The push to rename Dundas street in Toronto, which was named after Henry Dundas, an 18th-century politician who delayed Britain’s abolition of slavery by 15 years, began in 2020.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The quest to rename Dundas Street took another twist recently. In 2021, Toronto City Council voted to remove the name of Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, after critics argued the 18th-century Scottish politician was an anti-abolitionist and a racist who did not deserve to be honoured. An October 2023 poll of 817 Torontonians by Liaison Strategies found that 54 per cent were in support of the move, but that dropped to 42 per cent when they were asked to consider the projected $8.6-million cost.
The push to rename started in 2020 with the 14,000-signature “Let’s Rename Dundas Street” petition that maintained it was time to engage “the public in the process of excising those names which are no longer worthy of our honour or respect. Names such as that of Henry Dundas.”
Well, I suppose it’s an honour to have anything named after you (a sandwich, a bridge, a disease), but from a purely “Drive Section” perspective, anyone who thinks having Dundas Street named after them is an honour has never driven on Dundas Street, nor cycled, walked or ridden public transit.
I do it all the time. Dundas Street is a frustrating, congested, depressing cesspool of a thoroughfare.
Never had the pleasure of driving on Dundas? Allow me to escort you along its path through the central and western Greater Toronto Area.
We’ll begin our journey driving west from the Beaches, where Dundas St. East intersects with Kingston Rd. It’s morning rush hour and by Greenwood Ave., Dundas St. East is bumper to bumper. It’s a long parking lot. At first, it appears autumn is dressed in all her glorious red and orange finery. No – wait – those are just red lights and orange traffic cones.
All these drivers should be taking public transit, of course, but they do not appear to have been swayed by the Toronto Transit Commission’s new slogan, “The TTC – What else are you going to do?” At the Dundas Bridge, traffic gets worse, as drivers heading both directions attempt to merge onto the Don Valley Parkway.
Once we’re past the Don River we make our way along to the corner of Sherbourne St. It is a dismaying sight. Think Dundas by Dante. People mill around in a grotesque tableau of addiction and suffering; their bodies contorted by narcotic poisons. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled if you are driving here at night, as you can catch a glimpse of tiny demonic lights that flicker as pipes are lit. Perhaps Toronto City Council should consider renaming this corner “Crystal and Meth.”
Those riding public transit along Dundas get to experience the illusion of movement. To say that streetcars crawl along Dundas would be an insult to all the things that get around the earth by crawling. If you are lucky, you will see four out-of-service streetcars stuck behind an in-service streetcar that’s broken down. That’s called a “Dundas Stack.”
Next stop is Dundas Square – at the intersection of Yonge St. – a place that answers the eternal question: “What if we dropped a Jumbotron on a parking lot and called it a Square?”
Cars and pedestrians navigate the intersection of Dundas St. and Yonge St. in downtown Toronto, on Aug 30.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
If Dundas Square were an emotion, it would be the sinking feeling that you left the stove on: a mute irrational panic. Traffic sits at a standstill. Giant video screens blare inane advertisements for products you neither need nor desire. Beneath them, the destitute are splayed along the sidewalk next to street preachers and OnlyFans personalities hawking their wares while horrified tourists wander stunned about this concrete Bedlam.
We’ll stop our journey here. There is only so much Dundas St. one can take in a single dose.
Pedestrians walk past a streetcar at the intersection of Spadina Ave. and Dundas Street.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Dundas St. continues west of Yonge. It travels through Chinatown, Little Portugal, Roncesvalles and the Junction, which are all quite lovely – the neighbourhoods that is, the street itself (as a means of transport and travel) remains a stifling nightmare. It continues through Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington and then in Waterdown, just north of Hamilton, it more formally turns into Highway 5.
Whether they rename Dundas Street or not, Henry Dundas will be a loser. If they change the name, they erase him from history and if they keep it one of the crummiest streets in the country bears his name. Perhaps they could use the $8.6-million to help the people at Sherbourne and Dundas.
I imagine Henry Dundas in Hell complaining to the Devil, “You know Dundas Street in Toronto? That dump. Can you believe they named it after me?”
“It could be worse,” Lucifer replies. “They could have named the Eglinton Crosstown LRT after you.”