This article originally appeared in the National Post.
By Patrice Dutil, August 15, 2025
As municipal officials in Toronto get set to host an event inaugurating the newly renamed Sankofa Square (formerly Younge-Dundas Square), it’s worth pondering what could have been.
The word “Sankofa” is not organic, it does not grow out of the Torontonian experience and it is not authentic. Nor it is even original: in the United States, there are endless shops, schools, arts centres and community organizations named after the concept.
By adopting Sankofa, Toronto is losing its sense of identity.
“Sankofa” is a word from a Ghanaian language, Twi, that means something to the effect of “learning from the past.” It is a wonderful idea. But why did city council choose to express such a meaningful thought of the Akan people, whose principal legacy was slave owning and slave trading, in a tongue no one can imagine, let alone speak?
Why not “wēn gù zhī xīn,” which in Chinese means “to review the old and learn the new,” or “cóng lì shǐ zhōng xué xí,” which means “learn from history.” There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese speakers in Toronto. At least it would mean something to those Canadians.
In English, the common language of the city, the concept could have been portrayed by calling it “Remembrance Square” or “Commemoration Square.”
Anyone can invest those expressions with a meaning of their own, be it personal or social. For me personally, it would be an exhortation to remember those who passed away in service to the public good: soldiers, of course, but also first responders and the great doctors, nurses, social workers and family members who take care of us.
By adopting Sankofa, Toronto is losing its sense of place.
The plaza could have been called “Canada Square” or “Confederation Square,” but that would mean honouring the country, something Toronto city council would never dare to do.
I also think Toronto could do a great deal more to honour a distant place, as well as its war casualties. Why not rename Yonge-Dundas “Vimy Square” or “Passchendaele Square” after the iconic battlefields where thousands of Toronto kids lost their lives, their limbs and their sanity.
By adopting Sankofa, Toronto is losing its sense of purpose.
If the previous suggestions were too sad, or too bloody, how about “Teachers Square” to honour all those who dedicated their lives to teaching others? Those in the K-12 system should certainly be honoured, but so should those who teach us how to swim, to learn sports, or arts, or to play a musical instrument. These are the people who give our lives a sense of purpose.
By adopting Sankofa, Toronto is losing out on an opportunity to recognize Canadians of African ancestry.
If the purpose of renaming Yonge-Dundas Square was to honour Black Canadians, why not honour an individual who deeply affected her or his contemporaries and who left a positive legacy? There are many to choose from, and each of them has personal lessons to teach to us.
Why not, for example, name it after William P. Hubbard (1842-1935), Toronto’s first Black elected official? The man was so eloquent, they called him “Cicero.” He had dreams for the city, and was very popular in his day.
Or how about Anderson Ruffin Abbott (1837-1913), the first Black Canadian doctor, who distinguished himself as a surgeon in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War.
Or Daniel G. Hill (1923-2003), who became a prominent figure in Canada’s civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s?
All three men — there are others — need to be remembered.
“Sankofa” cannot last and I hope its existence will be short-lived. I could easily come up with a half-dozen ideas and people that better communicate the city’s past as well as its ambition to be a great place to live. The vital task is to make it relevant to the Toronto and the Canadian experience.
Patrice Dutil is a professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. His latest book is “Ballots and Brawls: The Canadian General Election of 1867″
