Sankofa Square? What’s behind the proposed new name for Yonge-Dundas Square

But one expert is questioning how this will actionably translate into a more inclusive society.

“How are we going to really make this name represent the change we’re going after?” asks Carl James, York University professor and the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora.

The original proposal was to rename all of Dundas Street, but that appeared to be off the table as of Thursday morning, replaced instead with a proposal to rename Yonge-Dundas Square and two subway stations that bear Henry Dundas’s name. The 18th-century Scotsman reportedly helped delay the end of the slave trade.

According to Moise’s motion, the 20-member renaming advisory committee set up in 2021 and composed of Black and Indigenous leaders as well as Dundas Street residents, unanimously decided earlier this week that Yonge-Dundas Square should be renamed “Sankofa Square.”

Indigenous members of the advisory committee suggested the square’s new name reference Black heritage, Moise said, given Henry Dundas’s past.

The motion says that the concept of “Sankofa,” originating in Ghana, “refers to the act of reflecting on and reclaiming teachings from the past which enables us to move forward together.”

The West African symbol of Sankofa is a bird looking behind itself to see where it has come from, signifying that “the search for new answers can only succeed if we carefully dissect and understand what has failed us in the years before,” according to an academic essay published by the University of Toronto in 2012 discussing Black/African diasporic education.

The mythical bird is one of two symbols commonly representing Sankofa; the second is a stylized heart that is symmetrical on the vertical axis.

Sankofa originated from the Akan people in Ghana and the translation of its associated proverb is, “It is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being forgotten,” according to Berea College in Kentucky. This is in reference to African Americans, Africans in the Carribbean and others who ended up on foreign lands as a result of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade longing to reconnect with their African roots.

According to the institution, the Akan people believe it’s necessary to have “movement and new learning as time passes” signifying that the knowledge of the past must never be forgotten in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

But, “to what end?” James asks, who the city consulted on the renaming issue and process in its initial stages. “Getting rid of a name is one thing, but will it really move us forward in the way of a more inclusive society?”

He questions what the message is that the city wants to give to its citizens. “Is it to say that ‘yes, Black people are here and it’s a respect for Black people?’ How is that going to be operationalized beyond the name?”

James explained that a name change is meaningless without the action necessary to address structural and systemic failings.

He said it’s a way of “getting rid of colonial baggage” and the ways it has impacted Canadian society. 

Considering Ghana is one of many countries in West Africa, James also questions: “How are we going to make this name signal to all African peoples that they are included in the Canadian landscape and that it’s evident?”

City staff pegged the cost of renaming Dundas Square at $300,000 to $340,000 — a figure to be paid by developers for community benefits in the ward.

The total cost of the city’s new renaming plan is pegged at $2.7 million, which includes Dundas and Dundas West subway stations, the Jane/Dundas Library and a public education campaign “to acknowledge the historical impact of Henry Dundas’s actions and that of slavery more generally.” Toronto Metropolitan University has agreed to pay the $1.6 million cost of rebranding Dundas station only.

Fully renaming Dundas Street had a price tag of between $11.3 to $12.7 million.

James, who was not told what the new name might be before it was announced, said that while the arguments for a name change are logical and appropriate, government leaders at all levels need to also reflect on how the Indigenous community is represented in these types of decisions.

“Will we now have Canadian history retold paying attention to those early years of the development of colonial Canada?”

In the context of colonialism, he said, Toronto not too long ago had universities named after those such as Egerton Ryerson, a primary architect of Canada’s residential and segregated schools. 

“I would want to see that colonial past be reckoned with as well,” James added.

Moise’s motion directs the TTC board to rename Dundas subway station by late 2024.

Now that the motion is approved, Dundas West subway station will also be renamed, with input from an advisory committee, “preferably by 2025.”

With files from David Rider

Correction — Dec. 15, 2023

The cost of renaming Yonge-Dundas Square will be covered by money paid by developers for community benefits in the ward, the city says. The story incorrectly said the money would come from the city’s 2024 budget.