Chair, vice-chair of board that manages Yonge-Dundas Square resign from positions

Yonge-Dundas Square is seen in this July 2021 photo. (Bryann Aguilar)

A lack of public and board consultation over the renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square is one of the reasons the chair and vice-chair of the downtown landmark opted to resign from their posts this month, the general manager of Yonge-Dundas Square has confirmed.

Mike Fenton, the chair of the Yonge-Dundas Square Board of Management, along with vice-chair Jan Mollenhauer, resigned following city’s council’s recent decision to rename Yonge-Dundas Square to “Sankofa Square.”

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“I can confirm that both the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Yonge-Dundas Board of Management have resigned over their concerns around governance along with lack of public and board consultation by the city,” Julian Sleath, the general manager of Yonge-Dundas Square, wrote in an email to CP24.com.

“They are fully supportive of the name change and the work of the Community Advisory Committee on the Renaming of Dundas Street – that is not the issue.”

Fenton did not respond to CP24.com’s request for comment and the city and Mollenhauer would not provide copies of the resignation letters sent to the city’s Civic Appointments Committee.

Earlier this month, Toronto City Council approved a motion to rename Yonge-Dundas Square and to ask the TTC to rename two subway stations, while at the same time pausing the renaming process for Dundas Street itself.

The motion, which was tabled by Coun. Chris Moise and seconded by Mayor Olivia Chow, was adopted with a majority of support following a debate at council last week.

The Yonge-Dundas Square Board has been directed to rename the square by the end of the second quarter next year. Moise said that the Recognition Review Community Advisory Committee narrowed the choices down to four names over the past few months and selected a name last week.

In an email to CP24.com, the mayor’s office refused to comment on the resignation of the chair and vice-chair.

The decision to rename Dundas Street and other city property was made in 2021 in the wake of renewed awareness of anti-Black racism and a re-examination of the role Scottish politician Henry Dundas played in slavery.

The most recent estimate pegs the cost of renaming the street somewhere between $11.3 and 12.7 million.

 With files from CP24's Josh Freeman