Sankofa Square is not named after a specific person; it is named after the Ghanaian Akan concept “Sankofa.”

Quick Scoop

  • Sankofa Square is the new name for the public space that was formerly Yonge–Dundas Square in downtown Toronto.
  • The word Sankofa comes from the Akan people of Ghana and refers to reflecting on and reclaiming teachings from the past to move forward together.
  • The name was chosen by a City of Toronto community advisory committee after years of consultation, especially with Black and Indigenous community members.

So who is it “named after”?

  • It is not in honour of an individual (unlike “Dundas,” which referred to Henry Dundas).
  • It is named after the cultural/ philosophical idea of Sankofa from the Akan tradition, symbolizing learning from history, including the history of enslavement and resistance.

Why that name, right now?

  • Toronto’s renaming effort grew out of wider conversations about racial justice and the legacy of slavery and colonialism in the early–mid 2020s.
  • Choosing Sankofa was meant to signal remembrance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, acknowledgement of harm, and a commitment to a more inclusive future in a central civic space.

Forum / trending angle

Online discussions and forum threads around the renaming often debate whether using a West African Akan term in a Canadian context is a powerful act of solidarity and remembrance or an example of overreach in “rebranding” public history. Some commenters see Sankofa Square as a meaningful recognition of Black and African heritage in Toronto’s core, while others criticize the change as symbolic politics that does not address deeper structural issues.

TL;DR: Sankofa Square is named after the Akan concept Sankofa —“go back and get it,” meaning learn from the past to build the future—not after any individual person.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.