Waterloo Region Record

Puslinch council agrees to change controversial name

Mayor James Seeley the lone vote against renaming Swastika Trail

LIZ MONTEIRO

The street name Swastika Trail will soon be no more.

Puslinch council voted to accept a staff recommendation to change the name of the controversial street and rename it Holly Trail.

The new name came as a request by the private road owner.

All four councillors voted in favour of the name change, while Mayor James Seeley voted against the measure at a council meeting on Wednesday.

Seeley said he could not support the name change.

“We don’t have the symbol down there. We have the word,” he said.

“The federal government has not banned the symbol or the word because it is protected maybe at arm’s length through the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Seeley said at the meeting.

Seeley said he also has concerns with imposing restrictions on private property.

“I have concerns that we have crossed a boundary that maybe we shouldn’t have,” he said.

The road is near Puslinch Lake just south of Highway 401 near Cambridge.

Council heard from five delegations at the online meeting, but plenty more decided to hand in written submissions rather than speak in person.

Swastika Trail has been a contentious topic in the township with some vehemently opposed to the name and others wanting it to remain.

Randy Guzar, who lives on Swastika Trail, asked council in August to consider renaming the street because of its connection to the Nazi regime and its association with hatred and genocide.

“The swastika is and remains the most universal recognized hate symbol in Canada,” said Guzar, who spoke as a delegation before council.

Guzar and other residents have been behind a movement to change the name over many years.

In 2017, Puslinch council voted

against changing the name before a large crowd at the Puslinch Community Centre to accommodate people who came to listen to the meeting.

This past summer, council approved a municipal street-naming policy and agreed that names and words have various meanings that can change over time. Swastika Trail was named in the early 1920s, likely based on a religious symbol tied to good fortune.

Coun. Jessica Goyda said the street-naming policy is “crystal clear.”

Goyda said she cannot ignore the “emotional impact and pain that this symbol continues to bring.”

“To some, this is a holy symbol and to others it’s a symbol of evil. When a symbol represents such opposite concepts to different groups of people, conflict is bound to arise,” Goyda said.

Goyda acknowledges the swastika symbol was once seen as a symbol of divinity and spirituality, but “unthinkable, historical events have changed the context and context can change the meaning of a word.”

Goyda said council has a responsibility and plays a pivotal role in combating racism and hate and creating a welcoming and inclusive community.

Staff must prepare a bylaw, which is set to return to a council meeting on Oct. 19.

‘‘ To some, this is a holy symbol and to others it’s a symbol of evil.

JESSICA GOYDA PUSLINCH TOWNSHIP COUNCILLOR

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2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

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