LONDON, ONT. A day after Toronto city council decided to change the name of that city’s Dundas Street, the east-west spine of London’s road network faces renewed scrutiny. Last summer, the London Black History Coordinating Committee (LBHCC) sent a letter to city council backing a petition to change the name of Plantation Road. Chair Carl Cadogan expects another community-wide discussion about the names Dundas Place and Dundas Street. “I think it’s hard to correct history, but you can try to have an impact now,” he says. Henry Dundas was an 18th century politician who delayed the abolition of slavery in the British Empire by an estimated 15 years.
Black History Month close to proclamation
City politicians unanimously endorsed an application to proclaim February Black History Month in London. Carl Cadogan, chair of the London Black History coordinating committee, wrote that “2020 has been a year of upheaval in London, across the country and around the world,” citing COVID-19, and the Black Lives Matter movement as two milestones.
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“We, once again and more loudly than in the past, want the city to proclaim Black History Month in February 2021, and want it to be done much sooner than it was done in 2020.”