HAT Forum - Renaming institutions and landmarks

The Humanist Association of Toronto
http://www.humanisttoronto.ca/

Every Saturday we meet on Zoom to discuss a topic decided upon the previous week. These are topics of humanist interest, from a humanist perspective.

The topic of the discussion will be decided in a prior meeting, usually two weeks in advance. This week’s topic is: Renaming institutions, buildings, streets and other landmarks. Common decency or wokeism gone wild? by Catherine Francis

On May 13, 2025, the Toronto Transit System (TTC) board voted unanimously to rename a downtown Toronto subway station, Dundas Station, as TMU Station. This decision comes after Toronto city council voted in December 2023 to rename Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square. Why? Because Dundas Street's namesake, Henry Dundas, whom most people had never heard of until recently, was a late 18th century/early 19th century Scottish politician who supported the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but took the position that this should be done gradually.

The TTC insists that the renaming of Dundas subway station is not being done for this reason, but to align with "the transit system’s current practice of naming stations after institutions and destinations". All of which is very interesting, given that TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University, previously Ryerson University), which is paying for the renaming of Dundas Station, itself was renamed in 2022. Why? Because its own prior namesake, Egerton Ryerson was involved in the creation of Canada's residential school system.

Speaking of which, in 2023, the National Capital Commission board of directors voted to rename the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa as Kichi Zībī Mīkan. The parkway was named after Canada's first prime minister in 2012, but was renamed in 2023 because Sir John A. Macdonald oversaw the centralization and expansion of Canada's residential school system.

In the United States there has been a giant backlash against so-called "wokeism". Arguably, this backlash was one of the most significant factors in Donald Trump's re-election. One of President Trump's early executive orders involved "Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness." This included immediately reinstating "Mount McKinley" in Alaska. Not to mention the Gulf of America, although that was not to honour a particular person but "American Greatness" itself.

What do we think of the trend toward renaming institutions, buildings, streets and other landmarks? And the backlash against it? Clearly, nobody wants an "Adolf Hitler Primary School"? But should we be erasing all trace of other historical figures? Including our first prime minister?

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