Toronto city council has voted in favour of renaming Dundas Street in a bid to promote inclusion of marginalized communities.

After a lengthy debate on Wednesday, council voted 17-7 in favour of a motion put forward by city staff to change the name of the street, a major artery running east-west through the city. 

The move follows a 2020 petition to scrap the name due to Henry Dundas's association with the transatlantic slave trade. It cropped up amid global discussions and protests against racial injustice, inequality and anti-Black racism. 

'Our reputation is on the line'

Coun. Michael Thompson, the only Black person on council, said before the vote that renaming the street is the right thing to do. 

"History will remember not so much what it cost us to change the name — it will remember whether or not we actually take the right action. Our reputation is on the line," he said.

The city manager is expected to report back with recommendations for new names to council's executive committee in the spring of 2022.

Dundas, an influential Scottish politician, was opposed to ending the British Empire's participation in the transatlantic slave trade when the proposal was brought forth near the end of the 18th century.

His opposition served to stall its abolition, which kept hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Black, in bondage and allowed many more to be enslaved.

The city will also remove the Dundas name from other public infrastructure, including the TTC's Dundas and Dundas West subway stations and Yonge-Dundas Square, a central location in downtown Toronto. Other civic assets bearing the Dundas name include three parks, one Toronto Public Library branch and more than 730 street signs.

The city will hold a public consultation to find a new name for the street and plans to find room in its budget to support people and businesses affected by the change.

'You can never go wrong doing the right thing'

Mayor John Tory said Dundas never visited Toronto and the city should not celebrate him and his legacy.

"You can never go wrong doing the right thing," Tory said.

"All we are saying is, we are not going to continue to recognize and to honour someone who took the actions that he took at the time he did it that are so inconsistent with the values that we are trying to build up and celebrate today. That's what we're saying."

According to the city, a community advisory committee will lead the renaming process. That committee will be made up of Black and Indigenous leaders, representatives from diverse communities who live and work along Dundas Street and from Business Improvement Areas and resident associations.

The committee will develop potential new names and a "transition plan" to help residents and businesses throughout the process.

"The adoption of this report furthers the City of Toronto's commitment to confronting anti-Black racism, advancing truth, reconciliation and justice, as well as building a more inclusive and equitable Toronto," the city said in a news release.