Admiral Beez
Superstar
Toronto’s Toilet and Injection Site seems an apt new name. The whole Dundas Square, but especially the underground parking smells of piss, and the lawlessness is like 1970s Time Square in Manhattan.
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- Thread starter BMO
- Start date
jje1000
Senior Member
Interesting proposal- Lightfoot Square? I would not mind that.
toronto.citynews.ca
Gordon Lightfoot Square? Idea floated to rename Toronto landmark after late singer
Following the death of Gordon Lightfoot, an idea is being floated to rename Yonge-Dundas Square in his honour.
toronto.citynews.ca
T3G
Senior Member
As I commented elsewhere, renaming that cesspool of a space after him, to me, would be tantamount to spitting on his grave.
lenaitch
Senior Member
I'm not sure I see the nexus. I would prefer something like naming the stage at Massey Hall or, perhaps more drastically, re-naming Yorkville Ave.Interesting proposal- Lightfoot Square? I would not mind that.
Gordon Lightfoot Square? Idea floated to rename Toronto landmark after late singer
Following the death of Gordon Lightfoot, an idea is being floated to rename Yonge-Dundas Square in his honour.
UrbanFervour
Active Member
What really rankles here is that were are being lied to by our elected politicians about easily researchable facts. Retiring a street name for some cheap symbolism and some political points is embarrassing - but willful blindness to (and whitewashing of) real facts and historical context is verging on Orwellian erasure.
The notion that Dundas delayed abolition of the transatlantic slave trade is patently ridiculous. Wilberforce's first abolition bill was defeated - in a massive landslide - one year prior and there was every reason to believe the 1792 bill would meet the same end. Dundas, an avowed abolitionist who oversaw the end to slavery in Scotland and who legally represented a former slave in an emancipation action, added a phase-out clause to the 1792 bill. In doing so, he didn't delay the end of slavery (there was no broad political will to end it). On the contrary, he got the majority vote required to actually pass an abolition bill for the first time. This is inconvenient information when painting Dundas as a villain and is buried under the much-hyped "delayer" narrative.
If the political machinations in service to a higher goal is criteria for cancellation then who will be sent to the block next? Barack Obama "delayed" equal marriage by opposing it until there was almost no political risk for him to do so. He also "delayed' the end of the Afghanistan war and oversaw massive numbers of civilian drone killings (of brown-skinned people in an impoverished, occupied country, no less). What a monster he was for not snapping his fingers and unilaterally changing things instantaneously!
The notion that Dundas delayed abolition of the transatlantic slave trade is patently ridiculous. Wilberforce's first abolition bill was defeated - in a massive landslide - one year prior and there was every reason to believe the 1792 bill would meet the same end. Dundas, an avowed abolitionist who oversaw the end to slavery in Scotland and who legally represented a former slave in an emancipation action, added a phase-out clause to the 1792 bill. In doing so, he didn't delay the end of slavery (there was no broad political will to end it). On the contrary, he got the majority vote required to actually pass an abolition bill for the first time. This is inconvenient information when painting Dundas as a villain and is buried under the much-hyped "delayer" narrative.
If the political machinations in service to a higher goal is criteria for cancellation then who will be sent to the block next? Barack Obama "delayed" equal marriage by opposing it until there was almost no political risk for him to do so. He also "delayed' the end of the Afghanistan war and oversaw massive numbers of civilian drone killings (of brown-skinned people in an impoverished, occupied country, no less). What a monster he was for not snapping his fingers and unilaterally changing things instantaneously!
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”TossYourJacket
Senior Member
This is a bad take in a rant about cancel culture because this is not an entirely uncommon view among queer people, but no one is cancelling him for it. I can say I personally think that is exactly what he did, and it worked, so fair enough. While I'm sure it is so much fun to use LGBTQ people as props in political discourse, most of us actually realise the political reality of the 2000s, so maybe don't do that just to fit your narrative.
picard102
Senior Member
Except you just validated their point. Obama and Dundas did the same thing due to the political realities of their time.
SashaLemon
Active Member
gabe
Senior Member
Mayor Chow backs the nearly $9 million Dundas renaming project, despite admitting Toronto is “broke” just a few weeks ago. At least the homeless and refugees will have a street with a new name to sleep on!
www.thestar.com
Mayor Olivia Chow backs Dundas Street renaming, even as councillor in favour says ‘we can’t afford it’
Supporters say renaming Dundas should be a priority to acknowledge the suffering of those who endured slavery and their descendants.
www.thestar.com
SashaLemon
Active Member
Yes because solving the housing crisis costs $9 million.
Give it a rest...
Give it a rest...
afransen
Senior Member
There are higher and better uses of the $9M.
And the ire of mob will just shift to the next historical figure deemed worth of being cancelled and erased.
zang
Senior Member
Take it from the police budget; I’m sure they can shake it out of their seat cushions. The bonus is they have less money to harass the houseless and those in mental crisis.
SashaLemon
Active Member
Maybe they can afford it now that they closed the bar at police HQ...
picard102
Senior Member
changing the road name solves nothing and only perpetuates misinformation.
DSC
Superstar
Agree 100%. Of course, Dundas should never have had anything named after him in Canada (or probably anywhere) but he did and it would be FAR better to explain where our forefathers/mothers went wrong and WHY he was not a good choice. Changing names of things or removing statues is (in essence) trying to pretend that history never happened: it did and we need to remember why! In this case, Dundas Street was the road to Dundas just as Kingston Road was the road to Kingston. His name is on this street and town because he was a chum of an 'important person' here. I have no problem spending $$ on explanatory plaques but certainly not on 'erasers'.