In the midst of all the conflict surrounding the recent renaming of former Yonge-Dundas (now Sankofa) Square, another public space in the city has also, more quietly, been retitled for the same reasons.

The Jane-Dundas Library was among the other assets that the City was hoping to strip of Henry Dundas' name and legacy, which some have identified as problematic in recent years due to the historical figure's alleged ties to the slave trade.

Now, the rechristening of the branch has officially been approved by the Toronto Public Library Board, who voted in a meeting on Monday to indeed go through with removing the Dundas moniker.

The TPL location at 620 Jane Street, at the corner of what will remain Dundas Street West, will be formally deemed the Daniel G. Hill branch, named after Ontario's first Human Rights Commissioner and the founder of the Ontario Black History Society.

The revamp is expected to cost $60,000 once all is said and done.

Residents are already calling Hill an excellent and well-deserving namesake, and also a far "more considerate choice" than the Sankofa designation.

Daniel G. Hill is a more considerate choice for the TPL's Jane/Dundas Branch than the rebranding flex of Sakofa.

— Sydney Hedderich (@SydneyHedderich) June 25, 2024

While some researchers have contended that Henry Dundas was actually an abolitionist whose life is being severely misread, others have noted the problematic nature of Sankofa, a word derived from the Akan people of Ghana — who it has come to light were, quite ironically, slave traders.

The tens of thousands who have been pushing to halt the renaming of Dundas Square, Dundas Street's two TTC stations and the library have also taken issue with the lack of public consultation on the matter, especially when the City is so strapped for funds and has so many other, more pressing worries.

"History is replete with complicated people whose moral failings often balanced out their virtues, but we find it Orwellian that government officials would choose historical erasure over embracing human complexity," one online petition against the rebrand reads.

"Regardless of his approach to abolition, his personal character or today's moral conventions, it is asinine to make such significant changes based only on the demands of activists."

What a way to waste of tax payers money. Sankofa?? What’s the relevance??? That capital could be used for food banks or laptops for kids or a million other things that matter. We should be done with absurd virtual signaling. Petition to keep name: https://t.co/UPUKl0qkxE

— Laura Minquini (@LauraMinquini) December 20, 2023

There is also the fact that neither Sankofa nor Dundas have tangible ties to the City of Toronto, unlike Hill.