As Owen Sound considers new names for the space formerly known as Ryerson Park, it's getting input from all over, including the far right.
During Monday's council meeting, resident James Blake used his three minutes in public comment to urge members to rename the park at 823 Fifth Avenue East as Billy Bishop Park.
At first Mayor Ian Boddy said he thought nothing of it, as Owen Sound is looking for feedback on naming options and public comment is open to residents that want to speak to city matters.
"There's no pre-registration rules. There's no knowledge necessarily of what people are going to talk about. Some will give heads up, in this case they didn't," he said. "We didn't know in advance who it was. They did ask in advance if they could film it... I assumed it was going to be a cellphone and then the guy walked in with a fairly big camera."
The group that came with Blake were members of the Dominion Society of Canada, a group that describes itself as a "vanguard movement promoting Canadian nationalism and immigration reform to preserve the distinct Canadian nation," but is described by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network as part of a "white nationalist network".
Once Boddy realized that Blake was with a bunch of people he didn't recognize, he asked which group they represented, but even then, the name didn't ring a bell.
"At that point, I had never heard of the Dominion Society. I didn't know until I went home and went 'who the hell were they?' It certainly isn't something I condone or believe in whatsoever," Boddy said.
When Boddy asked what group they were with, the floor was given to Dominion Society founding director Ken Jones, who said it was a "heritage preservation and Canadian identity advocacy group." That coded language provides a sanitized description of the group, given that its social media accounts repeatedly call for "remigration" of people in Canada who are not of European descent.
"Obviously, we see a lot of the renaming of our city parks and memorials across all municipalities of Canada," Jones told council. "We are here to put this municipality and all municipalities across the country on notice that we will not stand for the renaming of our heritage monuments and memorial sites."
Mayor Boddy said he didn't pay much attention to that comment.
"We've got a process that we've been going through in the naming of parks," he said. "We know what our bylaws are, what we can do, and his rhetoric really didn't interfere with what we're doing and will continue to do."
Boddy did respond to a claim that Blake made during his presentation that one of the possible recommended names, Ningaawendam Miikana, which means "Friendship Land" in Anishinaabe, lacks locational relevance.
"I just ignored that because everyone's got an opinion," he said. "Obviously the Anishinaabe have been around our region, in fact the Nawash village was right in the City of Owen Sound until 1857. We recognize that we're on their traditional territory and are trying to build strong relationships with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation."
Boddy also acknowledged that Bishop is an important part of Owen Sound heritage history, but said all name suggestions will be looked at by a committee and a narrowed down list will return to council.
Other names initially proposed include Old School Park, Eighth Street Park, Boyd Street Park. Residents will be given at least ten days' notice will be given before a final decision on the new name is made.
The City is still accepting submissions for park names until May 4.
