Jewish group, residents of Ontario town urge new name for Swastika Trail
A major Jewish advocacy group in Canada has stepped up efforts to help some residents of an Ontario town convince local politicians to rename a street called Swastika Trail.
B’nai Brith Canada started an online petition Thursday calling on Puslinch Township, about 75 kilometres west of Toronto, to change the street name.
The group plans to present the petition to the township council when it discusses the issue of renaming the private road next month, Aidan Fishman, advocacy director for B’nai Brith Canada, said Friday.
“We first became aware of this in October when a group of local residents — some of whom actually live on Swastika Trail and are very upset about the name and want it changed — were encountering some local resistance and contacted us for advice,” Fishman said.
Fishman said his organization has been working with the residents behind the scenes since then, but decided to have members of the public outside the area “weigh in on whether this is an appropriate name for a street in Canada in 2017.”
Swastika Trail was named in the 1920s before the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, local residents said. Those in support of keeping the name have argued the symbol has a long history before the Second World War, but others argue the name is associated with hate and genocide.