Renewed push to honour Oscar Peterson in Montreal

A renewed appeal to reshape Montreal’s civic landscape has emerged from a coalition of Black community organizations, which is urging Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada to give the Place des Festivals a new identity linked to one of the city’s most celebrated musicians, Oscar Peterson. Their request, delivered in a letter to the mayor this week, also asks the administration to finally recognize two other influential figures in the city’s Black history: civil rights activist Dan Philip and longtime community leader Noel Alexander.

The coalition argues that Peterson’s legacy is inseparable from the history of jazz in Montreal. With the annual international jazz festival centred at Place des Festivals, the groups say naming the site after Peterson would offer a fitting tribute to an artist whose music shaped global audiences. They note that this idea was publicly supported in 2020 by Ensemble Montréal, which is now the governing party.

Marvin Rotrand, director general of United Against Hate Canada, said the coalition believes public support is already clear. He recalled that a previous administration declined the renaming proposal, opting instead to designate a small greenspace on McGill College Avenue for Peterson. “That was not what the community asked for,” Rotrand said, adding that the greenspace remains incomplete.

City officials, however, point to long-standing naming policies for the Quartier des Spectacles. The toponymy committee and the urban planning department maintain that Place des Festivals should keep its current name to preserve consistency with rules put in place in 2009. These guidelines call for neutral site names in the district so that the spaces can serve a range of cultural uses without implying connections to individuals.

A city spokesperson noted that further honouring Peterson could also create confusion, as two locations already carry his name: Oscar Peterson Park in Little Burgundy and Oscar Peterson Square on McGill College Avenue. Both were chosen with input from his family, as were other tributes to his sister Daisy Peterson-Sweeney.

The coalition’s letter also asks the new mayor to act on a May 2024 council motion to commemorate Dan Philip, describing him as “a giant in the fight against discrimination.” They write that no progress has been communicated since the unanimous vote. Similar concerns are raised regarding recognition for Noel Alexander, founder of the Jamaica Day festival who died in 2021.

City officials emphasize that dozens of name proposals are submitted each year and only about twenty new place names are approved. The coalition counters that despite some progress, the scale and history of Montreal’s Black community remain underrepresented in the city’s map.

  Montreal Quebec