Plantation Road at the centre of push to change London's street renaming policy
'Slave language needs to be abolished,' says 10-year-old's petition
An idea inspired by a 10-year-old's desire to change the name of her street — Plantation Road — is now coming to London city council as a motion that calls for a revamped procedure for changing city street names.
Motivated by the Black Lives Matter Movement, Lyla Wheeler launched an online petition to change the name of Plantation Road, the street where she lives in London's Oakridge neighbourhood.
Her concern is the word "plantation" and its historical connection to slavery and oppression of Black people.
"With everything happening in our world right now, slave language needs to be abolished," she wrote on the petition's landing page. "The name of my street means a place where Black slaves were forced to work in horrible conditions and were often whipped and punished, and sometimes killed."
About 4,200 people have signed Wheeler's petition. Her goal was 5,000 signatures.
Inspired by Wheeler, Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza took a look at the city's renaming bylaw and found it lacking.
Her motion calls on staff to review the name change bylaw and report back on "any recommended changes to the process(es) that would support and implement the city's commitment to eradicate anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and people of colour oppression."
Peloza's motion also asks staff to review the Plantation Road name "recognizing historically, the word 'plantation' has a strong correlation to slavery, oppression and racism."
City staff are also asked to come up with a list of potential street names that, in response to suggestions from the community, reflect the historic contribution to London from diverse groups.
Peloza's motion has letters of support from the London Black History Coordinating Committee and the African Canadian Federation of London & Area.
Literal vs. historical definitions
There's also been some pushback.
A letter written by Paul McCallum and filed with the city clerk calls the motion a "silly request" and argues the literal definition of plantation has nothing to do with slavery.
However John Kok, of the African Canadian Federation of London & Area, says the word has to be considered within its historical context, which he said carries a powerful association with a racist past and oppression of Black people.
"People are trying to recover from that trauma, if you are reminded about that, it's not beneficial to the relationship between the communities," he said.
Peloza said the existing bylaw also needs a re-think on a practical level. Created in the early 1990s, it requires a $512 fee to apply for a street name change and the applicant must be willing to pay to replace all street signs at $275 each. There is also a non-refundable fee of $171. It also requires the proposed name change to be presented at an advertised public meeting with the applicant picking up the tab.
"Right now the application process is quite exclusionary," said Peloza. "If you don't have a lot of disposable income, you can't access the process."
Changing a street name in London also requires the applicant to garner support from the neighbourhood. A special committee that oversees renaming requests has to agree with the proposed name change as does a majority of members of the civic works committee. Council gets the final say.
Street name 'needs to go'
Peloza says the process needs to be reviewed to ensure community groups have a greater say.
She also says her motivation to update the bylaw and change the name of Plantation Road came after consulting with diverse community groups in London
"Their message back to me was clearly that this street name needs to go," she said.
If the motion passes at council tonight, the staff report is expected to come back to council in January.
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