Russell, Ont. now named after 'all Russells' following rededication
Russell, Ont. now named after 'all Russells' following rededication
If your name is Russell and you have a connection to Russell, Ont., congratulations. The town is now named after you.
The rededication comes nearly two years after councillors in the eastern Ontario town voted to keep the name Russell, but disassociate itself from its namesake and find a new one.
The town was originally named after Peter Russell, a slave-owning anti-abolitionist politician in the 1700s who never actually set foot in the township.
In a vote Tuesday night, council officially renounced Peter Russell as its namesake, adopting several new ones instead.
“Council chose that moving forward, rather than honouring one individual, the Township’s name honours all ‘Russells’ such as Russell Phair, Keith Russell, and others who would have helped develop our community into the jewel we love today,” Mayor Pierre Leroux said in a statement.
The rededication is the culmination of a process that started more than two years ago, with a petition that the town southeast of Ottawa change its name. Council voted to keep the name Russell, but find a new namesake.
Leroux told Newstalk 580 CFRA he was wrestling with the issue at home one day when his son suggested keeping the name.
“It was my son who actually said, ‘Just pick another Russell,’” Leroux told Ottawa at Work's Leslie Roberts. “I kind of laughed at the idea and I said, ‘We can’t do that.’ And he said, ‘Why not?’ And I didn’t have a good answer for him.”
The town struck a namesake rededication committee and accepted submissions from residents, of which there were plenty.
Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, was floated as an option. So was actor Andrew Garfield, whose middle name is Russell.
But ultimately, the committee looked closer to home. Russell Phair was the town’s “police chief, fire chief, barber and TV repairman” in the 1950s, Leroux said. Another man, Keith Russell, had a significant impact on the town, he said,
“It shouldn’t be named after just one person,” Leroux said. “We can recognize all the Russells that had a positive impact on our community.”
Keeping a name but changing a namesake is not unprecedented. King County, Washington changed its namesake to Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1986. It had been named after slaveowner William R. King.
Leroux said the rededication is not an effort to rewrite the town’s history.
“We’re not trying to erase the past, but we do acknowledge that we needed a change,” he said. “We’ve had some amazing people in our community named Russell, and that’s who we’re naming it after.
“I think the vast majority of people are quite happy with the decision we’ve taken.”
Some local Russells were pleased with the news.
“I have been telling them the town is named after me as a joke for many years,” said Kurt Russell, who has lived in Russell since he was 11 and has volunteered with the local Lions Club for 20 years.
Joanne Arsenault, whose son is named Russell, said perhaps the rededication is a sign.
“Well, I was hoping he’d be the mayor one day,” she said.
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Statistics Canada has released its new report about the Canadians level of confidence in Canada’s institutions, finding that recent immigrants are more likely to express confidence in the media and parliament.
A new Canadian study of 4.8 million people says a daily alcoholic drink isn't likely to send anyone to an early grave, nor will it offer any of the health benefits touted by previous studies, even if it is organic red wine.
Lawyers representing Toronto MP Han Dong served Global News with a libel notice on Friday over reports that alleged he spoke to a Chinese diplomat in February 2021 about delaying the release of the two Michaels, and that he was a 'witting affiliate' of Chinese interference networks – allegations that Dong denies.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
After the RCMP commissioner admitted he didn't read the Mass Casualty Commission’s final recommendations, family members of those killed in the April 2020 tragedy say they have doubts the force will change.
A doctor named in a lawsuit after a Nova Scotia woman died in hospital following a long wait to see a physician has denied allegations from the family that he failed in his duties.
The leader of Ontario's new democrats says she's removed long-time party member Michael Mantha from caucus amid an independent investigation into alleged workplace misconduct.
In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
Akwesasne Mohawk Police say they are working with Immigration Canada and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the eight migrants whose bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River this week.
April Fools' Day -- better known as poisson d'Avril in Quebec -- is upon us. Some of the province's familiar faces got into the spirit Saturday with a few light-hearted social media pranks.
A northern Ontario man has been banned from licenced hunting and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to having more than six times the legal limit of grouse and obstructing conservation officers.
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
Ontario's guns and gangs team says with the help of police in Sudbury and Durham, it has disrupted a large drug trafficking operation, seizing 2.7 kilograms of cocaine and arresting six.
Saturday morning has been filled with mainly sunny skies. However, clouds will be drifting in across the region beginning Saturday afternoon, bringing with them a chance of showers.
London police responded to Dundas Street, just west of William Street around 6:30 p.m. Friday evening for a reported shooting. According to police, one person is in custody.
A U.S. citizen charged with threatening death or bodily harm to Justin Trudeau made a virtual court appearance from a London jail Friday. Jeremy Joseph, 40 — who is living in Sarnia, Ont. — was arrested on Feb. 4, 2023 after Sarnia police were notified of emails containing threats.
In an attempt to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, the Saskatchewan government will offer a bump in pay for family doctors who work later hours.
Kevin Garinger says it feels like the passage of time is inexplicable. The five years since a deadly bus crash changed his city, his hockey team and his life sometimes feel like a lifetime. Other times it feels like yesterday.
Officials in Vancouver said they plan to meet with the artist and volunteers who are keeping vigil on a children's shoe memorial on the steps of the city's art gallery in an effort to end the tribute to children who didn't return from residential schools.
The sale has started of former Saskatchewan government liquor store buildings. The province got out of liquor retailing earlier this month and is disposing of all assets.
In an attempt to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, the Saskatchewan government will offer a bump in pay for family doctors who work later hours.
