Partly in response to diminishing public support and soaring cost projections, Toronto City Council has decided to temper its Dundas Street renaming plans, opting to change only the monikers of Yonge-Dundas Square, two subway stations and a public library, at least for now.

But, in the wake of the news that the City is now spending some $700k on the scaled down initiative rather than $11.3 to $12.7 million to replace the name on thousands of assets as originally proposed, some are still fighting against the motion.

Following the original petition that first inspired the rebranding conversation in 2020 and a counter-petition to keep the street name as is, there is now a growing appeal to halt the amended plan that council adopted last week, which would see Yonge-Dundas Square dubbed Sankofa Square by the end of next year, along with the other changes.

STOP the Renaming of Dundas in Toronto https://t.co/PcSVbmFQ2I via @CdnChange

— Malcolm Jolley (@malcolmjolley) December 18, 2023

Launched on Dec. 16, the change.org entreaty demands that all Dundas-bearing assets slated for a retitle be left alone "unless the city can afford a robust public vote about the necessity of a new name" plus a vote on what that new name should be, if the majority of residents are indeed shown to be in favour.

"We find it Orwellian that government officials would choose historical erasure over embracing human complexity. Regardless of [Dundas's] approach to abolition, his personal character or today's moral conventions, it is asinine to make such significant changes based only on the demands of activists," the petition reads.

Along with outlining how the name Dundas "has evolved away from its namesake to mean something completely new" and is deeply tied to countless residents' memories and milestones, the change.org page also points to the hefty price tag of the rechristening efforts amid an economic crisis.

It also identifies a perceived lack of significance that the term "Sankofa" has to Toronto — though Dundas had no major ties to the city, either — and the potentially problematic roots of the new name.

While the name Dundas was called into question in the first place due to the role its namesake is believed to have had in delaying the abolition of slavery, the Akan people of Ghana from which the word Sankofa is derived were themselves slave traders, among other issues.

@oliviachow Changing it due to the role Henry Dundas played in slavery.. sure fair enough

Changing it to Sankofa Square, which originates from a country with abhorrent LGBT rights is certainly an interesting choice.

— S. (@omg_soren) December 15, 2023

Plus, upon further study of Henry Dundas's history, some have pushed back against what they consider a misreading of the Scottish politican's life.

As the appeal notes, "the claims made by activists and council members regarding Henry Dundas's position on the slave trade in particular are in dispute. There is compelling evidence that Henry Dundas was an abolitionist. In fact, other jurisdictions with Dundas Streets have declined to make a change in light of this."

"His legacy is for academics (not bureaucrats) to debate," petition creators argue.

"This isn't about a man. This petition is a defence of preserving the complicated nature of history as it intersects with the identity of our city... a call to be vigilant against activism at City Hall that seeks to upend and spend rather than treat citizens as mature, thoughtful adults who can handle the complexities and ambiguities of history."

Bigger priorities right now. When people are sleeping in tents in our parks changing a street name is a waste of precious financial resources

— Al Grant (@MrAlGrant) December 13, 2023

Residents appeared to have a lot of questions after last week's debut of the Sankofa Square name and the announcement of the other changes on the way for the aforementioned properties, with many wondering what other things the city could accomplish to actually help the daily life of its citizens with the money being invested.

As of December 12 estimates — pre- the latest decisions on the matter — the City has spent $250,000 on "consultants' fees, communications, consultations, meetings and honoraria" in relation to the Dundas renaming project.

The new petition against the move is at 2,075 signatures at the time of publication.