Renaming process is done, Chow says

Council votes down motions that would have derailed plan for Sankofa Square

- BEN SPURR

Coun. Amber Morley said renaming the square was "deeper than Dundas," and represented "an important opportunity for members of the Black community of Toronto to be recognized."

Mayor Olivia Chow says it’s time to consider the renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square a done deal as she and her allies fended off an attempt to derail the project during an emotionally charged meeting Thursday.

At the end of a debate that featured an explosive speech from one of Chow’s deputy mayors, council voted down a pair of motions that would have shelved or defunded the previously approved plan to rechristen Toronto’s downtown plaza as Sankofa Square.

Debate has raged in the media and at city hall for months about the costs of the plan, and whether it’s fair to blame Henry Dundas, the 18th-century British parliamentarian behind the square’s old name, for delaying the abolition of slavery.