Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling on the Township of Russell to change its name over its eponymous politician's ties to slavery. The eastern Ontario township just east of Ottawa is named after Peter Russell, a high-ranking administrator in the pre-Confederation government of Upper Canada. Born in Ireland, Russell relocated to Toronto — then known as York — in the late 18th century, a time when slavery was still legal in Upper Canada. A portrait of Peter Russell, an administrator in the early 19th-century government of Upper Canada. "The words 'Russell Village' or 'Russell Township' embody everything that Peter Russell was not.

Source: CBC News June 13, 2020 07:52 UTC