It's Hip to Be Sankofa

 

When Toronto, in the middle of tough economic times, decided they needed to spend at least 15 million to rename Dundas Street, for the ridiculous reason that Dundas, a leading Scottish abolitionist, did not demand abolition fast enough, I thought that was pretty stupid. But, as I blogged this at the time, after all Dundas had no particular connection to Canada, and we ought to doff the colonial attitude and choose Canadian names.

I suggested Dundas be renamed “Jubilee Street,” and Dundas Square “Jubilee Square.” Because, after all, it is a fitting name for a place of celebrations. And Canada was shockingly doing nothing else to commemorate Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, an unprecedented historic event.

Elizabeth not Canadian enough, you object? Au contraire, the entire historical raison d’etre for Canada’s existence is allegiance to the monarchy. She was Queen of Canada. 

I would certainly have settled for Macdonald Square. But guess whose statues are all being covered up by tarps or torn down.

Toronto has announced its new name for Dundas Square. It will be called “Sankofa Square.” After a word in the Akan language, spoken in some parts of Ghana, meaning reputedly, but improbably, “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” Deeply meaningful to all, no doubt.

The Aka, incidentally, were major slave-traders.

If you were writing a parody of Toronto’s eternal provincialism, you could not do better. No Canadian nor local references, no. Once a colony, always a colony. God forbid Toronto should ever have any culture of its own.

A Costly Hoax

 

The real story of Henry Dundas.

The Platinum Jubilee

 

I am startled to discover that 2022 is Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne. I had not been aware.

This is a big deal. No other monarch of Canada or of Britain or perhaps anywhere else has ever achieved a Platinum Jubilee. Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee was notable enough that they held a Festival of Empire in her honour.

And what has Canada planned to mark this epochal event? Apparently, an ice sculpture on Sparks Street Mall for Ottawa’s Winterlude. 

That almost sounds like an insult. As though her reign was written on water.

We can do better. Moreover, if the spring and summer of 2022 marks the end of a dread pandemic, we could all use a big party.

The federal government may have no time for the Queen, but it she is popular in much of Canada―in large part because the monarchy is the one thing that, historically, distinguishes us from the USA.

Surely Ontario or Toronto can do something significant. Time may be short, but here’s a thought. The City of Toronto, in its wisdom or lack thereof, has decided that Dundas Street must be renamed. Why not rename it in honour of the Jubilee?

It’s a significant street, right downtown, so the gesture is more than trivial. But essentially costs nothing, since we were going to rename it anyway.

We can’t call it Elizabeth Street. We already have one. We can’t name it Queen Street; ditto. But we could call it Jubilee Street.

It’s a cheerful name. It should be especially popular in Chinatown, which centres on the street. The Chinese place value on names with happy connotations. But surely any business would be happy to say they are on “Jubilee Street.”

The official renaming could be done in a grand public ceremony in Dundas Square on the 24 of May holiday. We could have a weekend of live free performances by big-name artists; televised. We could have a parade down the length of the street, then close the street for a street party the rest of the long weekend.

Some will inevitably grumble that honouring the Queen is not properly multicultural. They are exactly wrong. The point of having a monarchy is that it provides a unifying symbol other than ethnicity. Nor is the Queen of any particular ethnicity. Royal families marry exogamously as a matter of course. Her husband is Greek, and she is German. At the outset of the First World War, the king of England, the Kaiser of Germany, and the Czar of Russia were first cousins. Except that she is purely European, Elizabeth Windsor is the perfect image of multiculturalism.

We could of course have attendees at the ceremony to represent all the nations of the Commonwealth. She is, after all, head of the Commonwealth. Canada’s First Nations also claim a special tie to the Crown, and would no doubt be happy to send representatives. 

It could all make a great parade, a great concert, and a great street party.

The Street with No Name

 

The renaming of Dundas Street is an injustice to the memory and good name of Henry Dundas, and a frivolous waste of taxpayers’ money. On the other hand, we have an excess of places in this province named after Englishmen and Scotsmen who had little or nothing to do with Canada. It would be nice if we began to commemorate Canadian culture and history instead.

I expect the naming commission will only come up with a worse name. In all good sense, they should not choose the name of a politician, a journalist, or a businessman. To do so is to court divisiveness; these are, by career, controversial figures. They should not name it after anyone living; they might, after all, do something scandalous in the future. Nor should they name anything after anyone whose primary qualification is their race or gender; that is racism. A cultural figure would be best, and ideally someone whose presence in Toronto had a significant influence on the cultural life of the city.

Some possibilities:

Gould Street

Kurelek Street

Callaghan Street

Frye Street

McLuhan Street

The Crimes of Henry Dundas

 

Sir Henry Dundas

As Kingston pulls down its statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, a severe self-inflicted blow to a tourist town that can claim being Macdonald's home town as a major attraction, Toronto is poised to rename Dundas Street, currently the city's centre (as Yonge and Dundas, and Dundas Square) on the grounds that Henry Dundas, after whom the street was named, was a proponent of slavery.

Initial estimates are that the name change will cost Toronto taxpayers 5-6 million dollars; not to mention the cost to private businesses.

One is surprised to learn, on checking Wikipedia, that Henry Dundas was actually a lifelong public opponent of slavery, and advocate of abolition. But then again, Macdonald was a proponent of Indian rights, and wanted to give them the franchise.

The notion that Dundas supported slavery is based on the fact that he inserted an amendment to Wilberforce’s bill abolishing the slave trade, calling for this to be “gradual.” Dundas himself claimed this was a tactical necessity, as a sudden total ban without proper preparation would simply create a black market trade. And as an immediate end could not get the votes to pass the Commons and Lords. Historians are divided on whether this was true, or whether his intent was to prolong the trade.

Dundas had up to that point been a leading abolitionist, responsible as a barrister for the legal prohibition of slavery in Scotland. And, of course, calling him a supporter of slavery requires us to call him a liar. 

The interesting question is why the at least relative good guys, like Dundas or Macdonald or Langevin, are targeted, and not dubious or openly racist figures like George Brown or the Famous Five or Tommy Douglas, who continue to be commemorated without controversy.

The simplest explanation is that the racists are now in charge. It is simply not politically expedient to call racism racism, so, in an obvious ruse, it is called by its proponents "anti-racism." But the deeper explanation, I suspect, is guilt: when people feel guilty over something, anyone who has acted morally in some significant way is to be pulled down and disparaged.