What’s in a name? For at least one Belleville, Ont. resident, plenty.
Laura Hatt appeared before Belleville city council on Monday, requesting a name change to the city’s downtown pier.
She says Meyers Pier is named after a 19th century slave-owner.
“Capt. Meyers was an important part of our town’s early history,” says Hatt, “and certain parts of his story are told and other parts aren’t.”
Hatt, along with Jay Gannon and Elissa Robertson, would like to see the whole story of Belleville founder Capt. John Walden Meyers be told and reflected in the city’s current history.
That story, Hatt says, is “how he enslaved a Black family here and used their labour to build a lot of the early infrastructure here at the time.”
Speaking to city council, Hatt said, “We believe that the city council should rename Meyers Pier and put up a plaque commemorating the Black family that Meyers enslaved.”
That Black family was the Levis.
In a deputation to council on Monday evening, the group told the full story.
“It’s not erasing history, it’s a telling of a fuller history,” said Robertson outside city hall. “It’s really important to acknowledge the contributions of exploited individuals.
“The Levi family, much of their history is lost.”
“It’s never been hidden; it’s always been known. I say shame on us for forgetting it,” says historian and documentary filmmaker Doug Knutson.
“And it seems to be catching people with their pants down.”
There have been name changes in Belleville in the past.
Meyers Creek is now the Moira River, and it wasn’t long ago that the Hastings and Prince Edward School Board decided to rename a Belleville high school after Meyers, but backed away from the idea amid public backlash.
“We are not responsible for our city’s past,” says Hatt in her closing remarks to council, “but we are fully responsible for the ways we choose to remember and not remember it.”
In a unanimous vote in favor, Belleville city council voted to look at the possible name change Meyers Pier and the placement of a plaque to honour the Levi family.
— With files from Mike Postovit
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