After Town Votes To Keep ‘Swastika Trail’ Street Name, Residents Go To Court
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Residents of a town in Canada have launched an application for judicial review of the local council’s decision not to rename a street called Swastika Trail.
In January, the Puslinch Township Council in Ontario voted 4-1 against changing the name of the privately owned road. Two months earlier, the neighborhood association voted to keep the name.
The application alleges that the voting process by the Bayview Cottagers Association was unfair and biased.
“There is no place for a street with the name of a symbol of anti-Semitic hatred in modern Canada, and the irregularities preceding Puslinch Council’s vote on this matter must be addressed,” Michael Mostyn, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The street was named in the 1920s, but residents told The Canadian Press that the swastika should not be vilified as a Nazi symbol. They pointed out that it is an ancient religious symbol meaning life and good work in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.
A town in northern Ontario is named Swastika for a local goldmine that used the symbol for good luck.
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