronto is moving forward with renaming Dundas Street, the change will only go as far as the Mississauga border. On Wednesday, Mississauga’s city council voted unanimously in favour of a motion to give no further consideration to renaming the thoroughfare.

Henry Dundas, a Scottish minister who died in 1811, played a role in delaying the abolition of the British empire’s transatlantic slave trade which has become the subject of heated debate.

In July, Toronto City Council approved the renaming of Dundas Street and removing his name from other civic assets, such as Yonge-Dundas Square and Dundas subway station.

Mississauga, though, has opted to go in a different direction.

The motion, moved by Councillor Carolyn Parrish, cited factors such as the interpretations of history through a modern lens, costs and the level of community support.

Councillor Pat Saito suggested defering the motion in order to give other groups in the community the opportunity to comment further on the matter.

Both councillors declined an interview request from CityNews.

However, Mayor Bonnie Crombie -- who was not present during the vote -- said her preference would have been to continue the review but respects the outcome of the vote.

“They have been receiving a lot of information from outside sources, academic sources and a lot of interest from our residents on how we will approach this,” Crombie said during a daily briefing on Thursday. “Certainly many groups have emailed their councillors and have spoken -- spoken quite loudly, that they didn’t feel it was the time or the need to consider Dundas Street in our renaming process.”

Councillor Ron Starr says this was not just a political decision.

“It’s a decision that I think has to resonate throughout the community, and certainly I think it led us to do a lot of research on our own,” he said. “Personally I read about, not only Dundas, but many, many other names and people that have been historical figures, and to take a look at what we should be doing with those in the future.”

Ron Stagg, a professor in the Department of History at Ryerson University, says it all depends on how you look at the issue.

“It really stems largely from when Dundas, the original Dundas, said let’s not vote to abolish slavery. And his supporters -- and there are many -- say he was trying to slow it down because he realized it wouldn’t go through if they simply voted to end slavery. The other side said no, no, no. He really wanted to get rid it,” Stagg explained.

The motion does call for formulating a new naming policy, with criteria described as being able to stand the test of time, something that mayor Crombie also favours moving forward.