Why Sankofa is the right name for Yonge-Dundas Square – The Star
January 4, 2024
The push to rename public spaces isn’t to erase history — it’s to reclaim the history that’s already been erased and the goal of Sankofa is to “Encourage learning from the past to inform the future.”
What does this mean to us?
The conversation around Henry Dundas has become less about history and more about people today claiming to know what his intentions were when he suggested inserting the word “gradual” in the (2nd) motion to end the transatlantic slave trade in 1792. Some speculate that more people would have been kidnapped and sold into slavery if not for Henry Dundas, and that he was an abolitionist.
This is all debatable but the goal here isn’t to “prove” what a person was “thinking” 230 years ago. The goal is to (honestly) look at events from our past so we can move forward to address any inequities resulting from those events.
