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Banning 'cumbersome' names discriminates
Lisa Varano
National Post
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Toronto plans to scrap part of its street naming policy, after city lawyers warned its provision discouraging "cumbersome" names could discriminate against minority groups.
The city has not enforced the section for three to four years and plans to soon scrap it altogether.
"It would be discriminatory," said director of survey and mapping Wally Kowalenko. "We don't exercise that part of the policy. It's outdated."
The policy, adopted in 2000 and based on a similar policy Toronto had prior to merging with neighbouring municipalities two years earlier, also states that street names should "recognize communities which contribute to the ethno-racial diversity of Toronto."
Lawyers pointed out that the "cumbersome" provision -- it doesn't define what makes a name cumbersome -- could contradict with this one, said Mr. Kowalenko.
Since the policy was unofficially relaxed, street names like Oskenonton Lane and Jinnah Court have been approved.
Unlike Toronto, Mississsauga does not have an explicit ethnoracial diversity provision and will still consider "ease of pronunciation."
''The most important consideration is to select street names that won't confuse emergency workers," said Ozzie Terminesi, manager of development engineering for Mississsauga.
"If there's an emergency call from that street ... the emergency people have to have a name that's easily recognizable," he said.
A proposed street name honouring an individual could be rejected if it were difficult to pronounce, Mr. Terminesi said. However, he said he does not know of any requests to honour individuals with street names having been rejected.
Almost 40% of street names approved by the city of Toronto in the past five years have honoured people, but only a handful of the 75 new names were from minority groups, said Brian Hall, engineering technologist technician.
Mr. Hall said he thinks all of the few requests for streets to be named after minorities in that time period have been approved by emergency services.
"If anyone has any suggestions of people they would like to see a street named after, they can contact our office because that's a problem -- how do we know about these local heroes or people that are important to the community?" he said.
Street names are most often proposed by developers but last year locals suggested a laneway between Ossington Avenue and Shaw Street be named Victor Jara Lane after the Chilean folk musician.
"There's a real need for our community to identify itself with the broader Canadian society," said Rodrigo Barreda, executive director of the Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace.
"We proposed it as a way for the community to see itself reflected."
*****
I read in Ming Pao that Richmond Hill is planning to use Chinese surnames to name some of its streets. Ironically, streets named that way would sound very awkward to Chinese residents, since Chinese surnames are rarely used to name streets in China.
Banning 'cumbersome' names discriminates
Lisa Varano
National Post
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Toronto plans to scrap part of its street naming policy, after city lawyers warned its provision discouraging "cumbersome" names could discriminate against minority groups.
The city has not enforced the section for three to four years and plans to soon scrap it altogether.
"It would be discriminatory," said director of survey and mapping Wally Kowalenko. "We don't exercise that part of the policy. It's outdated."
The policy, adopted in 2000 and based on a similar policy Toronto had prior to merging with neighbouring municipalities two years earlier, also states that street names should "recognize communities which contribute to the ethno-racial diversity of Toronto."
Lawyers pointed out that the "cumbersome" provision -- it doesn't define what makes a name cumbersome -- could contradict with this one, said Mr. Kowalenko.
Since the policy was unofficially relaxed, street names like Oskenonton Lane and Jinnah Court have been approved.
Unlike Toronto, Mississsauga does not have an explicit ethnoracial diversity provision and will still consider "ease of pronunciation."
''The most important consideration is to select street names that won't confuse emergency workers," said Ozzie Terminesi, manager of development engineering for Mississsauga.
"If there's an emergency call from that street ... the emergency people have to have a name that's easily recognizable," he said.
A proposed street name honouring an individual could be rejected if it were difficult to pronounce, Mr. Terminesi said. However, he said he does not know of any requests to honour individuals with street names having been rejected.
Almost 40% of street names approved by the city of Toronto in the past five years have honoured people, but only a handful of the 75 new names were from minority groups, said Brian Hall, engineering technologist technician.
Mr. Hall said he thinks all of the few requests for streets to be named after minorities in that time period have been approved by emergency services.
"If anyone has any suggestions of people they would like to see a street named after, they can contact our office because that's a problem -- how do we know about these local heroes or people that are important to the community?" he said.
Street names are most often proposed by developers but last year locals suggested a laneway between Ossington Avenue and Shaw Street be named Victor Jara Lane after the Chilean folk musician.
"There's a real need for our community to identify itself with the broader Canadian society," said Rodrigo Barreda, executive director of the Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace.
"We proposed it as a way for the community to see itself reflected."
*****
I read in Ming Pao that Richmond Hill is planning to use Chinese surnames to name some of its streets. Ironically, streets named that way would sound very awkward to Chinese residents, since Chinese surnames are rarely used to name streets in China.
