Renaming a well-known Toronto street is proving to be complicated.
A city staff report released on Wednesday recommends public consultations on the renaming of Dundas Street and on the naming and renaming of future streets.
It also recommends more public input when it comes to removing monuments or creating new ones.
The report assesses four options for responding to a recently posted petition demanding the name change, how much each would cost, and impacts on city departments.
Those options are:
1. Do nothing.
2. Retain the legal street names with additional interpretation and recognition.
3. Retain the names but rename those civic assets with Dundas in their name except TTC facilities.
4. Rename the streets and all other city property currently carrying the Dundas name.
In late July, the City of Toronto said they would be reviewing the legacy of Dundas Street after the aforementioned petition calling for the street to be renamed circulated back in June.
The petition calls the legacy of Henry Dundas, an 18th-century Scottish politician who the street is named after, “highly problematic.”
The report will be presented to the executive committee a week from today on Wednesday, September 23.
