Must the word ‘swastika’ belong to Hitler?

There’s a big difference between a swastika that’s spraypainted in front of a Jewish day school in Toronto, and the name “Swastika Trail” in Puslinch Township.

The first is part of a wave of anti-Semitism in Canada, clearly intended to intimidate Jewish families with the symbol that is so closely associated with Nazis.

But Swastika Trail was named in the 1920s, before most people had ever heard of Adolf Hitler. Should the name be changed? For hundreds of years before Hitler appropriated it, the swastika had been a symbol of good fortune all over the world. Its name means “well-being” in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit.

The swastika was so popular as a design element in North America by the early 20th century that Coca-Cola, the Boy Scouts and Carlsberg beer all used it as part of their branding, according to Steven Heller, author of a book on the symbol.

A couple of Canadian hockey teams, the Windsor Swastikas in Nova Scotia and the Fernie Swastikas in B.C., also had the name. They both disbanded before the Second World War.

There is a community in Northern Ontario called Swastika. It was named in 1906, when it was a mining community. Today it is now part of Kirkland Lake.

During the Second World War, town residents were asked to change the name to Winston, after Winston Churchill. But they refused.

“To hell with Hitler,” a highway sign stated. “We came up with our name first.”

The Nazis seized on the swastika after reviewing the work of 19th-century German scholars who noted a link between ancient Sanskrit and their own language. It became the most recognizable symbol of the Nazis’ murderous behaviour and the devastating war they perpetrated.

So it’s no understatement to say that the swastika is a complicated symbol with many layers of meaning. No doubt eyebrows are raised when people from Swastika Trail give their addresses.

The mayor of Puslinch Township says there have been periodic attempts to change the name of Swastika Trail. Another attempt is coming before township council for a decision Dec. 20.

But Mayor Dennis Lever is understandably reluctant to get involved.

“It’s a private road,” he said. “How much does a council get involved in changing the names of things it doesn’t own?”

Municipalities do have the legal right to change the name of a private road, but that usually happens in cases where there are two roads with the same name, and emergency services personnel might be confused.

The cottagers’ association already had a vote Nov. 1 and narrowly decided to keep the name.

That should have been the end of it.

But the people who didn’t win the vote have now started an online petition.

One has to wonder why they chose to buy property on the street, if they didn’t like the name.

Between now and Dec. 20, I’m sure the township councillors will be inundated with emails, tweets and other lobbying to get the name changed.

I hope that they are swayed by reason instead of peer pressure. If the road wasn’t named for hate reasons, and it wasn’t, then there isn’t any reason to change it.