PUSLINCH – Despite delegations by people who live on the street and don’t want the name changed, council stuck to its guns on Oct. 19 and Swastika Trail will be renamed Holly Trail.
Council heard from two delegations at the hybrid meeting held at the Puslinch Community Centre and on Zoom, and one delegate read a letter from a third resident who was also opposed to changing the name.
Connie Killion, Lori Leroux and Paul Wyszynski all spoke about the history of the street, which pre-dates the Second World War and the subsequent association of the swastika with Nazi Germany.
“You have given in to public pressure from outsiders,” Killion’s letter stated. “You have given power to others.”
Leroux said the road is a private road and should not fall within the township’s jurisdiction.
She said the street was named 100 years ago, long before the Nazis started to use the symbol as their own.
“It was not created with the Nazis in mind. It was never connected to the Nazis,” Leroux said.
“It was Randy Guzar who linked it to Hitler. Does this township work for Randy Guzar?”
Guzar is a resident who applied for the name change after council passed an updated street renaming policy in July.
Guzar had made several attempts over the years to have the name changed, even going so far as tsaking the township to court in 2019.
Wyszynski also levelled blame on Guzar for causing trouble where it never before existed.
“It used to be a nice neighbourhood. Now it’s divided, thanks to Randy Guzar,” he said.
He said no one connected the street name with the swastika symbol until Guzar started to make noise about it.
The residents also complained that the compensation they are to receive – $200 per homeowner and $1,000 per business – to cover costs connected with changing the street name, are not enough.
Killion said $200 won’t cover the cost of changing addresses in wills and powers of attorney for residents and she worried about mail going undelivered.
Wyszynski said $1,000 barely covers the legal fees for the name change for businesses, never mind business cards, notifying customers and numerous other costs.
He said he has two businesses and the address change will cause very complex issues for him.
Council seemed sympathetic about the costs, but clerk Courtenay Hoytfox cautioned council not to move too quickly as this is the first test of the new street naming policy.
She said Canada Post has said it will offer free mail forwarding to residents of Swastika Trail for a year and both street addresses will be recognized for a year.
Jay Mehta and Rishabh Sarswat, of the Coalition of Hindus in North America, explained the swastika is a Hindu symbol that dates back 1,000 years and means peace and wellbeing.
“We are trying to spread the truth of the swastika,” Mehta said. “It has nothing to do with hateful symbols.”
Mayor James Seeley, who was the only dissenting vote when council approved the name change in September, issued a motion to reconsider the decision but could not get a seconder.
The name change is effective immediately but has 30 days for agencies like the fire department to update their records.
Canada Post has said it will issue a new postal code in early 2023.
