Goodbye, Yonge-Dundas Square. Hello, Sankofa
The city’s most famous intersection officially has a new name
In late 2023, Toronto officially retired the name Yonge-Dundas Square after more than 14,000 people petitioned to scrap its homage to Henry Dundas, an 18th-century Scottish politician known for delaying the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
In place of Yonge-Dundas, the city chose Sankofa, a Twi word from Ghana that loosely means “to go back and retrieve.” The change now serves as a reminder to learn from the past while moving forward.
This weekend, the name change became extra official with the first-ever Sankofa Day, a ceremony and celebration coinciding with UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition. The festivities also doubled as a sneak peek at the new programming coming to Sankofa Square, following a survey that found that Torontonians want to see the space feature more sports, wellness and film events.
The celebration had a block-party feel, with part of Yonge closed, music bumping through the streets and more than 13 hours of free events (or 15 if you count the pre-ceremony fun run for the keeners who laced up at 8 a.m.).
Brunch brought Caribbean Film Festival screenings; lunch came with dribbling and dunking drills led by the Raptors and HoopQueens; and the afternoon saw the creation of a graffiti mural on a 16-metre-long transport truck.
As night fell, the party got going with sets by DJ group Afrique Like Me and the pride of Scarborough himself, Kardinal Offishall. Meanwhile, food vendors served up dishes like jerk chicken, jollof rice and hearty beef tibs.
Related: What Kardinal Offishall loves about Queen West
While Sankofa Square will likely still play host to corporate launches and holiday shows, the city seems eager to use the revamped space for more culturally diverse events year-round. On the docket over the next two weeks are the Intersection Festival, an experimental cross-genre music showcase, and Maha Onam, a massive family-friendly South Indian harvest party with traditional music, dance and boatloads of delicious food. Need more convincing? They’re entirely free.
Lindsey King is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work can be found in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. She is interested in arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate stories
