Two decades ago, the Luminous Veil was 鈥 well, unveiled.
The antisuicide barrier over the Bloor Street Viaduct had been fiercely championed in particular by those who鈥檇 lost loved ones to a notorious jumping-off point, a magnet for deeply troubled souls unable to bear any longer the pain of living.
Except, as an intervention and prevention apparatus, it made no difference.
There were 248 suicides 鈥 by all means 鈥 in 海角社区官网the year the barrier was completed, in 2003, at a cost of $5.5 million, though another $4.7 million would be spent before the illumination lighting was finally installed in 2015.
In 2004 there were 223 suicides, in 2009 there were 243 suicides. The numbers have remained depressingly constant.
As critics had warned, while the barrier was 100 per cent effective in its objective, those seeking to end their lives simply reoriented. The Leaside bridge, three kilometres away, substituted just fine, among many alternatives.
Cautions hadn鈥檛 been heeded because the project was exceedingly emotional. Arguments that all that money should have been more usefully directed to mental health support, crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs fell on deaf ears.
This is a long way of winding around to the equally emotional debate over renaming Dundas Street, at a taxpayer-pegged cost of at least $8.6 million. Yet again, good intentions grounded in deep feeling infused with hurt 鈥 a belief that a harmful past can be acknowledged and somehow rectified by a redemptive undertaking distilled into a proper name 鈥 have been embraced, even though it amounts to little more than expensive symbolism and magical thinking. Rational objections get hammered against an anvil of purported indifference to the historical atrocity of slavery.
Unless there鈥檚 a pragmatic rethink, a wise bit of cancel culture, that plan is a fait accompli because council adopted the renaming motion in 2021. Mayor Olivia Chow doubled down on the day she was sworn in: 鈥淩egarding Dundas Street, it is important for us to learn from history, to learn about the injustice and the oppression of slavery. And it is important for us to recognize and be able to not just learn, but to reconcile that past.鈥
The least expensive and most significant way of doing that would be to rename Dundas Square, which started out as a bleak expanse and is now a mess of kiosks, mini marquee tents and food trucks. Still, it鈥檚 a focal gathering place in the city and a self-contained entity. Unlike Dundas Street, an arterial thoroughfare that snakes across 23 kilometres, from east to west, encompassing some 4,500 businesses, 79 (by my count, going through the Yellow Pages) with 鈥淒undas鈥 in their names. Upwards of 97,000 residents live in the catchment area.
That鈥檚 a whole lot of adjusting because the city certainly isn鈥檛 going to pay for new signage and stationery and all the accoutrements entailed by redesignation.
The villain of the piece, as surely everyone knows by now 鈥 although what鈥檚 known remains very much in dispute 鈥 is Henry Dundas, a powerful 18th-century Scottish politician who held numerous ministerial positions in the British government. John Graves Simcoe, the first governor of Canada 鈥 appointed to the position by Dundas 鈥 named the road after his benefactor as it was being built. Dundas never stepped foot in what would become Toronto.
His critics accuse Dundas of prolonging the slave trade, by 15 years, by proposing a parliamentary amendment in the House of Lords that inserted the word 鈥済radually鈥 into a motion abolishing it. A one-word tremor that resulted in the additional trafficking of half a million enslaved Africans. Dundas was also the first parliamentarian to speak publicly about ending the transatlantic slave trade. Further, if we鈥檙e going to pinpoint blame, so should we pinpoint the laudatory: As a lawyer, Dundas eloquently represented a runaway slave, Joseph Knight, who successfully sued for his freedom.
I鈥檒l leave it to historians and activists to argue amongst themselves about Dundas鈥 intentions and impact. It should be noted, however, that the monument to Dundas in Edinburgh is still standing following tortuous deliberation and the 鈥渟lave trade plaque鈥 鈥 added after the Black Lives Movement demonstrations in the wake of the murder-by-cop of George Floyd 鈥 may soon be removed. An application brought forward was approved earlier this year by councillors.
But Dundas as blackguard and alleged slavery enabler had no traction hereabouts 鈥 utterly unknown as a historical character 鈥 until a petition to rename the street began circulating post-Floyd and city council leaped into that woke pit.
It isn鈥檛 a pointless gesture but it is a vanity cause, which has engulfed the city in a battle between the pious and the practical.
The argument against renaming is basically twofold.
In the first place, erasing history is an exercise in righteous futility. Nothing can change the sins of the past. It is possible to ameliorate it, of course, via actions that are substantive rather than merely figurative. Six descendants of William Gladstone 鈥 one of Britain鈥檚 most famous prime ministers 鈥 will travel on Thursday to Guyana, which is commemorating the 200th anniversary of a rebellion by enslaved people, to apologize for their family鈥檚 historical role in slavery. A liberal reformer, Gladstone鈥檚 career and education were funded by enslaved Africans working on his father鈥檚 sugar plantation in the Caribbean. This was a direct, personal benefit of enslavement. Gladstone鈥檚 descendants have agreed to pay reparations for it, as The Guardian reports, money that will fund further research into the impact of slavery.
That case is quantifiably different from Dundas. Viewed dimly through the mist of time, Dundas can鈥檛 be judged anachronistically, or held to the morals and ethics of the present. It鈥檚 a popular posture 鈥 鈥減resentism,鈥 interpreting the past by modern concepts 鈥 that has led to the toppling of statues and monuments, from John A. Macdonald to Saddam Hussein. But unchecked by prudence 鈥 historical context especially, an archival comprehension 鈥 that way lies madness and didactic farce.
A report by city staff identified some 60 streets named after figures now considered disagreeable, including at least a dozen 鈥渘amed after slave owners.鈥 Eradicating Dundas alone would require replacing 730 street signs and 35 information pillars, renaming three parks, two subway stations and more.
There was no public consultation on the matter, as required. Yet the public has countered with far more sensible and cost-containing alternatives: Curating installations along the length of Dundas Street with explanatory and historical content while also highlighting the contributions of Black and Indigenous Canadians that have added to the city鈥檚 vibrancy; plaques not expunging; redress not obliteration. Teach, don鈥檛 suppress.
Some councillors who voted in favour of renaming two years ago are indeed re-evaluating. Revisiting the decision has also been urged in a letter sent to Chow and councillors signed by three former mayors: Art Eggleton, David Crombie and John Sewell. 鈥淲e question the interpretation of the research leading to that decision and the practicality of carrying it out.鈥
Practicality and cost for a city that is facing an estimated $1.5 billion budget shortfall next year. A city confronting a homelessness crisis, an affordable housing crisis, a public transit crisis, an opioid crisis and no money in the kitty to fund desperately needed mental health programs.
That鈥檚 the other fundamental issue: How to allocate discriminate funds that the city doesn鈥檛 actually have. Eight point six million dollars may seem like a trifle against an operating annual budget of $16 billion. But it鈥檚 still difficult to justify when so many praiseworthy agencies and social programs are scrabbling for dollars.
Dundas Square is our urban public piazza. Rename it for a historical or living Black person. Illuminate the deserving.
If you are thinking of suicide or know someone who is, there is help. Resources are available online at or you can connect to the national suicide prevention helpline at 1-833-456-4566, or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868.
