Owen Sound City Hall. (photo by Matt Hermiz/Bayshore Broadcasting)
Owen Sound council has endorsed a new policy governing the naming and re-naming of city parks and facilities.
Council approved a community services committee recommendation at its meeting on Monday to direct staff to bring forward a by-law to approve the updated policy.
This comes after council adopted a motion introduced by Mayor Ian Boddy this past summer to have staff include criteria for renaming parks and facilities in its policy review project. The discussion came to the council table in June in response to an online petition urging the city to change the name of Ryerson Park, because its namesake Egerton Ryerson is recognized as one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system.
The city ended up proactively removing the Ryerson Park sign and the posts have sat barren since.
City parks and facilities are covered under the updated policy. It does not apply to the naming of streets or bridges, or any naming related to financial sponsorships or major donations.
It includes six guidelines applying to all considerations for naming city parks and facilities. Some of these guidelines include: all naming should portray a positive image, naming should be considered permanent and re-naming should only be looked at in exceptional circumstances.
For re-naming specifically, a number of principles are laid out in the policy. It says re-naming “on account of values” should be an exceptional event as there are many reasons to honour tradition.
“Historical names can be a source of knowledge and often carry wisdom not immediately apparent to a current generation; no generation stands alone at the end of history with perfect moral hindsight,” the draft city policy says. “It is a virtue to appreciate the complexity of those lives and historic events that have given shape to the world in which we live.”
Further, the policy says the presumption against re-naming a park or facility is strongest when it has been named for someone “who made a major contribution” to the city, province or nation.
However, it does acknowledge sometimes re-naming on the basis of values is warranted and a process is included for those circumstances which considers the era in which the namesake lived and worked, the time of a naming decision and the present.
“Re-naming is more likely to be warranted when there was not an appropriate consideration of principal legacy that was well documented at the time the person lived and the naming was done,” the draft policy explains.
The policy also says any decision to re-name a city park or facility comes with a a responsibility to ensure “the removal does not have the effect of erasing history.”
Owen Sound’s director of community services Pam Coulter told councillors on Monday the process to name or re-name a city can be initiated by an individual or organization. Application forms will be made available on the city’s website and at city hall once the by-law has been formally approved.
For re-naming requests received, the process outlined includes the appointment of a working group to obtain expert advice in order to assist with a recommendation to committee.
The updated policy ensures council will have the final decision with respect to naming city parks and facilities.
According to a by Coulter to committee, staff reviewed policies of other municipalities including Toronto, London, Chatham, Vaughan, Barrie and Hamilton in preparing the draft policy. Staff also looked at framework and principles for re-naming from Yale University.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy called the update “exactly what he’d hope it to be” during the Nov. 17 community services committee meeting when the draft policy was brought forward for discussion.
“It sets an objective standard that we can look at individual cases and look at all the facts, and look at the history and try and remove the potential of an emotional decision,” Boddy said. “… I really like the policy part of it, that I think is so important, and the process.”